4.3 Criminal Proceedings

The frame: the Muluki Criminal Procedure Code 2074 (succeeding the State Cases Act 2049's investigation regime), with the Criminal Offences (Sentencing and Execution) Act 2074 at the sentence's end. The criminal trial is state-driven and presumption-protected — innocence presumed (Art 20(5)), self-incrimination barred (Art 20(7)), and the custody safeguards from the first hour (Art 20(1)–(3): grounds communicated, counsel from arrest, production within 24 hours). A. First Information Report (FIR) The FIR — the offence's first account: lodged by the victim, informant or witness at the police station or the court (the court routing it to investigation), for cognizable offences; the police's refusal to register is itself a grievance (the Superintendent's oversight; the court's mandamus face); the informant's copy and the FIR's evidentiary role (the earliest statement — corroboration's anchor, contradiction's material). Non-cognizable offences: the complaint's court route. B. Statement of Accused (Investigation Stage) The suspect's questioning within the Art 20 safeguards: counsel's access, no compulsion, the record's accuracy and signature; the confession's discipline — a confession to the police is not evidence of guilt (the compulsion-tainted confession's exclusion; the custodial-confession jurisprudence), the statement's use for discovery-information only. C. Spot Investigation Report / Crime Scene (Muchulka) The investigation's documentary spine — the muchulkas (formal memoranda/protocols): Ghatanasthal (scene-of-incident) muchulka — the site's inspection record (positions, traces, sketches, witnesses); Lasjach (corpse-examination) muchulka —…