INDEX

SR NO. PARTICULARS

01 INTRODUCTION

02 ROLE OF POLICE

03 ROLE OF PUBLIC PROSECUTOR

04 Zahira Habibullah vs State of Gujarat

05 ROLE OF DEFENCE COUNCEL

06 CONCLUSION

07
INTRODUCTION:
The Criminal Law consists of the substantive law contained in the Indian Criminal Law (IPC)
and the special and local laws frequently enacted by the Central and State Legislatures, which are
mainly composed of the following procedural laws Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr PC)
and Indian Evidence Act, 1872.

INDIAN CRIMINAL LAW

INDIAN PENAL CODE INDIAN EVIDENCE ACT,1872

CODE OF CRIMINAL
PROCEDURE,1973

SUBSTANTIVE PROCEDURAL
LAW LAW

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IN INDIA:

In a democratic country like India, the essential object of criminal law is to protect society
against criminals and lawbreakers. For this purpose the law holds out threats of punishments to
prospective lawbreakers as well as attempts to make the actual offenders suffer the prescribed
punishments for their crimes. Therefore, criminal law, in its wider sense, consists of both the
substantive criminal law and the procedural (or adjective) criminal law.

THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. To prevent the occurrence of crime.

2. To punish the transgressors and criminals.
3. To rehabilitate the transgressors and the criminals.
4. To compensate the victims as far as possible.
5. To maintain law and order in the society.
6. To deter the offenders for committing any criminal act in future.
COMPONENTS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM:
COMPONENTS

LAW ADJUDICATION CORRECTIONS AND

ENFORCEMENT PRISONS

PROSECUTION COURTS

DEFENCE
LAWYERS

1. Law Enforcement: Law enforcement agency takes report for crimes. It is also responsible for
investigating crimes and gathering evidence. It includes police forces in India.

2. Adjudication: This pertains to judicial processes and can be further divided into:

● Prosecution: Prosecutors are lawyers who represent the state throughout the court
process-from the first appearance of the accused in court until the accused is acquitted or
sentenced. Prosecutors review the evidence brought to them by law enforcement to
decide whether to file charges or drop the case and present them in the court.
● Defence Lawyers: They defend the accused against the government’s case. They are
either hired by the defendant or (for defendants who cannot afford an attorney) they are
assigned by the court.
● Courts: Courts are run by judges, whose role is to make sure the law is followed and
oversee what happens in court.

3. Corrections and Prisons: They supervise convicted offenders when they are in jail, in
prison, or in the community on probation or parole.

Zahira Habibulla H. Shiekh V. State of Gujrat, 2004

★ Also known as BEST BAKERY CASE.

