Trial Court Cannot Examine Witnesses at the Pre-Cognizance Stage to Generate Fresh Evidentiary Material: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has delivered an important judgment clarifying the limits of a trial court’s powers before taking cognizance of a case under Section 190 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). The Court held that a trial court cannot examine a witness at the pre-cognizance stage just to produce fresh evidentiary material. Justice Santosh Rai emphasized that such a procedure is completely outside the scope of Section 190 CrPC,…