Limited Rights TO Private Counsel of Victim Examine Witnesses And Arguments

NEW DELHI: The Apex Court, on Wednesday, held that a private pleader engaged by a victim in a criminal trial only has the limited right of assisting the prosecutor and may not make oral arguments or conduct cross-examination of witnesses.


The Bench of Justices Mohan M Shantanagoudar and Deepak Gupta, upheld the decision of the Calcutta High Court that dismissed the plea of the petitioner seeking permission for her private pleader to cross-examine witnesses.


The Court also highlighted that a private pleader engaged by a victim is subject to the directions of the Public Prosecutor in the same way that a private party's Counsel is and said,


"A victim's counsel should ordinarily not be given the right to make oral arguments or examine and crossexamine witnesses. As stated in Section 301(2), the private party's pleader is subject to the directions of the Public Prosecutor. In our considered opinion, the same principle should apply to the victim's counsel under the proviso to Section 24(8)"