discharge him on his executing a bond without sureties for his appearance as hereinafter provided 1. 497. When any person accused of any non-bailable offence is arrested or detained without warrant by an officer in charge of a police-station, or appears or is brought before a Court, he may be released on bail, but he shall not be so released if there appear reasonable grounds for believing that he has been guilty of the offence of which he is accused. If it appears to such officer or Court at any stage of the investigation, inquiry or trial, as the case may be, that there are not reasonable grounds for believing that the accused has committed such offence, but that there are sufficient grounds for further inquiry into his guilt, the accused shall, pending such inquiry, be released on bail, or, at the discretion of such officer or Court, on the execution by him of a bond without sureties for his appearance as hereinafter provided. Any Court may, at any subsequent stage of any proceeding under this Code, cause any person who has been released under this section to be arrested, and may commit him to custody. direct ad duction of 498. The amount of every bond executed under this chap- Power to ter shall be fixed with due regard to the circumstances of the mission to case, and shall not be excessive; and the High Court or Court bail or reof Session may, in any case, whether there be an appeal on bail. conviction or not, direct that any person 2 be admitted to bail, or that the bail required by a police-officer or Magistrate be reduced. cused and 499. Before any person is released on bail or released on Bond of achis own bond, a bond for such sum of money as the police- sureties. officer or Court, as the case may be, thinks sufficient shall be executed by such person, and when he is released on bail, by one or more sufficient sureties, conditioned that such person shall attend at the time and place mentioned in the bond, and shall continue so to attend until otherwise directed by the police-officer or Court, as the case may be 3. 1 For forms see Sched. V. No. 42. And see sec. 513, infra, as to taking a deposit in lieu of a bond. VOL. II. R even a convicted person; see I All. 151 as to the former law. Discharge from cus tody. Power to cient bail If the case so require, the bond shall also bind the person released on bail to appear when called upon at the High Court, Court of Session or other Court to answer the charge. 500. As soon as the bond has been executed, the person for whose appearance it has been executed shall be released; and when he is in jail the Court admitting him to bail shall issue an order of release to the officer in charge of the jail1, and such officer on receipt of the order shall release him. Nothing in this section, section 496 or section 497 shall be deemed to require the release of any person liable to be detained for some matter other than that in respect of which the bond was executed. 501. If, through mistake, fraud or otherwise, insufficient order suffi- sureties have been accepted, or if they afterwards become when that insufficient, the Court may issue a warrant of arrest directing that the person released on bail be brought before it and may order him to find sufficient sureties, and on his failing so to do may commit him to jail. first taken is insuffi cient. Discharge 502. All or any sureties for the attendance and appearance of sureties. of a person released on bail may at any time apply to a Magistrate to discharge the bond either wholly or so far as relates to the applicants. On such application being made, the Magistrate shall issue his warrant of arrest, directing that the person so released be brought before him. On the appearance of such person pursuant to the warrant, or on his voluntary surrender, the Magistrate shall direct the bond to be discharged either wholly or so far as relates to the applicants, and shall call upon such person to find other sufficient sureties, and, if he fails to do so, may commit him to custody. 1 See form, Sched. V, No. 43. CHAPTER XL. OF COMMISSIONS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES. witness with. 503. Whenever, in the course of an inquiry, a trial or any When atother proceeding under this Code, it appears to a Presidency tendance of Magistrate, a District Magistrate, a Court of Session or the may be disHigh Court that the examination of a witness is necessary for pensed the ends of justice, and that the attendance of such witness cannot be procured without an amount of delay, expense or inconvenience which, under the circumstances of the case, would be unreasonable, such Magistrate or Court may dispense with such attendance and may issue a commission to any Issue of District Magistrate or Magistrate of the first class, within commis the local limits of whose jurisdiction such witness resides, to procedure take the evidence of such witness. When the witness resides in the dominions of any Prince or State in alliance with Her Majesty in which there is an officer representing the British Indian Government, the commission may be issued to such officer 2. The Magistrate or officer to whom the commission is issued, or, if he is the District Magistrate, he or such Magistrate of the first class as he appoints in this behalf, shall proceed to the place where the witness is, or shall summon the witness before him, and shall take down his evidence in