Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
Section 278
Acquittal or conviction
(1) If the Magistrate, upon taking the evidence referred to in section 277 and such further evidence, if any, as he may, of his own motion, cause to be produced, finds the accused not guilty, he shall record an order of acquittal.
(2) Where the Magistrate does not proceed in accordance with the provisions of section 364 or section 401, he shall, if he finds the accused guilty, pass sentence upon him according to law.
(3) A Magistrate may, under section 275 or section 278, convict the accused of any offence triable under this Chapter, which from the facts admitted or proved he appears to have committed, whatever may be the nature of the complaint or summons, if the Magistrate is satisfied that the accused would not be prejudiced thereby.
Why this exists
This closes out the summons-case trial with the standard acquit-or-convict outcome, while giving Magistrates flexibility to match a conviction to what the facts actually prove rather than being trapped by imprecise or mislabelled paperwork in the original complaint - provided the accused genuinely had fair notice and no unfair surprise results. It mirrors section 255 of the earlier Code of Criminal Procedure.
Common misconceptions
- Myth: A person can never be convicted of an offence different from the one exactly named in the original complaint.
Fact: A Magistrate can convict of a related offence the proven facts actually support, as long as doing so doesn't unfairly prejudice the accused's defence.