Coroners Act ,1871
Act No : 4
Section : ADJOURNMENT OF INQUEST
SECTION 21: ADJOURNMENT OF INQUEST
- The Coroner may adjourn the inquest from time to time, and from place to place. Juror's recognizances. Whenever the inqeust is adjourned the Coroner shall take the recognizances of the jurors to attend at the time and place appointed, and notify to the witnesses when and where the inquest will be proceeded with.
The amount of such recognizances shall in each case be fixed by the Coroner19[and the whole, or such part thereof as to the Coroner seems fit, shall, in default of attendance by the jurors, be recoverable in the same manner as a fine imposed under Section 31].
State Amendments
Section 21-A Maharashtra: After Section 21 insert Section 21A, namely: -
21A. Inquest to be adjourned if criminal proceedings have been instituted before a Magistrate.-
(1) If on an inquest touching a death, the Coroner is informed, before the jury have given their verdict that criminal proceedings have been instituted against some person before a Magistrate in respect of an offence touching the death of the deceased, he may adjourn the inquest until after the conclusion of the criminal proceedings and may, if he thinks fit, discharge the jury.
(2) After the conclusion of the criminal proceedings which it shall be the duty of the police to communicate to the Coroner, the Coroner may, subject as hereinafter provided if he thinks fit, resume the adjourned inquest: Provided that at such resumed inquest no inquisition shall be held against any person in respect of any offence with which he was charged or of which he could have been convicted in the proceedings referred to in sub-section (1), and no finding shall be recorded which is inconsistent with the determination of any matter by the result of those proceedings.
(3) Where the Coroner resumes an inquest which has been adjourned and the jury has been discharged, he shall proceed in all respects as if the inquest had not previously been begun and the provisions of this Act shall apply accordingly as if the resumed inquest were a fresh inquest, except that it shall not be obligatory on the Coroner to view the body.
(4) If, having regard to the result of the criminal proceedings, the Coroner decides not to resume the inquest, he shall furnish the Commissioner of Police with a certificate slating the result of the criminal proceedings and any particulars necessary for the registration of the death which may have been ascertained.
(5) For the purposes of this section, the expression "the criminal proceedings" means the proceedings before a Magistrate and before any Court to which the accused person is committed for trial or before which an appeal from the conviction of that person is heard, and criminal proceedings shall not be deemed to be concluded until no further appeal can be made in the course thereof. - Bombay Act XIII of 1930, S. 3.
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