Issue of Commission
for recording the statements of witnesses:-
Chapter 25 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides the mode
of taking for evidence in Inquiries and Trials. Section 535 of cr.p.c: Evidence
to be taken in presence of the accused: Except as otherwise expressly provided,
all evidence taken under Chapter XX, XXI, XXII and XXII-A shall be taken in the
presence of the accused or when his personal attendance is dispensed with, in
his presence of his pleader.
In the same code, chapter number 40 is for the issuance of
the commission for the examination of witnesses. Section 503 of the Criminal
Procedure Code 1898, provides that when the attendance of witness may be
dispensed with: 1- Whenever, in the course of an inquiry, a trial or any other
proceedings under this code, it appears to a court of Sessions or the High
Court that the examination of a witness is necessary for the ends of justice,
and that the attendance of such witness cannot be procured without an amount of
delay, expense or inconvenience which under the circumstances of the case,
would be unreasonable, such court may
dispense with such attendance and may issue a commission to any Magistrate of
the First Class, within local limits of whose jurisdiction, such witness
resides, to take the evidence of such witness.
And the powers of magistrate to apply for issue of commission
are envisaged under section 506 of the Criminal Procedure Code 1898: Whenever,
in the course of an inquiry or a trial or any other proceedings under this code
before any Magistrate, it appears that a commission ought to be issued for the
examination of a witness whose evidence is necessary for the ends of justice,
and that the attendance of such witness cannot be procured without an amount of
delay, expense or inconvenience which under the circumstances of the case,
would be unreasonable, such Magistrate, shall apply to Sessions Judge or the
District, stating the reasons for the application and the Sessions Judge may
either issue a commission in the manner hereinbefore provided or reject the
application. Further, Section 507 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1898 provides
the Return of commission: 1- After any commission issued under section 503 or
506 has been duly executed, it shall be returned, together with the deposition
of the witness examined there under, to the Court out of which it issued; and
the commission; the return thereto and the deposition shall be open at all
reasonable times, to inspection of the parties and may subject to all just
exceptions, be read in evidence in the case by either party, and shall for part
of the record. 2- Any deposition so taken, if it satisfies the conditions
prescribed by article 47 of the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, 1984, may also be
received in the evidence at subsequent stage of the case before another Court.
It is pertinent to issue the commission for recording the key evidence, if so
required in any case where the Court or Magistrate deems fit for the ends of
Justice, in the light of section 503 and 506 of the Criminal Procedure Code,
1898 and along with these powers the Court or Magistrate may record the
evidence of any witness, against accused in his absence, under section 512
Cr.p.c.