★ The night of March 1, 2002 witnessed the unruly burning of Best Bakery at Vadodara,
one of the many ghastly alleged retaliations to the Sabarmati Coach S-6 fire. Zahira, the
 main eye-witness of the gruesome incident, is the first appellant in the case of Zahira
Habibullah Sheikh v. State of Gujarat, which serves as the first grave condemnation of
the possibly collapsing criminal justice system in India by one of its own at the apex
court.
★ The need to protect witnesses has been emphasised by the Supreme Court of India in
“Zahira Habibulla H. sheikh and Another v. State of Gujarat” 2004. While defining Fair
Trial, the Supreme Court observed that “If the witnesses get threatened or are forced to
give false evidence that also would not result in fair trial”.
★ In that case, according to the Appellant there was no fair trial and the entire effort during
trial and at all relevant times before also was to see that the accused persons got
acquitted. When the investigating agency helps the accused, the witnesses are threatened
to depose falsely and prosecutor acts in a manner as if he was defending the accused, and
the Court was acting merely as an onlooker and there is no fair trial at all, justice
becomes the victim.
★ Firstly, the Supreme Court concretized its reprimand of the faulty, perfunctory, biased
and mala fide investigation, which was done ostensibly with the object of enabling the
acquittal of the accused persons, in the form of a direction to the DGP Gujarat to monitor
the re-investigation, if any, to be taken up with utmost sincerity. Deficiency in
investigation, as was the case in the present situation, has been essentially held to be a
ground for re-investigation in subsequent decisions.
★ Secondly, the Court also recognized that the Public Prosecutor failed to do the bare
minimum expected of him to fairly present the case of the prosecution. The unusual set of
factors (such as, the public prosecutor “…acting more as a defence counsel than one
whose duty was to present the truth before the Court…”were noted as sufficient to allow
witnesses and victims to have a say in the matter of such appointment. This has further
been concretized in the form of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2008,
which vests the Court with the power to “permit a victim to engage an advocate of his
choice to assist the prosecution”.
★ Thirdly, the Supreme Court directed scathing remarks towards the conduct of the State
government, referred to as the “modern day Neros”Cases prior to this have strategically
evaded questions of State responsibility in acts of communal violence on the ground.
★ the Hon’ble Apex court observed that If a criminal court is to be an effective instrument
in dispensing justice, the presiding Judge must cease to be a spectator and a mere
recording machine by becoming a participant in the trial evincing intelligence, active
interest and elicit all relevant materials necessary for reaching the correct conclusion, to
find out the truth, and administer justice with fairness and impartiality both to the parties
and to the community it serves. The courts administering criminal justice cannot turn a
blind eye to vexatious or oppressive conduct that he occurred in relation to proceedings,
even if a fair trial is still possible, except at the risk of undermining the fair name and
standing of the judges as impartial and independent adjudicators.
★ The judgment critically invokes the inquisitorial role of Courts to be “circumspect in
evaluating the evidence”, actively participate in the evidence collecting process instead of
adopting an attitude of total aloofness and throwing hands in the air in despair. An
acquittal made out because of deliberately faulty investigation, evidence-gathering and
 prosecution cannot be considered an acquittal in the eyes of law; “decency, decorum and
judicial discipline should never be made casualties by adopting such intemperate attitudes
of judicial obstinacy”.
★ An overarching goal of the criminal justice system was held to be to protect the eyes and
ears of justice, that is witnesses of the commission of an offence. Particularly, “if the
witness himself is incapacitated from acting as eyes and ears of justice, the trial gets
putrefied and paralyzed, and it no longer can constitute a fair trial”.
★ In this particular case, the Supreme Court entitled the complainant with a choice in the
matter of selecting an independent Public Prosecutor during the retrial in the State of
Maharashtra and imposed a duty on the States of Maharashtra and Gujarat to provide
necessary protection to all witnesses during the course of the trial.
★ In this manner, Zahira Sheikh v. State of Gujarat,by enunciating principles critical to the
delivery of criminal justice in India, has had far-reaching implications for a progressive
victimology jurisprudence and provides hope for an eventual reworking of an impartial,
independent and competent criminal justice machinery in cases of communal violence
specifically and criminal offences generally.

ROLE OF POLICE IN ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE:

The term police in general sense, associated with the maintainance of public order and the
protection of citizen from crime and other dangerous incidents which are unlawful. Police
constitutes the third most important pillar of criminal justice system while judiciary and
prosecution are other two important pillars. Police plays a crucial role in the investigation of
crime, and it is the police that first come in contact with witnesses, victims and accused. To be
more specific, police is the one which mainly identifies the accused and help the prosecution to
prove the guilt of accused in the criminal trials, this mainly happens with investigation.

As per the criminal law of India, the police is empowered to investigate cognizable offences
(Section 2(c), Code Of Criminal Procedure, 1973) without permission of the Magistrate, and for
the investigation of non-cognizable offences (Section 2(l) of the Code of Criminal
Procedure1973), police must first take permission from the Magistrate.

The process of criminal justice has the following major steps

1. Step 1 Registration of a First Information Report (FIR).

The criminal justice process begins with the registration of the first intelligence report.
An FIR is a document created by the police when they receive information about the
execution of a recognizable crime.
 2. Step 2 Police officers go to the crime scene and investigate facts of the case.

