Whenever, on the trial of an indictment for an offence, there shall appear to be a variance between any statement in such indictment and the evidence offered in proof thereof, it shall be lawful for the Court before which the trial shall be had, if it shall consider that by the amendment of the indictment the person indicted will not be prejudiced in his defence on the merits, to order such indictment to be amended, according to the proof, by some Officer of the Court or other person both in that part of the indictment where such variance occurs, and in every other part of the indictment which it may become necessary to amend, on such terms as to postponing the trial if the person indicted apply for a postponement, and ordering the same to be had before the same or another Jury, as such Court shall think reasonable and after any such amendment the trial shall proceed, whenever the same shall be proceeded with, in the same manner in all respects and with the same consequences both with respect to the liability of witnesses to be indicted for giving false evidence and otherwise, as if no such variance had occurred. Provided that in any such case, where the trial shall be so postponed as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for such Court to respite the recognizances of the prosecutor and witnesses, and of the person indicted and his surety or sureties (if any), in which case the prosecutor and witnesses shall be bound to attend to prosecute and give evidence respectively, and the person indicted shall be bound to attend to be tried at the time and place to which such trial shall be postponed, without entering into any fresh recognizances for that purpose, in such and the same manner as if they were originally bound by their recognizances to appear and prosecute, or give evidence at the time and place to which such trial shall be so postponed. Provided also that, where any such trial shall be ordered to be had before another Jury, the Crown and the person indicted shall respectively be entitled to the same challenges as they were respectively entitled to before the first Jury was sworn.

If, upon the trial of any person charged with the offence of criminal breach of trust under Section 405 of the Indian Penal Code, or the offence of cheating and thereby dishonestly inducing the person deceived to deliver property under Section 420 of the said Code, or of criminal breach of trust as a carrier, wharfinger, or ware-house keeper under Section 407 of the said Code, evidence shall be given to prove that such person took the property in question in any such manner as to amount to the offence of theft under Section 378 of the said Code, the Court may order the indictment to be amended under the provisions of Section I of this Act.

If, upon the trial of any person charged with the offence of criminal breach of trust as a clerk or servant under Section 408 of the Indian, Penal Code, evidence shall be given to prove that such person took the property in question in any such manner as to amount to the offence of theft under Section 378 of the said Code, or the offence of theft as a clerk or servant of property in possession of his master under Section 381 of the said Code, the Court may order the indictment to be amended under the provisions of Section I of this Act.

If, upon the trial of any person charged with the offence of inert under Section 378 of the Indian Penal Code, or the offence of theft in a building, tent, or vessel under Section 380 of the said Code, evidence shall be given to prove that, in respect of the property stated in the indictment, such person was guilty of the offence of dishonest misappropriation of property under Section 403 of the said Code, or the offence of criminal breach of trust under Section 405 of the said Code, the Court may order the indictment to be amended under the provisions of Section I of this Act.

If, upon the trial of any person charged with the offence of theft as a clerk or servant of property in the possession of his master under Section 381 of the Indian Penal Code, evidence shall be given to prove that such person was guilty of the offence of dishonest misappropriation of property under Section 403 of the said Code, or the offence of dishonest misappropriation of property possessed by a deceased person at the time of his death under Section 404 of the said Code, or of such dishonest misappropriation under the said Section 404, the offender being at the time of the person's decease employed by him as a clerk or servant, or the offence of criminal breach of trust under Section 405 of the said Code, or the offence of criminal breach of trust as a clerk or servant under Section 408 of the said Code, in respect of the property stated in the indictment, the Court may order the indictment to be amended under the provisions of Section I of this Act.

Every verdict and judgment which shall be given after the making of any amendment under the provisions of this Act, shall be of the same force and effect in all respects as if the indictment had originally been in the form in which it is after such amendment shall have been made.

If it shall become necessary at any time, for any purpose whatsoever, to draw up a formal record in any case where any amendment shall have been made under the provisions of this Act, such record shall be drawn up in the form in which the indictment is after such amendment shall have been made, without taking any notice of the fact of such amendment having been made.

In an indictment for theft the person indicted may be charged with having dishonestly taken the property stated in the indictment out of the possession of the person mentioned therein without that person's consent, and in support of such allegation it shall be sufficient to prove that the person indicted, intending to take dishonestly such property out of the possession of the person mentioned in the indictment, without that person's consent moved that property in order to such taking.

In an indictment for murder or culpable homicide not amounting to murder, or for abetting murder or culpable homicide not amounting to murder, or for attempting to commit murder which shall be preferred after this Act shall come into operation, it shall not be necessary to set forth the manner in which, or the means by which, the death of the deceased was caused or attempted to be caused.

