Guidelines of supreme court to be followed by court if accused is not co-operating in examination of witnesses
If any court finds that the day-to-day examination of witnesses mandated by the legislature cannot be complied with due to the non-cooperation of the Accused or his counsel the court can adopt any of the measures indicated in the Sub-section i.e. remanding the Accused to custody or imposing cost on the party who wants such adjournments (the cost must be commensurate with the loss suffered by the witnesses, including the expenses to attend the court). Another option is, when the Accused is absent and the witness is present to be examined, the court can cancel his bail, if he is on bail (unless an application is made on his behalf seeking permission for his counsel to proceed to examine the witnesses present even in his absence provided the Accused gives an undertaking in writing that he would not dispute his identity as the particular Accused in the case).
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Criminal Appeal Nos. 2045-2046 of 2017 (Arising out of Special Leave Petition (Crl.) Nos. 8994-8995 of 2015)
Decided On: 28.11.2017
Doongar Singh and Ors. Vs. The State of Rajasthan
Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
A.K. Goel and U.U. Lalit, JJ.