A
PROJECT ON
LAW OF CRIMES- II
“PROCESS TO COMPEL APPEARANCE UNDER CRPC”
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CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Summons
3. Warrant of arrest
4. Proclamation for person absconding and attachment
5. Modes of attachment
6. Warrant in lieu of summon
7. Bond of Appearance
8. Conclusion
9. Bibliography
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INTRODUCTION
This deals with the Pre- trial procedure, particularly, summoning of accused person, witness
and production of relevant material in evidence before the trial court. The courts have wide
powers to compel appearance of a person in a court. There are six ways of process to compel
a person to appear in court, viz
1. By issue of Summons
2. By issue of Warrant of arrest
3. Proclamation of an absconder
4. Attachment of , property
5. Warrant in lieu of or in addition to, summons
6. By taking bond with or without sureties
This topic deals with these processes which a court is competent to issue to compel the
appearance of a person in a court of law.
(1) SUMMONS:
It is a document issued from the office of a court of justice calling upon the person to whom
it is directed to attend before a judge or officer of the court.
Section 61Forms of summons: Code requires that every summons issued by a court shall be
in writing in duplicate signed and sealed by the presiding officer of such court.
It states in clear terms the title of the court, the place at which and the day or time of the day
when the attendance of the person summoned is required.
Section62Summons how served:The summons shall be served by a police officer or an
officer of the court issuing it or other public servant.
The summons has to be served personally on the person, summoned by delivering a duplicate
copy of the summons, who signs receipt therefore on the back of the other.
Section 63Service on a corporation:
Service of a summons on an incorporated company may be affected by serving it on the
secretary, local manager or other principal officer of the corporation or by registered post
letter addressed to the chief officer of the corporation in India.
Section 64Where the person summoned not found:
Where the person summoned cannot be found, the summons may be served by leaving one of
the duplicates for him with some adult member of his family residing with him, and the
person with whom the summons is so left shall sign a receipt therefore on the back of the
other duplicate. A servant is not a member of the family within the meaning of Section 64.
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Section 65when service cannot be affected: If service in the manner mentioned above in
Sections 62, 63 and 64 cannot be effected, the serving officer shall affix one of the duplicates
of the summons to some conspicuous part of the house or homestead in which the person
summoned ordinarily resides, and thereupon the Court after making such inquiries as it thinks
fit, may either declare that the summons has been duly served or order fresh service in such
manner as it considers proper. This is called substituted service.
Section 66Service on Government servant:
If a Government servant has to be summoned, the summons shall be sent by the court in
duplicate to the head of the office in which such person is employed, and such head shall
thereupon cause the summons to be served personally on the person summoned and shall
return a duplicate copy to the court under his signature with the endorsement of receipt
effected thereon.
Section 67Service of summons outside local limits:
Where a summons is to be served outside the local limits of jurisdiction of the court issuing
it, service has to be effected by sending it in duplicate to the Magistrate within whose
jurisdiction the person summoned resides.
Section 69Service of summons on witness by post:
Notwithstanding anything contained in the preceding sections of this chapter, a Court
issuing a summons to a witness may in addition to and simultaneously with the issue
of such summons, direct a copy of the summons to be served by registered post
addressed to the witness at the place where he ordinarily resides or carries on business
or personally works for gain.
When an acknowledgment purporting to be signed by the witness or an endorsement
purporting to be made by a postal employee that the witness refused to take delivery
of the summons has been received, the Court issuing the summons may declare that
the summons has been duly served.
(2) WARRANT OF ARREST:
The second method of securing attendance of a person is by means of a warrant of arrest. The
warrant is an order addressed to a certain person directing him to arrest the accused and to
produce him before the court.
Section 70 Form of warrant of arrest and duration: It is executed by a Magistrate on good
and legal ground only. Section 70 of the Code gives the essentials of a warrant of arrest. It
lays down that every warrant of arrest issued by a court shall be in writing, signed by the
presiding officer of such court, and shall bear the seal of the court.
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From a reading of the above it is clear that in order to be valid a warrant must fulfil the
following requisites:
(i) It must be in writing;
(ii) It must be signed by the presiding officer;
(iii) It must bear the name and designation of the police officer or other person who is to
execute it;
(iv) It must give full particulars of the person to be arrested so as to identify him clearly;
(v) It must specify the offences charged; and
(vi) It must be scaled.