In an indictment for murder it shall be sufficient to state that the person charged with the offence did murder the deceased by doing an act with the intention of causing the death of a human being, or, as the case may he, by doing an act with the intention of causing such bodily injury to the deceased as the offender knew to be likely to cause the death of the deceased, or by doing an act with the intention of causing bodily injury to some person, and that the bodily injury intended to be inflicted was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death, or by doing an act knowing it to be so imminently dangerous that it must in all probability cause the death of a human being, or such bodily injury as was likely to cause the death of a human being, and committing such act without any excuse for incurring the risk of causing death or such injury as aforesaid, and in any indictment for abetting murder or for attempting to commit murder, it shall be sufficient to state that the person charged with the offence abetted the murder of the deceased or attempted to murder the deceased as the case may be.

Upon an indictment for murder, the Jury may find the person charged with the offence not guilty of murder, but guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Upon an indictment for the murder of a child, the Jury may find the person indicted not guilty of murder, but guilty of intentionally concealing or endeavouring to conceal the birth of such child under Section 818 of the Indian Penal Code, and the person so found guilty shall be liable to be punished under the said Section of the said Code.

It shall not be necessary in an indictment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt to specify the particular, kind of grievous hurt.

Upon an indictment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt or for voluntarily causing hurt to any person, or for an offence under Section 336, 337 or 338 of the Indian Penal Code, the person indicted shall not be entitled to be acquitted upon the ground that the hurt caused the death of the person injured, or that the person indicted was guilty of culpable homicide.

In an indictment in which it shall be necessary to mention any instrument or document or to make an averment or allegation respecting any instrument or document, it shall be sufficient to describe such instrument or document by any name or designation by which the same is usually known, or by the purport thereof, without setting out any copy or fac-simile thereof or otherwise describing the same or the value thereof.

In an indictment in which it shall be necessary to allege an intent to defraud, it shall not be necessary to allege or prove an intent to defraud any particular person, but it shall be sufficient to allege and prove an intent to defraud.

If, on the trial of any person charged with any offence, it shall appear to the Jury upon the evidence that the person charged did not complete the offence charged, but was guilty of an offence within the meaning of Section 511 of the Indian Penal Code by attempting to commit such offence, or to cause such offence to be committed, and in such attempt doing an act towards the commission of such offence, such person shall not by reason thereof be entitled to be acquitted, but the Jury shall be at liberty to return as their verdict that the person accused is not guilty of the offence charged, but is guilty of an attempt to commit the same within the meaning of Section 511 of the Indian Penal Code, and the offender so found guilty shall be liable to be punished in the same manner as if he had been convicted upon an indictment framed under the said Section for attempting to commit the particular offence charged in the indictment, and no person so tried as herein lastly mentioned shall be liable to be afterwards prosecuted for an attempt to commit the offence for which he was so tried.

If, upon the trial of any person indicted for criminal misappropriation of property, it shall be proved that he was guilty of committing theft of such property, he shall not by reason thereof be entitled to be acquitted of the offence charged against him.

If, upon the trial of two or more persons indicted for jointly receiving stolen property, it shall be proved that one or more of such persons separately received any part of such property, it shall be lawful for the Jury to convict upon such indictment such of the said persons as shall be proved to have received any part of such property.

A person may be indicted and punished for abetting an offence which has been committed in consequence of the abetment, notwithstanding the person who committed the offence shall not have been indicted or found guilty, or shall not be in custody or amenable to justice, and every abettor of an offence may be indicted, tried, and punished for the abetment as a substantive offence, and may be tried either jointly with the principal offender or separately, and punished by any of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature which would have power to try the principal offender, or which would have power to try the abettor if he had committed the offence himself, either in the place in which he is guilty of the abetment, or in the place in which any act shall have been committed in pursuance of the abetment.

A person may be indicted and punished for dishonestly receiving or retaining stolen property, notwithstanding the person by whose offence the possession of such property shall have been transferred, or who shall have criminally misappropriated such property or committed criminal breach of trust in respect thereof, shall not have been found guilty of such offence, or shall not be in custody or amenable to justice.

It shall be lawful to insert several counts in the same indictment against the same person for different offences. But the Judge, before whom the person indicted shall be tried, may direct that any one or more of the counts shall be treated as a distinct indictment or indictments, and that the person indicted shall be tried thereupon in the same manner as if such count or counts had been in separate and distinct indictments.

