THE PRISONERS (ATTENDANCE IN COURTS) ACT, 1955 
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ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
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SECTIONS 

1.  Short title, extent and commencement. 
2.  Definitions. 
3.  Power of courts to require appearance of prisoners to give evidence or answer a charge. 
4.  Power of State Government to exempt certain persons from operation of section 3. 
5.  Prisoners to be brought up. 
6.  Officer in charge of prison when to abstain from carrying out order. 
7.  Commissions for examination of prisoners. 
8.  Certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Code of Civil Procedure to apply. 
9.  Power to make rules. 
10.  Repeal. 

THE FIRST SCHEDULE. 
THE SECOND SCHEDULE. 

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THE PRISONERS (ATTENDANCE IN COURTS) ACT, 1955 

ACT NO. 32 OF 1955 

[20th September, 1955.] 

An Act to provide for the attendance in courts of persons confined in prisons for obtaining their 

evidence or for answering a criminal charge. 

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Sixth Year of the Republic of India as follows:— 

1. Short title, extent and commencement.—(1) This Act may be called the Prisoners (Attendance in 

Courts) Act, 1955. 

(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir*. 

(3)  It  shall  come  into  force  on  such  date1  as  the  Central  Government  may,  by  notification  in  the 

Official Gazette, appoint. 

2. Definitions.—In this Act,— 

(a) “confinement in a prison”—references to confinement in a prison, by whatever form of words, 
include  references  to  confinement  or  detention  in  a  prison  under  any  law  providing  for  preventive 
detention; 

(b) “prison” includes— 

(i) any place which has been declared by the State Government, by general or special order, 

to be a subsidiary jail; and 

(ii) any reformatory, Borstal institution or other institution of a like nature; 

2[(c) “State Government”, in relation to a Union territory, means the Administrator thereof.] 

3. 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  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 that court is situate. 

1. 1st January, 1956, vide notification No. S.R.O. 3447, dated 8th November, 1955, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary,        

Part II, sec. 3. 

2. Subs. by Adaptation of Laws (No. 3) Order, 1956, for clause (c) (w.e.f. 1-11-56). 
*. Vide notification No. S.O. 3912(E), dated 30th October, 2019, this Act is made applicable to the Union territory of Jammu and 
Kashmir and the Union territory of Ladakh this Act has been extended in its application to the Union territory Goa, Daman and 
Diu by the Act 11 of 1963, s. 3 and the Schedule (w.e.f 1-2-1965). 

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(4) For the purposes of sub-section (3), a court of small causes outside a presidency town or the city 
of  Hyderabad  shall  be  deemed  to  be  subordinate  to  the  district  judge  within  the  local  limits  of  whose 
jurisdiction such court is situate. 

4. Power of State Government to exempt certain persons from operation of section 3.—(1) The 
State  Government  may,  having  regard  to  the  matters  specified  in  sub-section  (2),  by  general  or  special 
order, direct that any person or class of persons shall not be removed from the prison in which he or they 
may be confined, and thereupon so long as any such order remains in force, the provisions of section 3 
shall not apply to such person or class of persons. 

(2)  Before  making  an  order  under  sub-section  (1),  the  State  Government  shall  have  regard  to  the 

following matters, namely:— 

(a) the nature of the offence for which or the grounds on which the confinement has been ordered 

in respect of the person or class of persons; 

(b) the likelihood of the disturbance of public order if the person or class of persons is allowed to 

be removed from the prison; 

(c) the public interest, generally. 

5. Prisoners to be brought up.—Upon delivery of any order made under section 3 to the officer in 
charge  of  the  prison  in  which  the  person  named  therein  is  confined,  that  officer  shall  cause  him  to  be 
taken to the court in which his attendance is required, so as to be present in the court at the time of such 
order  mentioned,  and  shall  cause  him  to  be  detained  in  custody  in  or  near  the  court  until  he  has  been 
examined or until the judge or presiding officer of the court authorises him to be taken back to the prison 
in which he was confined. 