Police investigations mainly include:

o Criminal investigations
o Witnesses and suspects investigations
o Name records of the accused
o Conducting investigations
o Seizure of property
o Collection of fingerprints, footprints, and other scientific evidence
o Record reference and entry Case Diaries, diaries, station diaries, etc.
predetermined record of the investigations conducted.
o Arrest and detention
3. Defendant Interrogation

After the step 3 of investigation is complete, the Office in Charge of Police Department
sends a report to the local Magistrate which is called as the charge sheet when
considered. The report sent by Investigator is in the form of a claim if there is sufficient
evidence to prosecute Defendant.

4. When sufficient evidence is not available to prosecute the defendant, such a report is
referred to as a final report and the same is taken for consideration.
Step 4 claim, the court will begin a trial of the case with recognition.

5. Charges to the accused are framed and after following the procedure, the prosecution
must definitely prove the defendant's allegations in the same context by stating full and
proper directions. At this stage , the accused is given ample opportunity to protect
himself.

6. Step 6: A court convicted of a trial may declare one of the following Punishment to
the accused
a. Fine
b. Property Forfeiture
c. Simple Imprisonment
d. Rigourous Imprisonment
e. Life Imprisonment
f. Death Penalty

Police Officer
● A police force is a constituted body of persons empowered by a state to enforce the law,
to protect people and property, and to prevent crime and civil disorder.
 ● The term is most commonly associated with police services of a sovereign state that are
authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial
area of responsibility.

● Law enforcement is only part of policing activity. Policing has included an array of
activities in different situations, but the predominant ones are concerned with the
preservation of order.

● Each state and union territory of India has its own separate police force. Article 246 of
the Constitution of India designates the police as a state subject, which means that the
state governments frame the rules and regulations that govern each police force. These
rules and regulations are contained in the police manuals of each state force.

● The head of the police force in each state is the Director General of Police (DGP), who is
responsible to the state government for the administration of the police force in each
state, and for advising the government on police matters. The DGP represents the highest
rank in the police hierarchy.

● The hierarchical structure of the police in India follows a vertical alignment consisting of
senior officers drawn, by and large, from The Indian Police Service (IPS) who do the
supervisory work, the "upper subordinates" who work generally at the police station
level, and the police constabulary who are delegated the patrolling, surveillance, guard
duties, and law and order work.

● According to the preamble of Police Act, 1861 “the police officer is an instrument for
the prevention and detection of crime. Police department plays an important role in
maintaining peace and order. They derive the power to investigate from Criminal
Procedure Code.

ROLE OF POLICE IN ADMINSTRATION OF JUSTICE:

When any crime happens , there are so many steps which has been taken in the administration of
justice. Here, we are discussing about the role of police in the administration of justice, so there
are so many points and steps which is initiated by a police when any crime happens such as-
registration of FIR( First Information Report), making arrest of accused, conducting
investigation , medical examination of accused, preparation of charge sheet and so on.
 ROLE OF POLICE

Before Investigation: During Investigation: After Investigation:

1. To accurately register 1. To find out the cause of 1. To make the
F.I.R. about the offence which the Crime and any other matter charge sheet of the
was committed whether it has related to crime. offence committed.
been committed in their
jurisdiction or not. 2. To Arrest the Accused 2. In case of missing
for Inquiry related to offence some facts, the police
2. To prevent commission of investigate the search
any cognizable offence. 3. To seize the offensive area at the order of the
weapons and search the area Magistrate.
3. To maintain Law and where the crime has been
Order. committed. 3. To seek Police
Custody when
4. To protect internal 4. To examine the Investigation is not
security. witnesses to find out the real completed within 24 hours
culprit. and it is given maximum
5. To protect public
property. 5. Where FIR is given up to 15 days.
under section 154
CrPC; or
6. To aware public about 6. Where the police officer
their rights and duties towards has otherwise reason to
the society. suspect the commission
of a cognizable offence [
7. To prevent crimes S. 157(1) & 156(1)
8. To protect public properties CrPC ] or

9. To promote and preserve 7. Where a competent

public order Magistrate orders the
police under Section
10. To maintain law and 156(3) without taking
order. cognizance of the
offence on a complaint
11. To prevent and control
under section 200.
terrorist activities.
8. After taking cognizance
12. To protect internal
of the offence on a
security
complaint for the
13. To prevent commission of purpose of deciding as
to the issue of process
BEFORE INVESTIGATION:

8. To accurately register complaint brought by complainant

9. To register Zero FIR and not to just deny the person to lodge the complaint just because the
place where offence was committed doesn’t comes under their jurisdiction

10. Preserve, promote and protect human rights and interest of weaker section, backward classes.

11. To take preventive action but a police must not exercise this power arbitrarily.

12. To do patrolling and prohibit sale of illegal articles. D2

OTHER POWERS OF POLICE

Police seeks police custody under section 167 when investigation is not completed within 24
hours. Police custody is given maximum up to 15 days. This is called as police custody.)

