{"id":8866,"date":"2026-05-24T05:57:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T05:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/?p=8866"},"modified":"2026-05-24T05:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T05:57:07","slug":"no-criminal-trial-until-accused-is-mentally-fit-rajasthan-highcourt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/no-criminal-trial-until-accused-is-mentally-fit-rajasthan-highcourt\/","title":{"rendered":"No Criminal Trial Until Accused Is Mentally Fit: Rajasthan Highcourt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jaipur<\/strong>: The Rajasthan High Court has delivered an important judgment saying that a criminal trial cannot continue against an accused person unless he is mentally fit to understand the court proceedings and defend himself properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case relates to a 1994 murder case from Dholpur district. The accused, Puran Singh, had reportedly remained absconding for nearly 30 years before being arrested on January 24, 2024. Soon after his arrest, his son approached the trial court under Section 329 CrPC and claimed that his father was suffering from dementia and was not mentally capable of understanding court proceedings or defending himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trial court accepted the plea and decided not to continue the trial until the accused was mentally fit. The court released him into the custody of his son and ordered that his mental health reports be submitted every six months. This order was later challenged before the High Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The petitioner argued that the accused appeared mentally normal at the time of arrest and that the application under Section 329 CrPC was filed too early because charges had not yet been framed in the case. It was also argued that the medical evidence was not clear enough to justify stopping the trial and releasing the accused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, the accused and the State government defended the trial court\u2019s decision. They argued that Puran Singh suffers from \u201cDementia with BPSD\u201d (Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia), which has seriously affected his cognitive abilities. According to them, he is unable to understand court proceedings, the charges against him, or properly defend himself. They also said that dementia is a progressive disease and recovery is unlikely in the near future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The High Court was initially not satisfied with the earlier medical report and therefore ordered a fresh examination by a new medical board at SMS Medical College. The board included psychiatrists, senior doctors, and clinical psychologists. After examining the accused, the medical board concluded that he indeed suffers from dementia with behavioral and psychological symptoms, his cognitive functions are impaired, and he is not capable of understanding or participating in court proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand observed that the right to a fair trial is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution. The Court said that if an accused person is mentally unfit and cannot understand the proceedings or defend himself, then forcing him to face trial would violate the principles of natural justice and fair hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The High Court also rejected the argument that Section 329 CrPC can only be invoked after charges are framed. The Court said that once expert medical opinion clearly establishes that the accused is mentally incapable of facing trial, waiting for procedural formalities would only be an \u201cempty formality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Court finally upheld the trial court\u2019s order and allowed the accused to remain in his son\u2019s custody. It also directed the District Legal Services Authority to ensure that the accused is produced every year before the medical board at SMS Hospital Jaipur for a review of his mental condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The High Court further clarified that if doctors later declare the accused mentally fit to understand the proceedings, the criminal trial can be restarted under Section 331 CrPC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court has delivered an important judgment saying that a criminal trial cannot continue against an accused person unless he is mentally fit to understand the court proceedings and defend himself properly. The case relates to a 1994 murder case from Dholpur district. The accused, Puran Singh, had reportedly remained absconding for … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wppp_is_locked":false,"_wppp_selected_plans":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,29],"tags":[145,392,479,472,469,473,470,477,471,300,468,474,89,475,43,278,476,478,480],"class_list":["post-8866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rajasthan-high-court","category-top-stories","tag-article-21","tag-court-proceedings","tag-criminal-justice","tag-criminal-trial","tag-dementia-case","tag-dholpur-murder-case","tag-fair-trial","tag-judicial-decision","tag-justice-anoop-kumar-dhand","tag-legal-news-india","tag-mental-fitness","tag-mental-health-law","tag-natural-justice","tag-puran-singh","tag-rajasthan-high-court","tag-rajasthan-judiciary","tag-section-329-crpc","tag-section-331-crpc","tag-sms-medical-college"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8866"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8868,"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8866\/revisions\/8868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawsandlegals.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}