Withdrawal of complaint with liberty to refile did not create an acquittal bar where earlier proceedings were treated as legally unsustainable.

A Magistrate's order permitting withdrawal of a summons-case complaint with liberty to file a fresh complaint did not amount to an acquittal for purposes of the bar against a second prosecution. Although section 257 contemplates acquittal on withdrawal, the court held that non-examination of the complainant under section 200 does not automatically render the proceedings a nullity or compel acquittal in every case. Where the Magistrate treated the earlier proceedings as lacking legal foundation, any purported acquittal made on that basis could not attract section 300. The subsequent complaint was therefore not barred on double jeopardy grounds.

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Issues: Whether the Magistrate's order permitting withdrawal of the complaint with liberty to file a fresh complaint amounted to an acquittal so as to bar a second complaint under the rule against double jeopardy.

Analysis: Section 257 of the Code permits withdrawal of a summons-case complaint only when the Magistrate is satisfied that sufficient grounds exist, and on such withdrawal the accused is to be acquitted. However, the Court held that non-examination of the complainant under section 200, though mandatory, does not by itself render the entire proceeding a nullity in every case or compel an acquittal. The earlier order was passed because the Magistrate mistakenly treated the proceedings as legally unsustainable on account of the section 200 defect. Since the Magistrate was of the view that the prior proceedings were without legal foundation, he could not have validly passed an acquittal that would attract section 300. An order of acquittal made by a court which itself considers the proceedings incompetent or void cannot operate as a bar to later prosecution.

Conclusion: The earlier withdrawal order did not amount to an acquittal within section 257 and did not bar the subsequent complaint under section 300.

Ratio Decidendi: A purported acquittal made after the court has held the earlier proceedings to be without legal foundation or beyond its competence is a nullity and cannot bar a later prosecution on the same facts.

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