The main legal point established in the judgment is the need for liberal exercise of discretion to exempt personal attendance of accused in technical cases, especially for women, old and sickly persons, workers, and busy business people, in the interests of justice and expeditious disposal of cases.

1. The refusal by the learned District Magistrate, Ernakulam, to exempt the personal attendance of the accused in some cases under the Companies Act that came before him has resulted in these revision petitions. The petitioners before me were proceeded against for non-submission of the returns and balance sheet for offences under S.159,162, 614A, 220 (1) and 220 (3) of the Companies Act. Against most of them there are two cases for two separate offences. In all these cases, except one, they indicated their intention to plead guilty and receive sentence. The proper exercise of discretion in these cases, in the interests of justice and expeditious disposal of cases, would have been to exempt personal attendance of the accused, accept the plea of guilty and impose such sentence as the Court felt necessary in the circumstances of the case. The learned District Magistrate thought otherwise. Hence I am constrained to consider the question involved in some detail and lay down the procedure to be adopted in similar cases.

2. All the petitioners are Directors of their respective companies. Some of them are ladies and some old, residing in various parts of the State.

3. The provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code relevant for the disposal of these petitions are, S.205, 353 and 540A. It will be useful to extract these sections.

"205. (1) Whenever a Magistrate issues a summons, he may, if he sees reason so to do, dispense with the personal attendance of the accused, and permit him to appear by his pleader.

(2) But the Magistrate inquiring into or trying the case may, in his discretion at any stage of the proceedings, direct the personal attendance of the accused, and. if necessary, enforce such attendance in manner hereinbefore provided.

353. Except as otherwise expressly provided, all evidence taken under Chapters XVIII, XX. XXI, XXII and XXIII shall be taken in the presence of the accused, or, when his personal attendance is dispensed with, in presence of his pleader.

540A. (1) At any stage of an enquiry or trial under this Code, if the judge or Magistrate is satisfied, for reasons to be recorded, that the personal attendance of the accused before the Court is not necessary in the interests of justice, the judge or Magistrate may. If the accused is represented by a pleader, dispense with his attendance and proceed with such inquiry or trial in his absence, and may, at any subsequent stage of the proceedings, direct the personal attendance of such accused.

(2) If the accused in any such case is not represented by a pleader, or if the judge or Magistrate considers his personal attendance necessary, he may, if he thinks fit, and for reasons to be recorded by him, either adjourn such inquiry or trial, or order that the case of such accused be taken up or tried separately."

These provisions give powers to Courts to exempt the personal attendance of accused. The question is how to exercise these powers. The general rule in criminal cases is that all inquiries and trials should be conducted in the presence of the accused, the principle underlying being that in a criminal trial the Court should not proceed exparte against the accused person. Although this rule is for the protection of the interests of the accused, this does not mean that the accused has a right to absent himself from Court and that the Court should necessarily grant his prayer for exemption from personal attendance. S.205(1) gives the Magistrate jurisdiction to dispense with personal attendance of the accused while issuing summons and the power to permit him to appear through his pleader. Sub-s. (2) of S.205 authorises the Magistrate to compel the attendance of the accused at any stage. This section read with S.353 Cr. P. C. therefore clearly authorises the Court to exempt personal attendance of the accused at any stage of the trial and confers upon the Court the power to compel attendance of the accused whenever the Court wants it. The policy of the Legislature in enacti