Section 71Continuance of the warrant of arrest:
Every warrant shall remain in force until it is cancelled by the court which issued it or until it
is executed. A warrant of arrest does not become invalid on the expiry of the date fixed for
return of the warrant.
Warrants are of two kinds: bailable and non-bailable. Section 71 deals with bailable warrant
and lays down that a warrant may contain a direction of the court that if the person to be
arrested executes a bond with sufficient sureties for his attendance before the court at a
specified time, the serving officer shall take such security and release him from custody.
Such a bailable warrant shall also state the number of sureties, the amount of the bond and the
time at which the arrested person is to attend the court.
Section 72 Warrants to whom directed: A warrant of arrest shall ordinarily be directed to
one or more police officers, but the court issuing such a warrant may, if its immediate
execution is necessary and no police officer is immediately available, direct it to any other
person or persons and such person or persons shall execute the same.
Section 73 Warrant may be directed to any person: The Chief Judicial Magistrate or a
Magistrate of the first class may direct a warrant to any person within his local jurisdiction
for the arrest of any escaped convict, offender or person accused of a non-bailable offence, or
a proclaimed offender evading arrest.
Case: Birendra Kumar Rai V. Union of India 1992 Cri LJ 3866 (All),the intelligence
Officer of the Narcotic Control Bureau served the detention order on a person who was in
jail. The High court of Allahabad held that notifying the substance of the warrant of arrest
amounted to the arrest of the person and the warrant was deemed to have been duly executed.
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Section 75Notification of substance of warrant: The police officer or any other person
executing a warrant has to notify the substance thereof to the person to be arrested, and if so
required, to show him the warrant.
Section 76Person arrested to be brought before court without delay: The police officer or
other person executing a warrant shall (subject to the provisions of Section 71 to security)
without unnecessary delay bring the person arrested before the court before which he is
required by law to produce such person: provided that such delay shall not in any case exceed
24 hours exclusive of the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the
Magistrate’s court.
Section 77 Where warrant may be executed: A warrant of arrest may be executed at any
place in India.
(3) AND (4) PROCLAMATION FOR PERSONABSCONDING &
ATTACHMENT:
The third and fourth processes of compelling the appearance of a person before a court are by
a proclamation and attachment. If a court has reasons to believe that any person against
whom a warrant has been issued by it has absconded or is concealing himself so that such
warrant cannot be executed, such court may publish a written proclamation requiring him to
appear at a specified place and time not less than thirty days from the date of publishing such
proclamation.
Section 82 Proclamation for person absconding:
(i) The proclamation shall be published:
by publicly reading in some conspicuous place of the town or village in
which such person ordinarily resides,
by affixing it to some conspicuous part of the house or homestead in which
such person ordinarily resides or to some conspicuous place of such town
or village; and
by affixing a copy thereof to some conspicuous part of the court-house.
(ii) The court may also, if it thinks fit, direct a copy of the proclamation to be
published in daily newspaper circulating in the place in which such person
ordinarily resides.
Before the issue of a proclamation the Magistrate should be satisfied that the accused was
absconding or concealing himself for the purpose of avoiding the service of a warrant. The
proclamation also should direct appearance of the person concerned within thirty days, and if
the date fixed for the appearance is less than thirty days, it is illegal.
The court issuing a proclamation may for reasons to be recorded in writing at any time order
the attachment of any property, movable or immovable, or both, belonging to the proclaimed
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person. There may even be a simultaneous order of attachment along with the order of
proclamation.
Case: Ballav Narayan Lenka V. State of Orissa 2005 Cri LJ 3365 (Ori), the High court of
Orissa held that where the warrant of arrest against the accused was quashed by Court,
proceedings under section 82 or 83 ipso facto become null and void and there is no longer ant
reason for the court to believe that the petitioner was absconding or concealing himself.
Section 83 Attachment of property of person absconding: If the court is satisfied that the
person in relation to whom the proclamation is issued—(a) is about to dispose of the whole or
any part of his property or (b) is about to remove the whole or any part of his property from
the local jurisdiction of the court. Since the object of attachment is to enforce the appearance
of the absconder, the attachment usually accompanies the proclamation.
MODES OF ATTACHMENT
If the property ordered to be attached is a debt or other movable property, the attachment may
be made—
(i) by seizure, or
(ii) by the appointment of a receiver; or
(iii) by an order in writing prohibiting the delivery of such property to the proclaimed
person or to anyone on his behalf; or
(iv) by all or any two of such methods, as the court thinks fit.
