Section 321 CrPC withdrawal depends on independent prosecutorial judgment, not an automatic requirement of separate government permission.

An application for consent to withdraw from prosecution under Section 321 CrPC must be considered on the Public Prosecutor's independent and bona fide application of mind, with the court exercising a supervisory role limited to checking relevance, good faith and absence of extraneous considerations. Where the Public Prosecutor is appointed by the Central Government, separate Government permission is not automatically a prerequisite for the request to be entertained. A magistrate who rejects the application on the mistaken assumption that such permission is invariably required applies the wrong legal test, and the matter may be remitted for fresh consideration on the correct footing.

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Issues: Whether the Magistrate erred in dismissing the application for consent to withdraw from prosecution under Section 321 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and whether the matter required remand for fresh consideration.

Analysis: The withdrawal power under Section 321 rests with the Public Prosecutor, subject to the Court's consent. Where the Public Prosecutor is appointed by the Central Government, the Court cannot insist upon production of separate Government permission as a prerequisite to entertaining the request. The Court's role is supervisory and is confined to examining whether the Prosecutor applied independent mind and acted bona fide, free from irrelevant or extraneous considerations. The Magistrate wrongly proceeded on the basis that permission from the Central Government was necessary and did not properly examine the request on the correct legal footing. The revision court declined to exercise the withdrawal request itself for the first time, because the Magistrate had not exercised discretion in accordance with law.

Conclusion: The order dismissing the withdrawal application was set aside and the matter was remitted to the Magistrate for fresh disposal in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: An application under Section 321 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 must be decided by the Court on the basis of the Public Prosecutor's independent and bona fide application of mind, and not on an erroneous assumption that separate Government permission is invariably required where the Prosecutor is appointed by the Central Government.

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