PROSECUTION

In India, the criminal justice system has four important attributes, namely, the law enforcement authority (police), the judiciary, the prosecution wing, and the prison and correctional services. It is, however, the duty of the State to prosecute cases in the Courts of law. They have constituted cadres of public prosecutors to prosecute cases at various levels in the subordinate Courts and the High Court.

In countries where the legal system follows the English common-law tradition, the function of prosecution is usually distinguished from that of investigation and adjudication. However, in many countries, the prosecution is performed by an official who is not part of either the law enforcement agency or the judicial system; a wide variety of terms have been used to designate the person prosecuting. 

The term prosecution has been defined in the Oxford dictionary as, ‘the institution and conducting of legal proceedings against someone in respect of a criminal charge.” In simple terms, it can be stated that an act or process of holding a trial against a person who has been accused of a crime to scrutinize whether that person is guilty or not, or that side in a legal proceeding which argues that a person who is accused of a crime is guilty, the lawyer or lawyers who prosecute someone in a Court case.

The police is a state subject in our constitutional scheme. The primary investigative authority is the police station in India. After the due procedure of investigation, charge sheets are filed in the courts concerned as per the provisions of the Code. The public prosecutors prosecute the cases, and the State governments appoint them.

Before enacting the Criminal Procedure Code of 1973, public prosecutors were attached to the police department, and they were accountable to the District Superintendent of Police. However, after the enforcement of the Code of Criminal Procedure in 1973, the prosecution wing was totally separated from the police department. The officer designated as the Director of Prosecutions is responsible for heading the prosecution wing.     

A Public Prosecutor is considered the state's agent to represent the interest of common people in the criminal justice system. The prosecution of the accused is the duty of the state but not individually the duty of the party who has been aggrieved. They are appointed in almost all countries. The Public Prosecutor is defined in Section 24 of Cr.P.C. They serve as the basic principle of Rule of Law, i.e., auld alteram partem (no person shall be condemned unheard).

Thus, a Public Prosecutor is an officer of the court assisting in the administration of justice. It is explicit from the fact that the major duty of the Public Prosecutor is to assist the court in finding the facts of the case. The Public Prosecutor must be impartial, fair and honest. His actions must comply with the direction as provided by the judges. He should not believe in the false conviction of the accused by hook or crook. The prudential principles on which the public prosecution should act must be equity, justice and good conscience.