If the property ordered to be attached is immovable, the attachment shall, in the case of land
paying revenue to the State Government, be made through the Collector of the district in
which the land is situated.
If the immovable property is not the land paying revenue to the State Government, the
attachment shall be:
(i) by taking possession; or
(ii) by the appointment of a receiver; or
(iii) by an order in writing prohibiting the payment of rent or delivery of property to
the proclaimed person or to anyone on his behalf, or by all or any two of such
methods, as the court thinks fit.
If the property to be attached consists of livestock or is of a perishable nature, the court may
order its immediate sale.
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Section 84Objections to attachment by third person:
Any person other than the proclaimed person may prefer a claim or make an objection to the
attachment of property within six months from the date of attachment on the ground that the
claimant or objector has an interest in the attached property and that such interest is not liable
to attachment.
Every such claim or objection shall be inquired into by the court in which it is preferred and
may be allowed or disallowed. If the claim or objection is disallowed in whole or in part, the
claimant or objector may within a period of one year institute a suit to establish his right in
respect of the property in dispute, but subject to the result of such suit, if any, the order of the
court disallowing the claim shall be conclusive.
Section 85 Release, sale and restoration of attached property: If the proclaimed person
appears within the time specified in the proclamation, the court shall make an order releasing
the property from attachment. If, however, he does not appear within such specified time, the
property under attachment shall be at the disposal of the State Government and shall not be
sold before six months from the date of the attachment and until the disposal of any claim or
objection made by a person other than the proclaimed offender.
But if the property is subject to speedy and natural decay or if the court considers that the sale
would be for the benefit of the owner, the court may cause it to be sold whenever it thinks fit.
If the proclaimed person appears within two years from the date of the attachment and
satisfies the court that he did not abscond or conceal himself for the purpose of avoiding
execution of the warrant and that he had no notice of the proclamation, the property or net
proceeds of the sale after deducting the cost of the attachment shall be delivered to him.
(5) WARRANT IN LIEU OF SUMMONS
A court may issue a warrant in lieu of or in addition to a summons for the appearance of any
person in the following three cases:
Section 87 Issue of warrant in lieu of, or in addition to, summons:
(i) Where the court believes that the person summoned has absconded or will not obey the
summons;
(ii) Where although the summons is proved to have been served in time, the person
summoned without reasonable cause fails to appear; and
6. BOND OF APPEARANCE
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The sixth method of securing attendance of a person in court is to require him to execute a
bond, with or without sureties, for his appearance in court.
Section 88 Power to take bond for appearance: When a person for whose appearance or
arrest the officer presiding in any court is empowered to issue a summons or warrant is
present in such court, he may require such person to execute a bond, with or without sureties
for his appearance in such court.
Case: Madhu Limaye V. Ved Murti, AIR 1971 SC 2841, where a person is already under
arrest and in custody, his appearance does not depend on his own volition, but it will depend
on the volition or the person who has his custody.
Section 89 Arrest on breach of bond for appearance: When the person so bound by any
bond to appear before a court does not appear, the presiding officer may issue a warrant
directing that such person be arrested and produced before him.
CONCLUSION
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This topic deals with the processes which a court is competent to issue to compel the
appearance of a person in a court of law.The second method of securing attendance of a
person is by means of a warrant of arrest. The warrant is an order addressed to a certain
person directing him to arrest the accused and to produce him before the court.The third and
fourth processes of compelling the appearance of a person before a court are by a
proclamation and attachment. If a court has reasons to believe that any person against whom
a warrant has been issued by it has absconded or is concealing himself so that such warrant
cannot be executed, such court may publish a written proclamation requiring him to appear at
a specified place and time not less than thirty days from the date of publishing such
proclamation.In fifth court may issue a warrant in lieu of or in addition to a summons for the
appearance of any person.The sixth method of securing attendance of a person in court is to
require him to execute a bond, with or without sureties, for his appearance in court.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books referred:
The code of criminal procedure: Dr. N,V. Paranjape
Website referred:
http://www.shareyouressays.com/knowledge/the-steps-that-may-be-taken-to-compel-
a-person-to-appear-before-a-criminal-court-crpc-1973-india/112889
https://www.latestlaws.com/articles/all-about-process-to-compel-appearance-under-
code-of-criminal-procedure1973-by-pinky-dass/
https://www.scribd.com/document/268440776/Process-to-Compel-Appearance
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