● The magistrate may authorize the detention of the accused person otherwise than in the
custody of police beyond the period of 15 days, if he is satisfied that adequate grounds
exist but the detention should not exceed 90 days where the investigation relates to an
offence punishable with death, life imprisonment, or 10 years imprisonment and
detention should also not exceed 60 days in case of other offences.

● On the expiry of said period of 90 days or 60 days the accused shall be released on bail if
he is prepared to and does furnish bail.

● Police can release the accused when evidence is deficient as per section 169 CrPC.

● Police power to inquire and report on suicide is given in section 174

● Medical Examination of the victim of rape

● Search by Police Officer

CASE LAWS REGARDING:

FIR:
 Ashok Kumar Todi v. Kishwar Jahan (2011),
Court held in the case that registration of the FIR should be treated as a condition precedent to
the starting of the investigation.

State of U.P. v. Mukesh (2013)

Court held in this case that FIR is an intimation regarding the happening of an event. It is to be
noted that only the main information received needs to be mentioned in the regular diary. Also,
this information shall not be considered the source of every fact.

Tapinder Singh v. State of Punjab (1970)

Court held that where the information is anonymously given via telephonic message and it does
not clarify a cognizable offence, then it cannot be treated as an FIR.

INVESTIGATION:

Prabal Dogra v. Superintendent of Police, Gwalior and State of M.P (2018)

HELD - the High Court in the exercise of powers u/s 482 of CrPC cannot order or direct the
police to search for a particular point of view or in a particular direction. The Court also cannot
supervise the investigation by issuing directions as it pleases to do so. It further stated that
investigation exclusively comes under the domain of police and the sanctity of same should be
maintained.

However, in the case of

T.T. Antony v. State of Kerala (2001)

the Court stated that the police should not overreach and transgress the power given to them. If
done so, the High Court may in the interest of justice under Section 482 of CrPC or under Article
226/ 227 of the Indian Constitution prohibit the police from conducting further investigation to
prevent the abuse of power.

Manubhai Ratilal Patel Tr. Ushaben v. State of Gujarat (2013)

In the case of Manubhai, it was held that investigation exclusively comes under the domain of
the police. Thus, it is the police that has been empowered to perform the task of investigation
before the commencing of a criminal trial, thereby digging out the facts and circumstances of a
criminal case.

Shantibhai J. Vaghela v. State of Gujrat (2013)

It was held , that the police can exercise the power of further investigation even after the filing of
a charge sheet.

State of U.P v. Sant Prakash (1976)

The Allahabad High Court held that investigation is mainly conducted for the collection of
evidence, and it must necessarily be conducted by the police officer or any other person
authorised by the Magistrate.

ARREST

Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar (2014)

it was held that in cases where the offence is punishable with less than 7 years, be it with a fine
or without a fine, the police shall not unnecessarily arrest the accused. The Court further stated
that the Magistrate must not authorize and order arrest or detention casually or mechanically.

The same opinion was reiterated by the Gujrat High Court in the case of

Kamuben Somaji Bhavaji Thakore v. State of Gujrat (2022)

ROLE OF PUBLIC PROSECUTOR IN ADMINSTRATION OF

JUSTICE:
● Prosecutors are typically lawyers who possess a law degree, and are recognized as legal
professionals by the court in which they intend to represent society (that is, they have
been admitted to the bar).

● They usually only become involved in a criminal case once a suspect has been identified
and charges need to be filed. They are typically employed by an office of the
government, with safeguards in place to ensure such an office can successfully pursue the
 prosecution of government officials. Often, multiple offices exist in a single country,
especially in those countries with federal governments where sovereignty has been
bifurcated or devolved in some way.