If, upon the trial of an indictment for theft, it shall appear that the property alleged in the indictment was taken or moved at different times, the prosecutor shall not by reason thereof be required to elect upon which taking or moving he will proceed, unless it shall appear that there were more than three takings or movings, or that more than the space of six calendar months elapsed between the first and the last of such takings or movings, and in either of such last mentioned cases, the prosecutor shall be required to elect to proceed for such number of takings or movings not exceeding three as shall appear to have taken place within the period of six calendar months from the first to the last of such takings or movings.

In an indictment for giving or fabricating false evidence, or for using or attempting to use false or fabricated evidence, or for any offence which by the Indian Penal Code is declared to be punishable in the same manner as the offence of intentionally giving false evidence, or for abetting or attempting to commit any of the offences aforesaid, it shall be sufficient to set forth the substance of the offence charged, without setting out any part of any proceeding either in law or in equity and without setting forth the commission or authority of the Court or person before whom such offence was committed.

In an indictment in which it shall be necessary to make any averment as to any money, or any note of any Bank, or any note of Government payable on demand, or which by any law is or shall be declared to be a legal tender, it shall be sufficient to describe such money or note simply as money, without specifying any particular coin or Bank or other note, and such allegation, so far as regards the description of the property, shall be sustained by proof of any amount of coin or of any such note as aforesaid, although the particular species of coin of which such amount was composed, or the amount, number, or other particulars of the note, shall not be proved, and in cases of obtaining money or any such note or notes as aforesaid by cheating by proof that the offender obtained any piece or pieces of coin, or any such note or notes, or any portion thereof, or of the value thereof by cheating, although such piece or pieces of coin or note or notes may have been delivered to him in order that some part of the value thereof should be returned to the party delivering the same or to any other person or persons, and such part shall have been returned accordingly.

It shall not be necessary to allege in an indictment any circumstances for the purpose of showing that the case does not come, nor shall it be necessary to allege that the case does not come, within any of the general exceptions contained in Chapter IV of the Indian Penal Code, or within the exceptions contained in Section 136, Section 300, Section 823, Section 324, Section 325, Section 326, Section 375, or Section 499 of the said Code, but every charge shall be understood to assume the absence of all such circumstances, and it shall not be necessary on the part of the prosecutor to prove at the trial the absence of such circumstances in the first instance;

Evidence as to general exception. but the person indicted shall be entitled to give evidence of the existence of any such circumstances, and evidence in disproof thereof may then be given on the part of the prosecutor.

In proving the existence of circumstances as a defence under the 2^nd, 3^rd, 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, 8^th, 9^th, or 10^th exception to Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code, good faith shall be presumed unless the contrary appear.

In every indictment, words used in describing an offence, shall be deemed to have been used in the sense attached to them by the Indian Penal Code.

Any person accused of murder, or of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, may be dealt with, tried, and punished by any of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature, if the act which shall have caused the death shall have been committed wholly or partly within the local limits of the jurisdiction of such Court, or if the death shall have taken place within such local limits in the same manner as if both the act had been committed and the death had taken place within such local limits.

Any person accused of an offence may be dealt with, tried, and punished by any of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature, if the offence shall have been either commenced or completed within the local limits of the jurisdiction of such Court in the same manner as if the offence had been wholly and entirely committed within such local limits.

Whenever the offence of which any person shall be accused, shall consist of anything which has been done and of any consequence which has ensued therefrom, the person accused may be dealt with, tried, and punished by any of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature if either the act shall have been done or the consequence shall have ensued within the local limits of the jurisdiction of such Court in the same manner as if both the act had been done and the consequence had ensued within such local limits.

Whenever a person shall be accused of any offence punishable under Section 411, 412, 413 or 414 of the Indian Penal Code in respect to the receiving or retaining of stolen property, such person may be dealt with, tried, and punished by any of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature, if the offence by which the possession of the property shall have been transferred, shall have been committed either wholly or in part within the local limits of the jurisdiction of such Court, or if any of the stolen property shall have been received or retained by the person accused within such local limits.

If any person shall be accused of any offence under Section 424 of the Indian Penal Code of dishonestly or fraudulently concealing or removing any property of himself, or of any other person, or of dishonestly or fraudulently assisting in the concealment or removal thereof, such person may be dealt with, tried, and punished by any of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature, if the property shall have been concealed or removed in any place within the local limits of such Court or shall have been removed from any place within such local limits.

