Prima Facie Satisfaction to Trial: admissible Customs Act statements and approver confessions can justify refusal to discharge.

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Full Text of the Document

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....The article addresses discharge jurisdiction in criminal proceedings and holds that at the discharge stage the court must assess only whether a prima facie case or strong suspicion exists to warrant trial, not conduct a mini-trial; applying this test, the Special Court correctly refused discharge of the petitioner where admissible statements under the Customs Act, approver confessions, and other particularised particulars in the final report furnished sufficient material to proceed. The piece further explains that voluntariness, corroboration, and the probative weight of approver statements, extra judicial confessions and CCTV visuals are factual matters for trial and do not mandate discharge on the present record.....