Discharge under Section 239 CrPC cannot rest on defence documents outside the police report and accompanying material.

At discharge under Section 239 CrPC, the Magistrate is confined to the police report and the documents forwarded under Section 173 CrPC, with only such examination of the accused as is necessary. Defence material not forming part of that record cannot be relied on, because the stage does not permit a roving inquiry or mini-trial; the court may only sift the prosecution material to see whether the charge is groundless or a triable case is disclosed. Discharge orders based on defence documents outside the permissible record are therefore unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether, at the stage of discharge under Section 239 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, the accused can rely on defence documents and correspondence not forming part of the police report and accompanying material, and whether discharge could be sustained on that basis.

Analysis: Section 239 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 confines the Magistrate's consideration to the police report and the documents sent with it under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, together with such examination of the accused as the Magistrate thinks necessary. The settled position is that the accused has no right to adduce defence material at the stage of framing of charge or discharge, and a roving or fishing inquiry is impermissible. The court at that stage may sift the prosecution material only to see whether the charge is groundless or whether the material discloses a triable case, but it cannot conduct a mini-trial or rely upon documents summoned at the instance of the defence to conclude that no loss or offence is made out.

Conclusion: The discharge orders were unsustainable because they were founded on defence material outside the permissible scope of Section 239 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, and the accused were not entitled to discharge on that basis.

Ratio Decidendi: At the stage of discharge under Section 239 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, the court must confine itself to the police report and accompanying documents under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, and cannot rely on defence material to decide the existence of a triable case.

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