PART VII
PROCEDURE IN TRIALS BEFORE SUBORDINATE COURTS

(a) Provisions relating to the Hearing and Determination of Cases

226.-(1) If at the time or place to which the hearing or further hearing is adjourned, the accused person does not appear before the court in which the order of adjournment was made, it shall be lawful for the court to proceed with the hearing or further hearing as if the accused were present; and if the complainant does not appear, the court may dismiss the charge and acquit the accused with or without costs as the court thinks fit.

(2) If the court convicts the accused person in his absence, it may set aside the conviction, upon being satisfied that his absence was from causes over which he had no control and that he had a probable defence on the merit.

(3) Any sentence passed under subsection (1) shall be deemed to commence from the date of apprehension and the person effecting such apprehension, shall endorse the date thereof on the back of the warrant of commitment.

(4) The court, in its discretion,may refrain from convicting the accused in his absence, and in every such case the court shall issue a warrant for the apprehension of the accused person and cause him to be brought before the court.


227. Where in any case to which section 226 does not apply, an accused being tried by a subordinate court fails to appear on the date fixed for the continuation of the hearing after the close of the prosecution case or on the date fixed for the passing of sentence, the court may, if it is satisfied that the accused's attendance cannot be secured without undue delay or expense, proceed to dispose of the case in accordance with the provisions of section 231 as if the accused, being present, had failed to make any statement or adduce any evidence or, as the case may be, make any further statement or adduce further evidence in relation to any sentence which the court may pass:

Provided that–

(a) where the accused so fails to appear but his advocate appears, the advocate, subject to the provisions of this Act, be entitled to call any defence witness and to address the court as if the accused had been or is convicted, and the advocate shall be entitled to call any witness and to address the court on matters relevant to any sentence which the court may pass; and
(b) where the accused appears on any subsequent date to which the proceedings may have been adjourned, the proceedings under this section on the day or days on which the accused was absent shall not be invalid by reason only of his absence.