SOP Station House Management by Kerala Police

102 9. COURT CRAFT
rest. (as per scale of escort
of prisoners) In view
of the present day conditions
and uproar over use of handcuffs,
there is every need to increase
the strength of escort.
The Higher Courts have observed
that instead of using
handcuffs, the strength of the
Police should be increased.
In case a warrant issued
could not be executed inspite
of best efforts, the SHO
should file a report that the
person against whom a warrant
is issued in absconding
or trying to conceal his presence;
the SHO should submit
a report to the Court issuing
such warrant and such
Court may publish a written
proclamation requiring him
to appear at specific place
and at a specified time not
less than thirty days from
the date of publishing such
proclamation (Section-82
of CrPC). Such order shall
be publicly read in a conspicuous
place where such person
resides and it should be affixed
to a house where such
person resides or a conspicuous
place of that village or
town where he resides. In
case, the offender fails to appear
in the Court as per the
directions in proclamation order,
it may order for attachment
(Section-83 of CrPC).
9.7 Court Case Diaries
The SHO should write case
diaries as long as the case is
PT and even after disposal
by Court if there are any further
developments such as appeal,
revision etc. It means
that the SHO should follow
the case till the end. The case
diary should be written on the
same day of the proceedings in
the Court. These diaries are
known as Court case diaries.
The Court case diary should
contain
(1) Crime Number
(2) Section of Law
(3) Police Station
(4) Name of the Complainant
(5) Name (s) of Accused
(6) Property lost
(7) Property recovered
(8) Date of the last CD
(9) Date of Charge Sheet
(10) Number of witnesses
cited in the Charge Sheet
(11) Number of witnesses
already examined
(12) Number of witnesses
examined on the hearing date
(the day of diary)
(13) The manner in which
the witnesses deposed their
statements
(14) Name of the prosecutor
who conducted the prosecution
(15) Name and Rank of
the Police Officer who attended
the Court and
(16) Remarks - In this column,
any other proceedings or
developments that have taken
place, accused granted bail or
those on bail remanded to Judicial
Custody after cancellation
of bail, any accused absent
on the hearing date, summons
or warrants issued, accused
convicted and sentence
passed or accused acquitted
etc. Even oral instructions
given by Judge or Magistrate
or remarks made by defense
counsel are noted. The Information
would help in taking
further action if necessary, in
the interests of the case.
Though it is not a legal
binding on SHO to physically
produce the witness, in the
interest of justice and successful
prosecution, the SHO
should take interest in accruing
the presence of witnesses
instead of simply either
serving summons or executing
warrants and see that
the witnesses are not influenced
or won over by the defense.
A day in advance, the
SHO should see that in all
important cases the witnesses
are reminded of their statements
recorded under Section
161 CrPC and the possible
cross-examination questions.
The prosecutor conducting
the case should also get acquainted
with the witnesses,
their temperament and the
facts they should depose in
the Court.
Most of the convicted
cases fail in the appellate
Courts since the Police officers
do not pursue the case.
The Public Prosecutors do
not have sufficient knowledge
of the facts of the case; at
times, they do not have the
case file and the statements
recorded that have to be argued
based on CDs. If he
does not have full facts of the
case, he will not be able to
present the case to the satisfaction
of the Court. In
majority of the cases where
the Police officers have followed
up the case, they were
successfully dealt. It may
also be necessary to immediately
apprehend the accused
in cases in which convictions
were upheld, otherwise the accused
may abscond and it may
not be possible to apprehend
them.