the same manner, and exercise the same powers, as for this may purpose in trials of warrant-cases under this Code 3. sion, and there under. sion where 504. If the witness is within the local limits of the juris- Commisdiction of any Presidency Magistrate, the Magistrate or Court witness issuing the commission may direct the same to the said in PresiPresidency Magistrate, who thereupon may compel the attend- town. 1 This empowers the Courts to allow examination by commission in criminal cases where a witness, according to the manners and customs of the country, ought not to appear in public, 5 All. 92. The Calcutta High Court has been supposed to have held that a pardanashin is of right exempted from personal attendance in Court (ibid., citing 4 Cal. 20). But this is only the 2 The Courts have no power to issue 3 Chapter xxi, supra. dency Parties may examine witness. Power of Subordin trate to apply for issue of ance of, and examine, such witness as if he were a witness in a case pending before himself. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to affect the power of the High Court to issue commissions under the thirty-ninth and fortieth of Victoria, chapter 46, section 3. 505. The parties to any proceeding under this Code in which a commission is issued may respectively forward any interrogatories in writing which the Magistrate or Court directing the commission may think relevant to the issue, and the Magistrate or officer to whom the commission is directed shall examine the witness upon such interrogatories. Any such party may appear before such Magistrate or officer by pleader, or, if not in custody, in person, and may examine, crossexamine and re-examine (as the case may be) the said witness. 506. Whenever, in the course of an inquiry or a trial or Provincial any other proceeding under this Code before any Magistrate ate Magis- other than a Presidency Magistrate or District Magistrate, it appears that a commission ought to be issued for the examination of a witness whose evidence is necessary for the ends of justice, and that the attendance of such witness cannot be procured without an amount of delay, expense or inconvenience which, under the circumstances of the case, would be unreasonable, such Magistrate shall apply to the District Magistrate, stating the reasons for the application1; and the District Magistrate may either issue a commission in the manner herein before provided or reject the application. commis sion. Return of commission. 507. After any commission issued under section 503 or section 506 has been duly executed, it shall be returned, together with the deposition of the witness examined thereunder, to the Court out of which it issued; and the commission, the return thereto and the deposition shall be open at all reasonable times to inspection of the parties, and may, subject to all just exceptions 3, be read in evidence in the case by either party, and shall form part of the record 4: 1 He should also state the nature of the alleged offence, the state of the proceedings, and the name of the witness; see N.Y. Code of Crim. Proc. § 639. 2 Sec. 503. 3 i. e. the same objection may be taken to a question in the interrogatories, or to an answer in the deposition, as if the witness had been examined orally in court. * If in taking evidence by commission a document is tendered and ob ment of in 508. In every case in which a commission is issued under Adjournsection 503 or section 506, the inquiry, trial or other proceeding quiry or may be adjourned for a specified time reasonably sufficient for trial. the execution and return of the commission. CHAPTER XLI. SPECIAL RULES OF EVIDENCE. of medical witness. 509. The deposition of a Civil Surgeon or other medical Deposition witness, taken and attested by a Magistrate in the presence of the accused 1, may be given in evidence in any inquiry, trial or other proceeding under this Code, although the deponent is not called as a witness 2. The Court may, if it thinks fit, summon and examine such Power to deponent as to the subject-matter of his deposition. summon medical witness. Examiner. 510. Any document purporting to be a report 3 under the Report of hand of any Chemical Examiner or Assistant Chemical Chemical Examiner to Government, upon any matter or thing duly submitted to him for examination or analysis and report in the course of any proceeding under this Code, may be used as evidence in any inquiry, trial or other proceeding under this Code. or acquittal 511. In any inquiry, trial or other proceeding under this Previous Code a previous conviction or acquittal may be proved, in conviction addition to any other mode provided by any law for the time howproved. being in force, (a) by an extract certified under the hand of the officer having the custody of the records of the Court in which such conviction or acquittal was had to be a copy of the sentence or order; or jected to on any ground, the opposite party is not thereby precluded from objecting to the document at the trial on any other ground, 9 Cal. 939. 18 Cal. 739, 745. 2 Whether he is called or not, his deposition is admissible, 8 Cal. 739. That a medical officer's report not given on oath is not evidence has often been decided in India (see 11 Suth. Cr. 2, col. 2: 12 Suth. Cr. 25). But in i.e. the original, not a copy, 6 Act X of 1886, sec. 14. See 10 Cal. 1026, by which this amendment was suggested. |