Law: Criminal Procedure Code (V of 1898)

Section: 309

Criminal Procedure Code (V of 1898)--S. 309-Mere failure to record questions put to assessors on each charge-Irregularity and not illegality vitiating trial-Non-compliance with provisions of section in respect of minor part of case--Whether and when vitiates conviction. Muhammad Sajjad v. The State P L D 19 61 S C 13 ref. JUDGMENT S. A. MAHMOOD, J.-Akbar (46) Jalal (35), Muhammada (50) and Barkat (25) have been sentenced to transportation for life under section 302/34, P. P. C. and to pay Rs. 200 each as fine or, in default, to suffer one year's further R. I. each. The offence is alleged to have been committed at about 3-30 p.m., on the 22nd of July 1961 at Chah Dhoraywala. There is also a petition for enhancement of the sentence by Qadar Bakhsh. The appeal and the revision petition will be disposed of by this order. 2. Before dealing with the merits of the case, it is necessary to state that the appellants were also charged under section 342/34, P. P. C., by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Multan, but were acquitted of this charge. 3. Mr. Saleem, learned counsel for the appellants, contended to begin with that as the statements of the assessors were not recorded on each of the charges the trial was vitiated. We find from the record that at the conclusion of the trial the learned Additional Sessions Judge did not record the questions which he asked from the assessors to ascertain what their opinions were on each of the charges, as required by section 309(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, but recorded their answers, from which it has to be decided whether they were questioned on the charge under section 342/34, P. P. C., or not. In our opinion, mere' failure to record the questions is an irregularity in procedure's and is not such an illegality as affects the validity of the trial. Therefore, what remains to be decided is whether the assessors were in fact questioned about both the charges or not. Karam Khan, the first assessor, stated that in his opinion the accused were not guilty of the murder of the deceased and that he placed no reliance on the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses. Malik Muhammad Hassan, the second assessor, agreed with the…

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