criminal procedure code (act v of 1898),
sections 342 and 494 -
withdrawal of case by
public prosecutor--
sanction by
judge--grounds not
recorded--
acquittal of
accused--
power of high
court to
set aside order--
questioning of
accused--
questions in the
nature of
cross-examination. - - if the
accused p
leaded guilty on the
charge of
robbery, the plea
should have been
recorded in the same way as his plea of
not guilty on the
murder charge, but no such plea
appears on the
record, and
consequently the
conviction is bad and it must be
set aside and a
new trial ordered on the
charge of
robbery......to us that under the
circumstances which here
happened the
accused has a
statutory right to an
acquittal with which we have no power to
interfere. we have been referred to cr
l. rev. case no. 274 of 1907, in which this court on
revision set aside a similar order but the order does not show the
authority under which the court acted and we are unable to agree with the
decision.2.
certain questions were asked him by the
sessions judge, the answers to which appear to amount to
confessions of
murder and
robbery, but the
sessions judge was not
justified in
questioning the
prisoner at this stage as
no evidence has yet been recorded, which the
accused could be
required to
explain, and
further the
questions appear to be in the nature of
cross-examination which is not
justifiable. if the
accused pleaded guilty on the charge of
robbery, the plea should have been recorded in the same way as his plea of
not guilty on the
murder charge, but no such plea
appears on the record, and
consequently the
conviction is bad and it must be
set aside and a
new trial ordered on the charge of
robbery.
ORDER
1. So far as we can see it would appear that in this case the application to withdraw the charge of murder not having been made by the Public Prosecutor, or if made, should not have been sanctioned by the Court, but the section says, that when the Public Prosecutor withdraws and the Court approves, of it the accused shall be acquitted and neither the Public Prosecutor nor the Judge is called on to give any reasons for his action, and this Court has no means of ascertaining what the reasons were. It appears to us that under the circumstances which here happened the accused has a statutory right to an acquittal with which we have no power to interfere. We have been referred to Crl. Rev. Case No. 274 of 1907, in which this Court on revision set aside a similar order but the order does not show the authority under which the Court acted and we are unable to agree with the decision.
2. Certain questions were asked him by the Sessions Judge, the answers to which appear to amount to confessions of murder and robbery, but the Sessions Judge was not justified in questioning the prisoner at this stage as no evidence has yet been recorded, which the accused could be required to explain, and further the questions appear to be in the nature of cross-examination which is not justifiable. If the accused pleaded guilty on the charge of robbery, the plea should have been recorded in the same way as his plea of not guilty on the murder charge, but no such plea appears on the record, and consequently the conviction is bad and it must be set aside and a new trial ordered on the charge of robbery.