Legal Provisions of Section 324 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.), India.
Trial of persons previously convicted of offences against coinage, stamp-law or property:
This section has been enacted to aid the requirement of Section 75 of the Indian Penal Code which provides enhanced punishment in certain cases where the accused has been previously convicted of similar offence.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The section applies in case of trial of persons who have been previously convicted of offence against coinage and stamp law (Chapter-XII, IPC) or offences against property (Chapter XVII, IPC). If there has been previous conviction of the accused for an offence under these chapters, the Magistrate must commit the case to the Chief Judicial Magistrate or to the Court of Session, unless he himself has the power to punish the accused adequately.
It is, therefore, incumbent upon the Magistrate that before, framing a charge under any of the chapters specified in the section, he has to determine whether there has been a previous conviction and whether he has the power to award an adequate sentence. If he thinks that he has no such power, he should frame the charge and commit the accused to the Court of CJM or the Court of Session, as the case may be.
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The section requires that the offence for which the accused was previously convicted must be one which is punishable with imprisonment for a term of three years or upwards. But it does not say that the accused should have been actually punished with imprisonment for three years or more.
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The section applies when same offence has been subsequently committed by the accused after the previous conviction and it does apply when the offence is committed by the accused while he is still under trial for the same offence committed previously.
