In State of Punjab v. Sarwan Singh, AIR 1981 SC1054, the accused Sarwan Singh was
convicted of an offence under Section 406, Indian Penal Code, by the trial Court. However, on
appeal having been preferred by him, the High Court set aside his conviction and acquitted him mainly on the ground that the prosecution launched against him was clearly barred by limitation under sections 468 & 469 of the Code. The State went in appeal by special leave to the Supreme Court but the same was dismissed with the following observations which are very pertinent to notice:.
"The object of Criminal Procedure Code in putting a bar of limitation on prosecutions was clearly to prevent the parties from filing cases after a long time, as a result of which material evidence may disappear and also to prevent abuse of the process of the court by filing vexatious and belated prosecutions long after the date of the offence. The object which the statute seeks to subserve is clearly in consonance with the concept of fairness of trial as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. It is, thereforee, of the utmost importance that any prosecution, whether by the State or a private complainant must abide by the letter of law or take the risk of the prosecution failing on the ground of limitation."
This being the object of the period of limitation, the same code by virtue of section 470 gives the Magistrate the dicretion to condone the delay and the knowledge but the question is whether the self-incriminatory statements could be allowed even in a time barred case