Day-to-day criminal trial procedure limits adjournments once witness examination begins; absent special reasons, available witnesses must be examined.

Section 309 CrPC requires criminal trials to proceed expeditiously and, once witness examination has begun, to continue day to day until witnesses in attendance are examined. When witnesses are present, adjournment or postponement should not be granted unless special reasons are recorded in writing; convenience of counsel is not a special reason. Repeated adjournments despite available witnesses defeat the legislative mandate and may amount to a failure of criminal justice and miscarriage of justice. The text states that, on these facts, the acquittal could not stand and the matter was remitted for further examination of the witness and completion of the trial according to law.

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Issues: Whether, after examination of a witness has begun and witnesses are present, the trial court is bound to proceed day to day and examine them without granting adjournments except for recorded special reasons, and whether failure to do so justified setting aside the acquittal and restoring the trial.

Analysis: Section 309 of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires criminal proceedings to be held expeditiously, and once examination of witnesses has begun, the trial must continue from day to day until all witnesses in attendance are examined. When witnesses are present, adjournment or postponement cannot be granted without examining them except for special reasons recorded in writing. Convenience of counsel is not a special reason, and repeated adjournments in the face of available witnesses defeat the legislative mandate. Where the trial court ignores this command and closes evidence despite the presence of witnesses, the result is a failure of criminal justice and a miscarriage of justice.

Conclusion: The acquittal could not stand. The appeal succeeded, the acquittal was set aside, and the matter was sent back for further examination of the witness and completion of the trial in accordance with law.

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