Constitutional essence of criminal procedure code 1973
Criminal procedure code 1973 is all about the procedure of collection of evidences.Criminal procedure caters to the requirements of the society that an accused has to be found to be guilty if he has committed the crime and he has to be convicted and punished. The entire proceedings in the criminal procedure are about finding the culprit, prosecuting and punishing him. At the same time the accused is not a convict,and therefore his constitutional rights cannot be be compromised with.
Though in the larger interest of society it can be restricted to a reasonable extent. Under the criminal procedure the rights of the accused are restricted through various proceedings.
However, is has been held in Maneka Gandhi V U.O.I 1978 SC Any deprivation of life and personal liberty an individual shall be only by a reasonable, just, fair and non arbitrary procedure. Thus there have to be several procedural safeguards to secure the ends of justice of the accused and at the same it has to be ensured that the real culprit is actually convicted and punished.
The whole of criminal procedure is all about drawing a balance between the societal requirement on the one hand and the safeguards to the individual on the other hand. The criminal procedure is about the balancing of an interest between an individual and the society. The accused has to be presumed innocent until his guilt is proved beyond reasonable doubts .
Thus in the cases of Criminal procedure the rule of interpretation has to be that if there is an ambiguity about the interpretation of a particular provision then the rule of of purposive interpretation shall be followed according to which if two or more interpretations of a provisions are possible then that interpretation shall be followed which serves the purpose of the statute better. The purpose of criminal procedure is to serve the interest of justice in favour of the society and the accused and therefore the court should do the balance between the two and should serve the ends of justice.