● Public Prosecutor is a person that has been appointed either by the central Government
or the State government to represent cases on behalf of the State in criminal trials. The
main role of the public prosecutor is to serve the ends of justice in the best interests of the
public.

● A public prosecutor is a part of the state's judiciary or judicial process, who acts as in-
charge in case of litigation, appeal and other procedures related to law. The task of a
public prosecutor is to assist in the court's work by putting all necessary aspects related to
the case.

● Public Prosecutor has been defined under Section 2(u), Section 24, Section 25 and
Section 25A of Cr.P.C. 2(u) defines “Public Prosecutor” means any person appointed
under section 24, and includes any person acting under the directions of a Public
Prosecutor;

Babu vs State of Kerala,

The Court observed that Public Prosecutors are ministers of justice who is duty bound to assist
the judge in the administration of justice.

SECTION 24: PUBLIC PROSECUTOR:

. For every High Court, the Central Government or the State Government shall, after
consultation with the High Court, appoint a Public Prosecutor and may also appoint one or more
Additional Public Prosecutors, for conducting in such Court, any prosecution, appeal or other
proceeding on behalf of the Central Government or State Government, as the case may be.

2. The Central Government may appoint one or more Public Prosecutors for the purpose of
conducting any case or class of cases in any district or local area.

3. For every district, the State Government shall appoint a Public Prosecutor and may also
appoint one or more Additional Public Prosecutors for the district: Provided that the Public
Prosecutor or Additional Public Prosecutor appointed for one district may be appointed also to be
a Public Prosecutor or an Additional Public Prosecutor, as the case may be, for another district.

4. The District Magistrate shall, in consultation with the Sessions Judge, prepare a panel of
names of persons, who are, in his opinion fit to be appointed as Public Prosecutors or Additional
Public Prosecutors for the district.
5. No person shall be appointed by the State Government as the Public Prosecutor or
Additional Public Prosecutor for the district unless his name appears in the panel of names
prepared by the District Magistrate under sub- section

6. Notwithstanding anything contained in sub- section (5), where in a State there exists a
regular Cadre of Prosecuting Officers, the State Government shall appoint a Public Prosecutor or
an Additional Public Prosecutor only from among the persons constituting such Cadre: Provided
that where, in the opinion of the State Government, no suitable person is available in such Cadre
for such appointment that Government may appoint a person as Public Prosecutor or Additional
Public Prosecutor, as the case may be, from the panel of names prepared by the District
Magistrate under sub- section (4).

7. A person shall be eligible to be appointed as a Public Prosecutor or an Additional Public

Prosecutor under sub- section (1) or sub- section (2) or sub- section (3) or sub- section (6), only
if he has been in practice as an advocate for not less than seven years.

8. The Central Government or the State Government may appoint, for the purposes of any case
or class of cases, a person who has been in practice as an advocate for not less than ten years as a
Special Public Prosecutor.

For the purposes of sub- section (7) and sub- section (8), the period during which a person has
been in practice as a pleader, or has rendered (whether before or after the commencement of this
Code) service as a Public Prosecutor or as an Additional Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public
Prosecutor or other Prosecuting Officer, by whatever name called, shall be deemed to be the
period during which such person has been in practice as an advocate

SECTION 25: Assistant Public Prosecutors

1. The State Government shall appoint in every district one or more Assistant public
Prosecutors for conducting prosecutions in the Courts of Magistrates.
1A. The Central Government may appoint one or more Assistant Public Prosecutors for
the purpose of conducting any case or class of cases in the Courts of Magistrates.
2. Save as otherwise provided in Sub-Section (3), no police officer shall be eligible to be
appointed as an Assistant Public Prosecutor.
3. Where no Assistant Public Prosecutor is available for the purposes of any particular case,
the District Magistrate may appoint any other person to be the Assistant Public
Prosecutor in charge of that case;

Provided that a police officer shall not be so appointed—

1. if he has taken any part in the investigation into the offence with respect to which
the accused is being prosecuted; or
2. if he is below the rank of Inspector.

