The following are three exceptions to the general rule that a person tried and convicted or acquitted of an offence cannot be tried again for the same offence.
(i) As per sub-section (2) of Section 300 of the Code, a person acquitted or convicted of any offence may be afterwards tried with the consent of the State Government, for any distinct offence for which a separate charge might have been made against him at the former trial under sub-section (1) of Section 220 of the Code. Section 300(2) of the Code applies only when both complaints relate to same offence. The expression ‘distinct offence’ means an offence entirely unconnected with a former offence charged.
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(a) A is charged by a Magistrate of the second class with, and convicted by him of, theft of property from the person of B. A may subsequently be charged with, and tried for, robbery on the same facts.
(b) Where certain persons, after beating the inmates of a house, carried off a woman, and on the first trial they were charged under Sections 325 and 452 of the Indian Penal Code, for house trespass and grievous hurt and convicted, it was held that such conviction did not bar a subsequent trial for the offence of abduction which had been committed in the course of the same transaction. The case fell under Section 220(1) and, therefore, under sub-section (2) of Section 300 of the Code.
(ii) According to sub-section (3) of Section 300 of the Code, a person convicted of any offence constituted by any act causing consequences which, together with such act, constituted a different offence from that of which he was convicted, may be afterwards tried for such last mentioned offence, if the consequences had not happened, or were not known to the Court to have happened, at the time when he was convicted.
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A is tried for causing grievous hurt and convicted. The person injured afterwards dies. A may be tried again for culpable homicide.
(iii) As per sub-section (4) of Section 300 of the Code, a person acquitted or convicted of any offence constituted by any acts may, notwithstanding such acquittal or conviction, be subsequently charged with, and tried for, any other offence constituted by the same acts which he may have committed if the Court by which he was first tried was not competent to try the offence with which he is subsequently charged.
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(a) A is charged by a Magistrate of the second class with, and convicted by him of, theft of property from the person of B. A may subsequently be charged with, and tried for, robbery on the same facts;
(b) A, В and С are charged by a Magistrate of the first class with, and convicted by him of, robbing D. A, В and С may afterwards be charged with, and tried for, dacoity on the same facts.
(c) A is convicted by a second class Magistrate for an offence under Section 182 of the Indian Penal Code. A may subsequently be tried by a first class Magistrate on the same facts for an offence under Section 211 of the Indian Penal Code if the latter offence was not triable by a second class Magistrate but only by a first class Magistrate.
Sub-section (5) of Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that a person discharged under Section 258 shall not be tried again for the same offence except with the consent of the Court by which he was discharged or of any other Court to which the first mentioned Court is subordinate.
Prior approval of the Court which discharged the person or of its superior Court acts as a safeguard against misuse of power by the prosecuting authorities.
According to sub-section (6) of Section 300 of the Code, nothing in Section 300 of the Code shall affect the provisions of Section 26 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 or of Section 188 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Section 26 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 is as follows:
“Where an act or omission constitutes an offence under two or more enactments, then the offender shall be liable to be prosecuted and punished under either or any of those enactments, but shall not be liable to be punished twice for the same offence.”
Section 300 has no application to a case where there was only one trial for several offences, of some of which the accused person was acquitted while being convicted of one. Section 300 of the Code will not be attracted to continuing offences.