No double jeopardy bar if there was no trial – Supreme Court
November 12 , 2018 2123 days 773 0
The Supreme Court ruled that, 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.
Article 20 (2) of the Constitution mandates that a person cannot be prosecuted or punished double the times for the same offence.
The above verdict has been ruled by a Bench of Justices R. Banumathi and Indira Banerjee.
They held 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.