No Mini-Trial Before Committal: SC Says Magistrates Can't Record Evidence In Sessions-Triable Cases

The Supreme Court has ruled that Magistrates need not record pre-charge evidence under Section 244 CrPC before committing complaint cases exclusively triable by the Sessions Court. A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Kotiswar Singh set aside a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that demanded such evidence-recording in a murder case. The Court held the Magistrate's role is a "narrow inspection hole" — limited to checking jurisdiction and supplying documents, not conducting a merits inquiry. Forcing witnesses to depose twice serves no purpose, it noted. The appeal in Neeraj Gupta v. Pardeep Kumar Bansal was allowed.

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No Mini-Trial Before Committal: SC Says Magistrates Can't Record Evidence In Sessions-Triable Cases

The Supreme Court has ruled that a Magistrate is not obligated to record pre-charge evidence under Section 244 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) before committing a complaint case to the Sessions Court, where the alleged offence is exclusively triable by that court.

A bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh set aside a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that had required the Magistrate to hear prosecution evidence before committal, even in a case involving murder under Section 302 IPC. The High Court had held that a Magistrate cannot be a mere "mouthpiece" of the prosecution and must examine all evidence regardless of which court would ultimately try the case.

Overturning that view, the Supreme Court held that the Magistrate's task at this stage is limited: to check whether the alleged offence falls exclusively within the Sessions Court's jurisdiction, ensure the accused receives the required documents under Sections 207 and 208 CrPC, and then commit the case. No evidentiary inquiry into the merits is required or permitted at this stage.

The Court invoked the description of the Magistrate's committal power as a "narrow inspection hole," drawn from an earlier ruling, and noted that Section 244 CrPC applies only to warrant cases triable by Magistrates themselves, not to matters headed for Sessions trial. It observed that Parliament had deliberately dispensed with a full hearing and evidence-recording exercise at the pre-committal stage.

The bench also flagged a practical concern: forcing witnesses to depose before the Magistrate and later again before the Sessions Court would serve no legal purpose and only cause needless duplication and delay, without any corresponding benefit to the trial process.

With this ruling, the appeal filed by the complainant, in the case titled Neeraj Gupta versus Pardeep Kumar Bansal & Ors., was allowed, reaffirming the settled position that committal proceedings for Sessions-triable offences are meant to be a swift administrative step rather than a mini-trial.