Order for Custody & Disposal of Property Pending trial in certain cases - CRPC 451
Date : 29 Mar, 2022
Post By Vishal Kumar
Section 451- Order for custody and disposal of property pending trial in certain cases. When any property is produced before any Criminal Court during any inquiry or trial, the Court may make such order as it thinks fit for the proper custody of such property pending the conclusion of the inquiry or trial, and, if the property is subject to speedy and natural decay, or if it is otherwise expedient so to do, the Court may, after recording such evidence as it thinks necessary, order it to be sold or otherwise disposed of. Explanation.- For the purposes of this section," property" includes- (a) property of any kind or document which is produced before the Court or which is in its custody, (b) any property regarding which an offence appears to have been committed or which appears to have been used for the commission of any offence. INTRODUCTION Chapter 34 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is a chapter that deals with the handling of case-related properties by the court. Property related to cases makes for a very important chunk of evidence for the court to adjudicate efficiently. Hence, during the trial, the property which is related to the case comes into the custody of the court. Therefore, it is the court that has to decide how to dispose of the property once the purpose has been served. Chapter 34 ranges from section 451 to 459. Each section talks about the disposal of the property but the conditions for disposal and the stages where the property is disposed of are different for each section. WHAT IS MEANT BY DISPOSAL OF PROPERTY Disposal of property means decommissioning of property due to certain factors like natural decay or the purpose of the property being completed in the court. the property on which the inquiry is going on or the property which has been used to commit the offence can be disposed of by the court. PROPERTY UNDER THIS CHAPTER • Property which has been the topic of inquiry under this section. • Property that has been used as a tool for the commission of a crime. • Property that has been brought as evidence during the trial in court. • Property that has been in the custody of the court. Property can be disposed of by various methods which include destruction, giving custody of the property to the person who claims to be the owner of the property, etc.
POINTS TO REMEMBER • This section only applies when the inquiry is still continuing and has not concluded. • This section enables the court to grant interim custody of the property. • Section 451 does not lay down what all can the court do with the property during the pendency of the trial but just gives the power to the court to do something with the property pending the trial. • This section is discretionary in nature. The court can adopt any method of disposing of the property. Such as, the court can pass an order of selling the property or if the custody can be given to a particular person etc. Such discretion has to be used judiciously keeping in mind the facts and circumstances of the case. If the party is of the opinion that the court has not acted judiciously in disposing of the property, an appeal against the same can be made in further sections. • If the trial is concluded, then for disposing of property, only section 452 can be used. • It is important that the property be produced in front of the court under this section. • The meaning of court under this section does not extend to executive authorities such as customs, tax authorities, etc. • The interim order relating to the property passed under this section is generally applied until the proceedings have concluded. But sometimes, the court Suo moto (on its own accord), or by request of the party realises that the party in whose favour the court granted custody by virtue of the interim order is not taking proper care of the property or is misusing the property, then the court can revoke the order and take back the custody of the property. • Example under section 451- Suppose there is a vehicle that has been stolen and the stolen vehicle is the subject matter of a suit going on in court. During the trial, the vehicle will be in the custody of the police. Now, if the court thinks that during the pendency of the trial, the vehicle will not be taken care of properly and will get damaged, the court can give possession of that vehicle to one party over the other. IMPORTANT CASE LAWS 1. GADADHAR V. SHRINIVAS MISHRA- In this case, the dispute was about the transfer of the vehicle and not its custody of it. The court decided that the person under whose name the vehicle was registered will be the person who will have custody of the vehicle. In this case, person A in whose name the vehicle was registered took some loan from person B and mortgaged the truck in B’s favour until repayment of the loan. The court in this case stated that the Pawnee in whose favour the mortgage was drafted cannot claim ownership of the property and hence the property’s custody belongs to that person who got the vehicle registered under his name. 2. ABDUL JABAR V. KHALEED AHMAD- in this case, the court stated that the registered owner has the rightful claim over custody of property during the pendency of the trial and no other person who is claiming to have title over the property. CONCLUSION This section provides the power to the court to dispose of the property. The court cannot keep retaining a property indefinitely even after the trial has been concluded. It has to be disposed of as and when required. The way of disposing of the property is at the discretion of the court. Apart from chapter 34, rules 220-222 of the criminal rules of practice are also laws that govern the disposal of property and what custody means.
Written by- Tarushi Goel, a fifth year law student of O.P Jindal Global University. She is currently pursuing BA LLB and is inclined towards legal research.
