This article has been written by Varsha Thapa of 2nd year B.B.A.L.L.B. studying in Army Law College.

SUMMONS CASE

Section 204 (1) (a) in chapter 20 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 defines summons case. 

Summon is a document issued by magistrate in order to call up a person to appear before the court, when a case has been registered against him/her. The document must be in writing, signed by the lead officer of the concerned court with court’s seal.

Summon case is related to summon as a document is sent to the accused to appear before court. Summon issued to defendant shall appear within thirty days of issue of summon and not beyond that.

Penalty & punishment

Under summons case  punishment will not exceed imprisonment for two years.

The court can also impose penalty to the person under summons case, for that it may-

1. Issue a warrant for his arrest.
2. Attach and sell his property.
3. Impose a fine upon him/her (Not exceeding five thousand rupees).
4. Order him for imprisonment in civil prison.

Appearance of defendant

A defendant is whom a summons has been issued can appear:

1. In person, or
2. By an advocate who is instructed and able to answer.
3. By and advocate accompanied with some person to answer.

Trial In Summons Case

1. Explanation of accused offence: In summons case, it is not necessary to frame a charge but accused must be explained his charge and asked whether he want to appeal guilty.
2.  Conviction on plea of guilty: In case the accused appears to be guilty, i.e., accept his offence then his plea shall be recorded and then convicted by the magistrate. 

1. Conviction on plea of guilty in absence of accused: According to this section, if the defender on behalf of the accused appears to be guilty the Magistrate with caution can order conviction of the accused.
2. Procedure when not convicted: If the accused is not convicted then the Magistrate forward for trial and evidences of both side  prosecution & defence will be recorded.  
3.  Acquittal or conviction (Section 255 of Code of Criminal Procedure): After examining evidence & witnesses from both sides perspective, the Magistrate on basis of fair grounds decides the conviction of the accused. 
4. The complaint is absent or death of complainant: If the complainant is absent on the hearing, the magistrate can adjourn  the case till next hearing or acquit the accused. In some trials, magistrate can proceed further with it where the presence of the complainant is not necessary. 
5. Complaint withdrawal: The complainant can withdraw the case at any moment with the permission of the Magistrate before passing of the final order. Then the magistrate can acquit the accused. 
6. Court power of converting summon case to warrant case: When a summons case is held with punishment with imprisonment of more than six months then it can be converted into a warrant case under supervision of the court as well as magistrate.
7. Compensation of accused: In some cases where there are no sufficient evidences  for accusation, then the accused can be acquitted or discharged. The Magistrate can issue an order of compensation to the accused. In case the complainant fails to compensate the accused he will be punished with imprisonment of Thirty days

WARRANT CASE

A case relating to an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life, imprisonment for term exceeding Two years falls under the category of warrant case. The offenses are usually cognizable which are serious in nature and the police can arrest without warrant.

A warrant is a issued document that focuses on bringing accused to the court who has not appeared yet even after he/she is summoned.

Penalty and punishment 

Warrant cases are offenses punishable with

• Death penalty.
• Life imprisonment.
• Imprisonment which extend for a term of more than two years. 

Procedure for issue of a warrant

In order to arrest an accused a warrant is issued by the court. Following are the procedure for issue of warrant:

1. Object of warrant: criminal procedure code states in some cases that person can be arrested without a warrant but cannot remain in custody for more than 24 hours. A warrant of arrest is applicable until it is executed or canceled by the court which issued it.
2. Essentials of warrant: according to section 70 of CrPC, the warrant must be in writing, signed by the magistrate as well as must have the seal of the court.
3. Contents of warrant: it should mention the name and other particulars of the person who is to be arrested. It should specify the offenses to be charged and clearly show the authority given to the person for arrest.
4. Execution of warrant: according to section 72 a warrant cane be taken in charged by police officer or any person.according to section 74, warrant taken in charge by police officer can also be executed by any other police officer whose name is countersigned upon officer given first.

Trial of warrant case

• Cases based on police report

Before the trial begins for warrant cases, it is mandatory for the initial step to be justified that is filling of FIR. 

Once the FIR is filled investigation takes place on exploring facts and verifying them. Thereafter a charge sheet is made and the documents are given to magistrate.

Following are the steps in which cases based on police reporter:

1. Provide a copy of police report to the accused: A copy of police report is necessary to be given to the accused so that he/she can made aware of of charges upon him. A copy must be supplied before appearing in the court.
2. Discharge after considering police report on completion on investigation: if the magistrate finds that there are no grounds on based of the charges applied to the accused then the accused is discharged. The prima facie of case is also considered.
3. Framing a charges: if magistrate finds valid evidences or grounds to  mean the allegations of the accused to be presumed as serious  or accused has committed or is capable of committing, then further procedure can take place. The charges are framed by court as well as explained to the accused person.  After explaining  of charges accused shall be asked whether he pleads guilty or innocent.
4. Date for prosecution evidence: A date for prosecution evidence is given to examine and collect all relevant evidences. Summon can be issued by the court to witness and cross examine can be done by defence.
5. Statement of accused: Accused can bring back all those witnesses and evidences with permission of court. The accused given the statement which is written  about all the incident, witnesses and evidences. 
6. Acquittal or conviction: There are two sections that courts must be careful with.

1. Section 325- If the punishment is severe than the court jurisdiction then it can pass the case on to higher jurisdiction.
2. Section 360- Tells us about probation  to be given to accused. Both section must be under supervision and previous conviction shall discussed.

• Cases not based on police reports (private complaint):

1. Evidence for persecution: With the permission of magistrate , the complaint can also be directly filled without intervention of making a police report. Prosecution can also take all the evidences, witnesses and documents and issues a summon.
2. Discharge: If no sufficient grounds are found then the court can discharge the case with reasons in record.
3. Procedure when not discharged: If the court finds that there are no sufficient grounds for further proceeding then on the basis of evidences, it can prepare charges and must be explained to the accused which further says if he wants to plead guilty or not.
4. Acquittal or conviction: There are two sections that courts must be careful with.

1. Section 325- If the punishment is severe than the court jurisdiction then it can pass the case on to higher jurisdiction.

1. b) Section 360- Tells us about probation  to be given to accused. Both section must be under supervision and previous conviction shall discussed.

Difference between summons case and warrant case

Refrencces 

• https://legalpaathshala.com/summons-case-and-warrant-case/ 

• https://lawcorner.in/difference-between-summon-case-and-warrant-case/ 

• https://www.juscorpus.com/trial-of-summons-cases-under-crpc/