Perjury by false affidavit falls outside Section 479A; prosecution must follow the general preliminary-enquiry procedure instead.

Section 479A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, being a special and summary perjury provision, requires strict construction and applies only to a witness who physically appears before the court and gives oral evidence or produces documents. A false affidavit, even if treated as evidence for some statutory purposes, does not fall within that class for Section 479A. Alleged false affidavit evidence must instead be dealt with under the general procedure in Section 476, which requires a preliminary enquiry. Proceedings under Section 479A therefore could not be maintained on the basis of a false affidavit alone.

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Issues: Whether a person who files false evidence by affidavit, without physically appearing before the court as a witness, can be proceeded against under Section 479A of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Analysis: Section 479A was enacted as a special and summary procedure for prosecuting perjury committed by a person appearing before the court as a witness. The provision, being in derogation of the general procedure, called for strict construction. The words used in the section were held to refer to a witness who physically appears before the court and gives oral evidence or produces documents. Affidavits, though they may amount to evidence where a statute permits their use, do not fall within that class of evidence for the purpose of Section 479A. The appropriate procedure in cases of false affidavit evidence is the general procedure under Section 476 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which contemplates a preliminary enquiry.

Conclusion: Proceedings under Section 479A could not be maintained against the petitioner on the basis of a false affidavit alone, and the complaint ordered under that section was invalid.

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