25A. Directorate of Prosecution

 1. The State Government may establish a Directorate of Prosecution consisting of a Director
of Prosecution and as many Deputy Directors of Prosecution as it thinks fit.
2. A person shall be eligible to be appointed as a Director of Prosecution or a Deputy
Director of Prosecution, only if he has been in practice as an advocate for not less than
ten years and such appointment shall be made with the concurrence of the Chief Justice
of the High Court.
3. The Head of the Directorate of Prosecution shall be the Director of Prosecution, who
shall function under the administrative control of the Head of the Home Department in
the State.
4. Every Deputy Director of Prosecution shall be subordinate to the Director of Prosecution.
5. Every Public Prosecutor, Additional Public Prosecutor and Special Public Prosecutor
appointed by the State Government under Sub-Section (1), or as the case may be, Sub-
Section (8), of section 24 to conduct cases in the High Court shall be subordinate to the
Director of Prosecution.
6. Every Public Prosecutor, Additional Public Prosecutor and Special Public Prosecutor
appointed by the State Government under Sub-Section (3), or as the case may be, Sub-
Section (8), of section 24 to conduct cases in District Courts and every Assistant Public
Prosecutor appointed under Sub-Section (1) of section 25 shall be subordinate to the
Deputy Director of Prosecution.
7. The powers and functions of the Director of Prosecution and the Deputy Directors of
Prosecution and the areas for which each of the Deputy Directors of Prosecution have
been appointed shall be such as the State Government may, by notification, specify.

The provisions of this section shall not apply to the Advocate General for the State while
performing the functions of a Public Prosecutor.

ROLE OF PUBLIC PROSECUTOR:

PUBLIC PROSECUTOR

During Trial: After Trial:

1. To represent the state in the case and not the 1. In case of dissatisfaction, the Public
police because it is an independent authority. Prosecutor may appeal in the higher court.

2. To place before the Court whatever evidence is

in his/her possession.

3. To plea before the Court to provide justice to

his/her client.

4. To make material facts on record as he/she is

an agent of justice.

5. Sanction

6. orders
Before Trial:

1. The Police deposit the Challan in the Court in theNEXT

presencePAGE
of the Public Prosecutor.

2. To assist the Police in finding out the facts of the case.

3. To make a strategy on how to provide justice to his client and to convict the accused for a longer period.

4. Trial

5. Prosecution

6. Presumption of innocence: Accused presumed to be innocent. Deprivation of life / personal liberty only in
accordance with procedure established by law (See Article 21 of the Indian Constitution)

7. Equality: The guarantee of equality before the law .

8. Equal Protection: Equal protection of the laws.

9. beyond all reasonable doubt: The guilt must be proved beyond all reasonable doubt

5. The
7. Double
rightjeopardy: Protection
of the accused againstsilent.
to remain double jeopardy Non-retrospective punishment

6.
8. Prohibition of discrimination:
Arrest/detention Prohibition
must be in accordance of law
with discrimination
and judicialimposed upon the State.
guidelines.

9. Speedy trial.

Zahira Habibullah vs State of Gujarat

In the case where the conduct of the ‘’ BEST BAKERY ‘’ case in the Hon’ble Gujarat High
Court , involving the burning down of an establishment in Vadodara which caused the death of
14 persons, came up for consideration before the Hon’ble Supreme Court, leading to what
Rajeeva Dhavan has described as ‘’ The severest indictment eve of the Justice and governance
system any State’’. The Hon’ble Supreme Court ordered retrial of the matter in The Hon’ble
High Court of Maharashtra, and observed that in Gujarat, ‘’ The Public Prosecutor appears to
have acted more as a defence counsel than one whose duty was to present the truth before the
Court’’.

In R K Jain v. State , the Supreme Court sketched out the contours of the public prosecutor’s
power for withdrawal of cases. In Shonandan Paswan v. State of Bihar and in Mohd. Mumtaz v.
Nandini Satpathy, the Supreme Court ruled that the public prosecutor can withdraw a
prosecution at any stage and that the only limitation is the requirement of the consent of the
court.