If any act shall have been committed or the consequence of any act shall have ensued on the boundaries of the local jurisdiction of such Court or so near to such boundaries as to render it doubtful whether such act was committed or such consequence ensued within such local limits or not, such act or consequence may for all purposes be stated, deemed, and taken to have been committed or to have ensued within such local limits

If any person shall be accused of any offence alleged to have been committed on a journey or on any voyage in British India, such person may be dealt with, tried, and punished by any of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature, if any part of the journey or voyage shall have been performed within the local limits of the jurisdiction of such Court.

If any person shall escape from any custody in which he is lawfully detained in pursuance of a sentence of a Court of Justice or by virtue of a commutation of such sentence, or shall be charged with any offence declared to be punishable under Section 227 of the Indian Penal Code or under Section 12 of Act XXIV of 1855 (relating to Penal Servitude,) the person accused may be dealt with, tried, and punished by any of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature, if such person shall be apprehended and retaken within the local limits of the jurisdiction of such Court, or if he was formerly tried by such Court, or, in the case of an escape from custody, if he shall have escaped from custody in any place within such local limits.

Every Justice of the Peace shall have power to deal with any person charged with an offence for which he is liable under this Act to be tried by one of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature, in the same manner as if such offence had been wholly and entirely committed within the local limits of such Court.

A former conviction or acquittal before a Court of competent jurisdiction of any offence hereby made punishable by Her-Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature, shall be a bar to any subsequent trial or conviction for the same offence.

The provisions of Sections 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, and 23 of the 9^th Geo. 4, c. 74, intituled An Act for improving the administration of Criminal Justice in the East Indies, shall be deemed to apply to and to include any offence punishable under the Indian Penal Code. Section 5 of the said Act shall be deemed to include, murder or culpable homicide not amounting to murder; and the words felony or misdemeanor in Section 110 of the said Act shall be deemed to extend to and include any offence declared to be punishable under the Indian Penal Code by means of or in consequence of which the possession of property shall have been transferred.

No indictment for any offence shall be held insufficient for want of the averment of any matter unnecessary to be proved, nor for the omission of the words as appears by the record or of the words with force and arms, or of the words against the peace, nor for the insertion of the words against the form of the statute instead of against the form of the statutes or vice vers , nor because any person mentioned in the indictment is designated by a name of office or other description or appellation instead of his proper name, nor for omitting to state the time at which the offence was committed in any case where time is not of the essence of the offence, nor for stating the time imperfectly, nor for stating the offence to have been committed on a day subsequent to the finding of the indictment or on an impossible day or on a day that never happened, nor for want of a proper or perfect venue, nor for want of a proper or formal conclusion, nor for want of or imperfection in the addition of any defendant, nor for want of the statement of the value or price of any matter or thing, or the amount of damage, injury, or spoil in any case where the value or price or the amount of damage, injury, or spoil is not of the essence of the offence.

Every objection to an indictment for uncertainty or for any formal defect apparent on the face thereof shall be taken by demurrer or motion to quash such indictment before the Jury shall be sworn, and not afterwards, and every Court before which any objection shall be taken by demurrer or motion to quash for any formal defect, may, if it be thought necessary, cause the indictment to be forthwith amended in such particulars by some Officer of the Court or other person, and thereupon the trial shall proceed as if no such defect had appeared.

No person prosecuted shall be entitled to traverse or postpone the trial of any indictment found against him at any Session of Oyer and Terminer or Session of Gaol delivery; provided always that if the Court upon the application of the person so indicted, or otherwise, shall be of opinion that he ought to be allowed a further time either to prepare for defence or otherwise, such Court may adjourn the Sessions to any subsequent day, and may adjourn the trial of such person to such day or to the next subsequent Session, upon such terms as to bail or otherwise as to such Court shall seem meet, and may respite the recognizances of the prosecutor and witnesses accordingly, in which case the prosecutor and witnesses shall be bound to attend to prosecute and give evidence at such subsequent day or Session without entering into any fresh recognizance for that purpose.

In any plea of Autrefois convict or Autrefois acquit, it shall be sufficient for the person accused to state that lie has been lawfully convicted or acquitted (as the case may be) of the offence charged in the indictment.

A charge of an offence under Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code shall not be instituted except by the husband of the woman.

A charge of an offence under Section 498 of the Indian Penal Code shall not be instituted except by the husband of the woman, or by the person having care of such woman on behalf of her husband.

Upon the trial of an indictment for either of the offences mentioned in the last two preceding Sections, it shall be necessary to prove that the charge was instituted by the husband of the woman if the charge be made under Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, or by the husband of the woman, or by the person having care of such woman on behalf of her husband, if the charge be made under Section 498 of the said Code, and in either case that the indictment is prosecuted by such husband or other person as the case may be, and on failure of such proof the indictment shall be quashed and the person accused shall be discharged.

