The Role of a De facto - Complainant in a Case Instituted on a Police Report
By
Arun Gupta
The Code of Criminal Procedure has not spelt out in so many words the role of a defacto-complainant in any case instituted on a police report. It is the Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public Prosecutor in charge of a case may appear and plead without any written authority before any Court in which that case is under inquiry, trial or appeal. The Section 301 (2) has further said “if in any such case any private person instructs a pleader to prosecute any person in any Court, the Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public Prosecutor in charge of the case shall conduct the prosecution, and the pleader so instructed shall act therein under the directions of the Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public Prosecutor and may, with the permission of the Court submit written argument after the evidence is closed in the case”. This indicates that the counsel to be appointed by a defacto-complainant shall remain within the grip of the Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public Prosecutor during t ....