Study on Prosecuting Officers in Siliguri Court with Reference to the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Abstract

In an adverserial system of criminal investigation, which India follows Prosecuting an accused is alaways a challenging and complex task . The criminal justice system consist of the police, prosecution, courts and correctional administration. All this organs needs to be working in tandem to ensure smooth running of the criminal administration. A prosecuting advocate has to aptly balance between the victim’s right and that of maintaining strictest impartiality where he works as agent of justice and not as the mouthpeice of the State. The rights of the accused under Indian Criminal Jurisprudence flows from being the Constitutional rights to be ensconed under the The Code of Criminal Procedure,1973. The victim right under The Code of Criminal Procedure,1973 is not explicit enough. It merely provides the definition of victim without underlying the representational right properly only to engage an advocate of his/her choice.Barring the stage of appeal a criminal proceeding can be segregated into three parts broadly, investigation inquiry and trial. A very critical position in the criminal justice system is that of the prosecutor.Every organised society has a well developed prosecution system to prosecute those who break the society’s establish legal rules. The objective of any criminal trialis to investigate the crime and decide the accused’s guilt or innocence, and it is the prosecutor’s primary responsibility to assist the court in determining the truth of a case. As a result, the prosecutor is required to carry out his duties in a fair, fearless and responsible manner. This author seeks to discern the fact, as to what are the statutory safeguards and limitation offered to a prosecutor in every stage of criminal proceeding under the before mentioned code. The prosecutor are given a very limited power within Code of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. This author has interviewed prosecutors in the magisterial and sessions court of Siliguri.The interview was done using tool of questionnarie. The prosecutors are all for better and enabling powers and duties. Prosecutors are task with the delicate job of asssting the court in finding and taking a criminal proceeding to a logical conclusion. They are tasked with being an agent of justice in criminal proceedings. This author suggest certain changes and modification within the criminal code to remove the hindrance and which shall augment in better administration of justice.