Duties of a Public Prosecutor in the Criminal Justice System

Who is a Public Prosecutor?

A Public Prosecutor must see himself or herself as an agent of justice rather than a partisan of the State. In India, the appointment of Public Prosecutors and Additional Public Prosecutors is now governed by Sections 18 to 20 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 (which replaced Sections 24 and 25 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, from 1 July 2024). The control of the trial rests with the trial judge, while investigation is the function of the police. The Public Prosecutor conducts the prosecution on behalf of the State, but the long-recognised power to withdraw from prosecution (nolle prosequi, now exercised with the court’s consent) is available to the prosecutor.

The general population prosecutor in India does not appear to be a backer of the state as in the prosecutor need to look for conviction at any expense. The prosecutor must be unbiased, reasonable and truthful as an open official as well as in light of the fact that the prosecutor has a place with the honourable calling of law, the morals of which request these qualities.

The duties of the Public Prosecutor

The role of the Public Prosecutor is not to seek a conviction regardless of the evidence; the central duty is to ensure that justice is done. Indian courts have explained the role, duties and obligations of the prosecution as follows.

A Public Prosecutor should not be concerned merely with securing convictions, or with pleasing the departments of the State Government with which he or she works. The prosecutor must act as an agent of the justice process. The courts have consistently held that it is the duty of the Public Prosecutor to see that justice is done, and that he or she should not seek to obtain a conviction by unfair means.

The object of a criminal trial is to discover the truth, not to secure the conviction of the accused at any cost. The duty of a Public Prosecutor is not to represent any particular party, but the State. The prosecution of accused persons must be conducted with the utmost fairness.

A Public Prosecutor ought not by explanation exasperate the argument against the denounced, or hold back a witness in light of the fact that her/his proof may debilitate the case for arraignment. The main point of a Public Prosecutor ought to be to support the court in finding truth. A Public Prosecutor may as well stay away from any processes prone to threaten or unduly impact witnesses on either side.

A Public Prosecutor might as well place in the eyes of the Court whatever confirmation is in her/his ownership .The obligation of an open Prosecutor is not simply to secure the conviction of the denounced no matter what yet to place under the watchful eye of the court whatever proof is in the ownership of the arraignment, if it be in favour of or against the charged and to leave the court to choose all such prove, if the blamed had or had not dedicated the offence with which he stood charged.