Article 20 of the constitution which is also a fundamental right deals with the protection in respect of conviction for offences. So in this article, it is said that if any person is committed any offence but there will still be protection under this article.

So there are total three clauses in this article which are as follows:

Article 20 is protection in respect of conviction for offences. After that 20(1) states that, no person shall be convicted of any offence except for violation of the law in force at the time of commission of the act charged as an offence, nor be subjected to a penalty greater than that which might have been inflicted under the law in force at the time of the commission of the offence. Clause 2 of this article states that no person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once and clause 3 states that no person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.
It is not like that for the first time it come into force in india in 1950 through article 20(2) but also before that, it was also present in section 26 of the general clause act 1897 which says that where an act or omission constitutes an offence under two or more enactments, thean the offender shall be liable to the prosecuted and punished under either or any of those enactments, but shall not be liable to be punished twice for the same offence.
And in the present time along with the article 20(2), section 300 CrPc also deals for the person once convicted or acquitted not to be tried for same offence.

What is double jeopardy

According to black’s law dictionary, a second prosecution after a first trial for the same offence. It follows the principle of nemo debet bis puniri pro uno delicto which means no man ought to be punished twice for same offence.

Principle of autrefois acquit

On the basis of principle autrefois acquit, article 20 was written. In the matter of double jeopardy USA and America is somewhat advance from india. In Britain and USA the second trial is barred even when the accused has been acquitted at the first trial for that offence. In simple words, in these countries the rule is that there will be second trial as well as punishment for the same offence. But in india the rule is that the trial can be held more than one time but the punishment will be one time only for the same offence. So this is the small difference between USA, Britain and india. The following points can be understand on the basis of under mentioned cases.

Case laws

In kalawati v state of himachal Pradesh: a person accused of committing murder was tried acquitted. But due to some further evidences, the trial was start again. So he went to the court under 20(2) and said that this is double jeopardy. But the court held that the trial can be held again if there are some other clues or evidences against the person. And in the other case law maqbool hussain v. state of Bombay: court held that the proceedings of the sea customs authorities cannot be considered as a judicial proceeding because it is not the court or judicial tribunal. So first trial must be in held by judiciary.

Continuing offence

Where an act or commission constituting the offence is continued from day to day, a fresh is committed every day and each offence can be punished separately.

References

https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-5088-double-jeopardy-concept-and-analysis.html

https://www.britannica.com/topic/double-jeopardy-law

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