Login With Google
No double jeopardy bar if there was no trial: Supreme Court
Why is it in news?
The bar of double jeopardy does not arise :
- if an accused was discharged of a criminal offence,
- even before the commencement of trial, on the basis of an invalid sanction for prosecution, the Supreme Court has held.
Article 20 of the constitution
- Article 20 (2) of the Constitution mandates that a person cannot be prosecuted or punished twice for the same offence.
- A Bench of SC held in an October 30 judgment that if an “accused has not been tried at all and convicted or acquitted, the principles of double jeopardy cannot be invoked at all.”
- If an earlier order of sanction was found to be invalid, there is no bar for the competent authority to issue a proper order of sanction for prosecution,
- The courts are not to quash or stay the proceedings under the Act merely on the ground of an error, omission or irregularity in the sanction granted by the authority unless it is satisfied that such error, omission or irregularity has resulted in failure of justice,
- There was no bar for filing fresh/supplementary charge sheet after obtaining a valid sanction for prosecution.
- Once it found that there was no valid sanction, the special court should have directed the prosecution to do the needful.
- The special court has not given sufficient opportunities to produce valid prosecution sanction from the competent authority.
- It erred in refusing to take cognisance of the case even after production of valid prosecution sanction obtained from the competent authority and the High Court was not right in affirming the order of the special court.
Source
The Hindu