Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
Power of Courts, to require appearance of prisoners to give evidence or answer a charge. – (1) Any civil or criminal court may, if it thinks that the evidence of any person confined in any prison is material in any matter pending before it make an order in the form set forth in the First Schedule, directed to the officer-in-charge of the prison: Provided that no civil court shall make an order under this sub-section, in respect of a person confined in a prison situated outside the State in which the court is held. (2) Any criminal court may, if a charge of an offence against a person confined in any prison is made or pending before it, make an order in the form set forth in the Second Schedule, directed to the officer-in-charge of the prison. (3) No order made under this section by a civil court which is subordinate to a District Judge shall have effect unless it is countersigned by the District Judge; and no order made under this section by 1 This Act extends to the Union Territories of Goa, Daman and Diu by Regulation 11 of 1963 [w.e.f. 1st February, 1964] and Pondicherry by Act 26 of 1963 [w.e.f. 1st March, 1969]. 2 This Act came into force on 1st January, 1956, vide notification No. S.R.O. 3447 dated the 8th November, 1955, Gazette of India, 1955, Pt. II, Sec. 3, p.2229. 3 Substituted by A.L.O. [No. 3], 1956 [w.e.f. 1st November, 1956]. a Criminal Court which is inferior to the Court of a Magistrate of the first class shall have effect unless it is countersigned by the District Magistrate to whom that court is subordinate or within the local limits of whose jurisdiction such Court is situate. (4) For the purposes of sub-section (3), a Court of Small Causes outside a Presidency-town or city of Hyderabad shall be deemed to be subordinate to the District Judge within the local limits of whose jurisdiction such Court is situate. State Amendment Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh In its application to the State of Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh In Section 3, in sub-section (3) for the words “Magistrate of the first class” and “District Magistrate” substitute respectively “Judicial Magistrate of the first class” and “Chief Judicial Magistrate”.4