High Court: Deaf and dumb can be punished for criminal acts

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanaraya dismissed a petition filed by one P Shanmugasundaram father of an accused ranked 4th in the case, which sought to declare as unconstitutional, section 318 CrPC., which deals with procedures wherein the accused does not understand proceedings. In this particular case, the accused was prosecuted for alleged offences under various provisions of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act. But when the Special Judge for CBI cases in Coimbatore directed the accused to face trial, the father of the accused filed an application under section 318 of CrPC. 

He said that the accused had been affected by a Neuro problem in 2006, which led to a stroke on the right side of his head. This had resulted in him suffering a series of disabilities like being unable to read, write, hear, speak and also suffered a memory loss. Based on this, the special judge directed the accused to appear before a Medical Board to assess his physical condition. The Board on examining the accused opined that he had lost his speech and was unable to function independently and to write because his right upper and lower limb were paralysed. The bench ruling out the scope of striking down section 318 of CrPC, said that the Legislature cannot be struck down merely by saying it was arbitrary and unconstitutional at the instance of the petitioner, who was canvassing the case in an individual capacity.

The bench also held that “A perusal of the report filed by the medical board does not reflect anything with regard to the deficiency in the mental faculty of the petitioner and that the accused does not suffer from any psychiatric illness.” It further pointed out that though great caution and diligence are necessary in the trial of a person like the petitioner, who is speech impaired, yet, if it be shown that such a person had sufficient intelligence to understand the character of his criminal act, he is liable to be punished.