Prima facie charge assessment bars mini trial; post-mortem alone cannot justify discharge from murder charge.

At the stage of discharge or framing of charge, the court must limit itself to a prima facie assessment of the FIR, witness statements and other prosecution material, and cannot conduct a mini trial or finally determine the offence on the basis of a post-mortem report alone. A post-mortem report is not substantive evidence by itself; the link between injuries and death must be tested at trial through oral evidence from eyewitnesses and the medical witness. On that basis, discharge from the murder charge was held unjustified, and the accused was required to face trial on the prosecution case as laid.

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Issues: Whether the courts below were justified in discharging the accused of the offence of murder and framing charge only for culpable homicide at the stage of charge.

Analysis: The material before the trial court included the FIR, eyewitness statements, and the post-mortem report. At the stage of discharge or framing of charge, the court is required to see whether the prosecution material, taken at face value, discloses a prima facie case or gives rise to strong suspicion. It is not permissible to conduct a mini trial or to finally determine the nature of the offence on the basis of the post-mortem report alone. The post-mortem report is not substantive evidence by itself, and the nexus between the injuries and death could be decided only after oral evidence of the eyewitnesses and the medical witness was led at trial.

Conclusion: The discharge from the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code was unjustified. The accused ought to be called upon to face trial on the prosecution case as originally laid.

Final Conclusion: The appeal was allowed, the orders of the High Court and the trial court were set aside, and the trial court was directed to pass a fresh order on charge in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: At the stage of framing charge, the court must confine itself to a prima facie evaluation of the prosecution material and must not finally assess the cause of death or undertake a mini trial by relying on a post-mortem report alone.

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