TMI Blog1958 (5) TMI 44X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ainst the appellant and three others under s. 282 of the Indian Companies Act and ss. 465 and 477A of the Indian Penal Code. The proceedings commenced in 1954 before a Magistrate but on May 18, 1955, they were transferred to a Special Magistrate who commenced the recording of evidence on July 4, 1955. On August 12, 1955, the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Act (26 of 1955) received the assent of the President and came into force on January 2, 1956. In this judgment it will be referred to as the Amending Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure as the Code. On January 14, 1956, the appellant made an application to the Magistrate claiming the right to appear as a witness on his own behalf under s. 342A of the amended Code in disproof of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 342A was inserted into the Code by s. 61 of the amending Act. It provides:- S.342A Any person accused of an offence before a Criminal Court shall be a competent witness for the defence and may give evidence on oath in disproof of the charges made against him or any person charged together with him at the same trial: Provided that (a) he shall not be called as a witness except on his own request in writing; or (b) his failure to give evidence shall not be made the subject of any comment by any of the parties or the Court to give rise to any presumption against him:self or any person charged together with him at the same trial. Thus the law was amended and the accused person has become a competent witness for the defence but he ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y Magistrate and every such trial or other proceeding shall be continued and disposed of as if this Act had not been passed ; (b)the provisions of section 406 or section 408 or section 409 of the principal Act as amended by this Act shall not apply to, or affect, any appeal which, on the date of such commencement, is pending before the District Magistrate or any Magistrate of the First class empowered by the State Government to hear such appeal, and every such appeal shall, notwithstanding the repeal of the first proviso to section 406 or of section 407 of the principal Act, be heard and disposed of as if this Act had not been passed;(c)the provisions of clause (w) of section 4 or section 207A or section 251A or section 260 of the princi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ave as aforesaid the provisions of this Act and the amendments made thereby shall apply to all proceedings instituted after the commencement of this Act and also to all proceedings pending in any Criminal Court on the date of such commencement. The language used in this portion of the section in regard to the proceedings which are instituted after the commencement of the amended Code is identical with that dealing with proceedings pending in a Criminal Court on the date of its commencement. Therefore if this Act applies to all proceedings which commenced after the Act came into force they would equally apply to proceedings which had already commenced except those provisions which have been expressly excluded. If the whole section is constr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eport and sub-cl. (b) with other cases. To the former s. 251A is applicable and to other cases procedure specified in other provisions in Chapter 21 is made applicable. Section 342A is in Chapter 24 and there is nothing in the amending Act or the amended Code which makes the provision of s. 342A inapplicable to criminal proceeding-, which are pending before a Magistrate and in which the recording of evidence has commenced. In our opinion on the plain construction of the words used in s. 116 of the amending Act, s. 342A available to the appellant. The High Court, it appears, was misled into construing the words in clause (c) of s. 116 i. e. as if this Act had not been passed . The High Court was therefore in error and the appellant is en ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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