ROLE OF DEFENCE COUNCIL IN ADMINSTRATION OF

JUSTICE:
Every person arrested by the police has a right to defend himself with the help of a counsel.

A defence attorney is a lawyer representing the defendant in a criminal trial. Most defence
attorneys specialize in criminal defence, and some further narrow their practice to specific types
of criminal defence. A defence attorney can work as part of a large or small law firm, or a private
practice. Like all attorneys, a defence attorney is a highly educated professional and a member of
the state bar. A criminal defence lawyer is hired to defend both individuals and corporations,
called defendants in legal settings, who have been arrested as suspects for unlawful activities.
This type of lawyer may also be known as a defence attorney or simply as a criminal lawyer.
Criminal defence lawyers have a deep knowledge about the law and how the court system works.
They have attended law school, and usually have several years of experience. A criminal defence
lawyer can either be hired by a defendant or appointed by the court if the defendant cannot afford
an attorney on his or her own

Both the Constitution of India and the Code of Criminal Procedure on the accused a right to
consult and to be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice. The accused’s right to have a
lawyer of his choice is also a constitutional right under Article 22. Section 303 provides that after
initiating any proceeding against the accused, the accused should be defended by a lawyer of his
choice. On the other hand S.304 requires the court under certain circumstances to arrange lawyer
for his defence at the state’s expenses. Article 39-A also provides free legal aid, because as per
this directive principles this is the duty of the state to provide free legal aid.

The Supreme Court in case of

SUKH DEV v. STATE OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH,

held that conviction of the accused in a trial in which he was not provided any defence lawyer
would be set aside as being violative of Article 21 of the constitution.
 Similarly, in

D.K. Basu v. State of W.B.,

certain guidelines have been given which has been included in the Crpc. Section 41(A) to 41(D)
has been inserted by the recommendation of Malimath Committee. If a case advances to a trial,
the most important goal of the defence attorney is to create a reasonable doubt in the minds of
the judges. This can be done in a variety of ways, from the introduction of exculpatory evidence,
to the discrediting of adverse witnesses. Information given to a defence attorney by his client is
generally confidential but when there is national security interest at stake they would try to
extract sensitive information from their clients and to disclose them.

State of Madhya Pradesh v.Shobharam

It was provided that any law that takes away the right to defend is against the rights guaranteed
in the constitution. This provision should be construed in relation to Article 22 of the
Constitution of India.

ROLE OF DEFENCE COUNSEL:

DEFENCE COUNSEL

During Trial: After Trial:

1. To represent the accused in the case. 1. The Defence Counsel may

appeal in the higher court in case of
2. To create a reasonable doubt in the minds of the dissatisfaction of the judgement.
judge.

3. To present all evidences to rebut the prosecutor’s

arguments and challenges.

4. To determine which witness to call and how they

should be examined.

5. To make a strategy on how his/her client should be

acquitted from that offence.
Before Trial:

 Gathering Information about the case from all witnesses and understands the case.
 To look after all the aspects of the case.
 To inform the defendant of his rights and defends those rights to ensure they have not been violated.
 To negotiate with the prosecutor to have charges reduced or even dropped.
 During Narcos Analysis, the defendant must be questioned in the presence of the Defence Counsel.
 To provide Bail as well as Anticipatory Bail in Offences.

 Represent the accused after arrest to give advice during police questioning and make sure constitutional
rights are not violated during pretrial procedures.
 Investigate details of the offense on behalf of the accused.
 Discuss the case with the prosecutor to determine the strength of the prosecution's case.
 Represent the accused at bail hearings and hearings on pretrial motions.
 Negotiate deals with prosecutors, usually involving reduced charges and lighter sentences.
 Devise a defence strategy.
 Represent the accused at trial.

CONCLUSION
The functionaries under the Code of Criminal Procedure are very essential for the enforcement of
various provisions of this Code. Each functionary has a different duty which together regulates
various provisions of this code. The public should be aware of the various functions performed
by these functionaries in order to approach them when there is an issue. The Public should
support these functionaries in every way possible to help them perform their duties. Thus these
authorities form an important part of the criminal proceedings.