Supreme Court: Interpreting Section 319 and 227 of CrPC, the bench of S.A. Bobde and R.K. Agrawal, JJ said that under Section 319 a person who is not an accused becomes liable to be added where he appears to have committed an offence whereas Section 227 on the other hand, provides that an accused may be discharged if the Judge construes that there is no sufficient ground for the proceedings against him.Stating that both the provisions have opposite effect, the Court explained that The power under Section 319 results in the summoning and consequent commencement of the proceedings against a person who was hitherto not an accused and the power under Section 227 results in termination of proceedings against the person who is an accused.
Rejecting the contention that under Section 227 of the Cr.P.C., the only qualification necessary is that the person should be accused, the Court held that the accused summoned under Section 319 of the Cr.P.C. are entitled to invoke remedy under law against an illegal or improper exercise of the power under Section 319, but cannot have the effect of the order undone by seeking a discharge under Section 227 of the Cr.P.C. The Court further said that an order for addition of an accused made after considering the evidence cannot be undone by coming to the conclusion that there is no sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused without appreciation of evidence. Hence, it was held that a person who is an accused under Section 319 ought not to be given an opportunity to avail of the remedy of discharge under Section 227 since it would be contrary to the scheme and intent of the Cr.P.C. Jogendra Yadav v. State of Bihar, (2015) 9 SCC 244