Whenever any person shall be sentenced by any of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature to rigorous imprisonment, or to imprisonment with hard labor, or to solitary confinement, he shall be imprisoned in the House of Correction, whether such House of Correction be under the control of the Sheriff or not.

Whenever any person shall be sentenced by any of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature to transportation or penal servitude, such person shall be kept in the House of Correction as the place of intermediate custody whether such House of Correction be under the control of the Sheriff or not.

If the Sheriff be not the Officer in whom the control of the House of Correction is vested, he shall cause any person sentenced as mentioned in either of the last two preceding Sections to be delivered to the. Officer in whom the control of the House of Correction is vested or to the keeper of such House of Correction, together with a warrant to be signed by a Judge of the said Supreme Court authorizing the detention of such person. Such Officer or keeper, shall be hound to receive the person so delivered over to his custody, and they both shall be responsible for the safe custody of such person.

All Constables and Police Officers are hereby empowered to aid and assist the Sheriff in carrying to the House of Correction any person sentenced as aforesaid.

If the Sheriff be not the Officer in whom the control of the House of Correction is vested, he shall be absolved from all responsibility in respect of the custody of any person sentenced as aforesaid from the time such person shall be delivered to the custody of the Officer in whom the control of the House of Correction is vested, or to the keeper of such House of Correction.

Whenever any person shall be sentenced by a Justice of the Peace or Police Magistrate to rigorous imprisonment, or to imprisonment with hard labor, for any offence committed within the local limits of the jurisdiction of any of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature, the person so sentenced shall be committed to the custody of the Officer in whom the control of the House of Correction is vested, whether such House of Correction be under the control of the Sheriff or not, or of the keeper of such House of Correction, and such Officer and keeper shall be responsible for the safe custody of such person.

From and after the passing of this Act, all persons who are confined at the date of the passing of this Act in the House of Correction, whether under the sentence of any of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature, or of any Justice of the Peace or Police Magistrate, shall be considered to be and shall remain in the custody of the Officer in whom the control of such House of Correction is vested, whether such Officer be the Sheriff or not, or of the keeper of such. House of Correction, and such Officer and keeper shall be responsible for the safe custody of all such persons.

This Act shall commence and take effect in Her Majesty's Supreme Court of Judicature at Port William in Bengal, or in any Court to which the whole or any part of the Criminal jurisdiction of that Court shall be transferred, from the time of the passing of the Act, and shall, so far as the same is applicable, extend to all indictments and proceedings in respect of any offence punishable under the Indian Penal Code, which have been or shall be presented or commenced in the said Court or in any other Court to which the whole or any part of the Criminal jurisdiction of such Court shall be transferred.

This Act shall commence and take effect in Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature at Port St. George and Bombay respectively, or in any Courts to which the whole or any part of the Criminal jurisdiction of those Courts respectively shall be transferred, from the time at which it shall be notified in the Official Gazette by an order of the Governor in Council of Port St. George and Bombay respectively, that the Act is to take effect in such Courts; and from such time the provisions of the Act shall, so far as the same is applicable, extend to all indictments and proceedings in respect of any offence punishable under the Indian Penal Code which have been or shall be presented or commenced in the said Courts or in any other Courts to which the whole or any part of the Criminal jurisdiction of such Courts shall be transferred.

From the time at which this Act shall take effect in any of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature as provided in the last two preceding Sections, Act XVI of 1852 is repealed so far as it relates to indictments and proceedings in such Court, except as to offences not punishable under the Indian Penal Code.

In the construction of this Act, unless where a contrary intention appears from the context, the word Indictment shall be understood to include information, inquisition, or presentment, as well as indictment, and also any plea, replication, or other pleading; and the term

Finding of the indictment. finding of the indictment shall be understood to include the taking of an inquisition, the exhibiting of an information, and the making of a presentment;

Number and gender. and words importing the singular number or masculine gender shall include several persons and parties as well as one person or party, and females as well as males, and bodies corporate as well as individuals, and several matters and things as well as one matter and thing.

Acts done. Words which refer to acts done shall include illegal omissions.

British India. The words British India shall denote the territories that are or shall become vested in Her Majesty by the Statute 21 and 22 Vic, c. 106, entitled

Property. An Act for the better Government of India, except the Settlement of Prince of Wales' Island, Singapore, and Malacca; and the word property shall be understood to include goods, chattels, money, valuable securities, and every other matter or thing, whether real or personal, upon or with respect to which any offence may be committed.