Legal provisions regarding conviction on plea of guilty under section 229 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
Section 229 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that if the accused pleads guilty, the judge shall record the plea and may, in his discretion, convict him thereon.
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The accused should plead by his own mouth and not through his counsel or pleader. Any admission made by his pleader is not binding on him.
The accused can plead guilty under Section 229, or he can claim to be tried under Section 230, or he can refuse to plead. The plea of ‘not guilty’ is not recognized by the Code and it amounts to a claim to be tried.
It would be violative of Article 21 of the Constitution to induce or lead an accused to plead guilty under a promise or assurance that he would be let off lightly and then in appeal or revision to enhance the sentence.
The Court should not act upon the plea of guilty in serious cases like murder but should proceed to take the evidence as if the plea had been one of not guilty and should decide the case upon the whole evidence including the accused plea.
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A person is taken to have pleaded guilty only if he has pleaded guilty to the facts constituting ingredients of the offence without adding anything external to it. If he pleads guilty to the violation of a provision of law, that plea is not valid plea at all.
Section 229 confers a discretionary jurisdiction on the Court to accept a plea of guilty and to act upon it. This discretion has to be exercised with care and circumspection and on sound judicial principles to do justice to the accused.
