Penal Code, 1860 – Ss. 498A / 323 / 114 - Criminal P.C. 1973 - Ss. 227 & 228 - If there is no ground for presuming that the accused has committed an offence, the charge must be considered to be groundless, which is the same thing as saying that there is no ground for framing the charge.

A bare perusal of the provisions of sections 227 and 228 CrPC, sections 239 and 240 CrPC and section 245 CrPC relating to discharge of the accused and framing of charge against the accused respectively in cases triable by the Court of Session, warrant triable cases by the Magistrate and in cases instituted otherwise than on a police report respectively would reveal that when the order of discharge of the accused is passed it is imperative to record the reasons but for framing of charge the Court is required to form an opinion that there is ground for presuming that the accused has committed the offence alleged. In case of discharge of the accused the use of the expression “reasons” has been inserted in sections 227, 239 and 245 of the CrPC. In the case of framing of a charge the expression used is “opinion”. It is clear that for discharging the accused the Magistrate or the Judge as the case may be, is under obligation to record his reasons but there is no such requirement if he forms the opinion that there is ground for presuming that the accused had committed the offence which he is competent to try. But where the question of jurisdiction is raised and the trial court is required to decide the issue, in such a case reasons have to be recorded dealing with the issue of jurisdiction.