The Criminal Law Journal of India Journal June 1919

Such a provision can hardly be costrued as an authority for dispensing with the examination of the accused altogether and a statement prepared in the majority of cases by others on bhalf of the accused cannot serve as a substitute for an examination of the accused rendered obligatory under the Code. [...] These enactments clearly show that the examination of the accused is not a mere formality but that it is intended for the benefit of the accused and if used with care and intelligence will help the Court in forming an opinion on the merits of the prosecution story. [...] I think it is unnecessary for we to quote further authorities on a matter which is simple enough; but in view of the misapprehension I have referred to at the outset it seems desirable that Ditrict Magistrates should draw the attetion of their subordinates to the provsions of the Code which render the examination of the accused obligatory and see that the filing of written statements in [...] In other words if a Magistrate after examiing the complainant and some of the witnesses for the prosecution disbelieves the prosecution story and orders the accused to be discharged there is nothing illegal in such a procedure; in practice however till all the prosecution witnesses are examined Magistrates do not come to any opinion on the merits of the case. [...] 11 an order of acquittal may be founded whether it is the falsity of the prosecution story or its rebuttal by the defence the Magistrate is bound to hear all the witnesses tendered by the prosecution and also all the witnesses the accused produces on his behalf.