INDIAN KANOON SECTION 321 CrPC - Code of Criminal Procedure - Withdrawal from prosecution

Description

The Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public Prosecutor in charge of a case may, with the consent of the Court at any time before the judgment is pronounced, withdraw from the prosecution of any person either generally or in respect of any one or more of the offences for which he is tried; and upon such withdrawal;

1. If it is made before a charge has been framed, the accused shall be discharged in respect of such offence or offences;
2. if it is made after a charge has been framed, or when under this Code no charge is required he shall be acquitted in respect of such offence or offences;
   Provided that where such offence?
   1. was against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends, or
   2. was investigated by the Delhi Special Police Establishment under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 (25 of 1946), or
   3. involved the misappropriation or destruction of, or damage to, any property belonging to the Central Government, or
   4. was committed by a person in the service of the Central Government while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duty,
      and the prosecutor in charge of the case has not been appointed by the Central Government he shall not, unless he has been permitted by the Central Government to do so, move the Court for its consent to withdraw from the prosecution and the Court shall, before according consent, direct the Prosecutor to produce before it the permission granted by the Central Government to withdraw from the prosecution.
3. If, in the course of any inquiry into an offence or a trial before a Magistrate in any district, the evidence appears to him to warrant a presumption?
   1. that he has no jurisdiction to try the case or commit it for trial, or
   2. that the case is one which should be tried or committed for trial by some other Magistrate in the district, or
   3. that the case should be tried by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, he shall stay the proceedings and submit the case, with a brief report explaining its nature to the Chief Judicial Magistrate or to such other Magistrate, having jurisdiction, as the Chief Judicial Magistrate directs.
4. The Magistrate to whom the case is submitted may, if so empowered, either try the case himself, or refer it to any Magistrate subordinate to him having jurisdiction, or commit the accused for trial.

Click here to read more from the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc), 1973.