[S.276 CrPC] Permitting Filing of Chief Affidavit of Material Witness as Evidence in Criminal Case Prejudices Accused: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court, in a judgment delivered on September 2025, acquitted Askaf, the appellant in Crl. A. No. 447 of 2014, after finding that the Sessions Court had illegally accepted chief affidavits of prosecution witnesses as evidence. The division bench led by Justice Johnson John ruled that such a practice violates Section 276 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which mandates that oral evidence in a Sessions trial must…