6.  Officer  in  charge  of  prison  when  to  abstain  from  carrying  out  order.—Where  the  person  in 

respect of whom an order is made under section 3— 

(a) is, in accordance with the rules made in this behalf, declared to be unfit to be removed from 

the prison where he is confined by reason of sickness or other infirmity; or 

(b) is under committal for trial; or 

(c) is under remand pending trial or pending a preliminary investigation; or 

(d) is in custody for a period which would expire before the expiration of the  time required for 

removing him under this Act and for taking him back to the prison in which he is confined, 

the  officer  in charge  of  the  prison  shall  abstain from  carrying  out  the  order  and  shall  send to  the  court 
from which the order had been issued a statement of reasons for so abstaining: 

Provided that such officer as aforesaid shall not so obstain where— 

(i) the order has been made by a criminal court; and 

(ii) the person named in the order is confined under committal for trial or under remand pending 
trial or pending a preliminary investigation and is not declared in accordance with the rules made in 
this behalf to be unfit to be removed from the prison where he is confined by reason of sickness or 
other infirmity; and 

(iii) the place, where the evidence of the person named in the order is required, is not more than 

five miles distant from the prison in which he is confined. 

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7. Commissions for examination of prisoners.—In any of the following cases, that is to say,— 

(a)  where  it  appears  to  any  civil  court  that  the  evidence  of  a  person  confined  in  a  prison  is 
material  in  any  matter  pending before  it  and  that  the  attendance  of  such  person  in  court  cannot  be 
secured by reason of the provisions of section 6 or of an order under section 4 or of the district judge 
declining under sub-section (3) of section 3 to counter sign an order for removal; or 

(b)  where  it  appears  to  any  civil  court  as  aforesaid  that  the  evidence  of  a  person  confined  in  a 
prison which is situated outside the State in which, or is more than fifty miles distant from the place at 
which, such court is held is material in any such matter, 

the  court  may,  if  it  thinks  fit,  issue  a  commission  under  the  provisions  of  the  Code  of  Civil          
Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), for the examination of the person in the prison in which he is confined. 

8.  Certain  provisions  of  the  Code  of  Criminal  Procedure  and  the  Code  of  Civil  Procedure  to 
apply.—Save  as  otherwise  provided  in  this  Act  and  any  rules  made  thereunder,  the  provisions  of  the 
Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898), as the 
case may be, shall, so far as may be, apply in relation to the examination on commission or otherwise of 
any person confined in a prison as they apply in relation to the examination on commission of any other 
person. 

9.  Power  to  make  rules.—(1)  The  State  Government  may,  by  notification  in  the  Official  Gazette, 

make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act. 

(2)  In  particular  and  without  prejudice  to  the  generality  of  the  foregoing  power,  such  rules  may 

provide for— 

(a) the procedure for obtaining the countersignature of an order made under section 3; 

(b) the authority by whom and the manner in which a declaration that a person confined in prison 

is unfit to be removed therefrom, may be made; 

(c) the conditions, including payment of costs and charges, subject to which an order made under 

section 3 by a civil court may be executed; 

(d) the manner in which a process directed against any person confined in a prison issued from 

any court may be served upon him; 

(e)  the  escort  of  persons  confined  in  a  prison  to  and  from  courts  in  which  their  attendance  is 

required and for their custody during the period of such attendance; 

(f) the amount to be allowed for the costs and charges of such escort; and 

(g) the guidance of officers in all other matters connected with the enforcement of this Act. 

10. Repeal.—(1) Part IX of the Prisoners Act, 1900 (3 of 1900) and the First and Second Schedules 

to the said Act are hereby repealed. 

(2) If immediately before the commencement of this Act, there is in force in any Part B State to which 
this Act extends any law corresponding to the provisions of this Act, that law shall, in so far as it relates 
to matters dealt within this Act, stand repealed on such commencement: 

Provided that anything done or any action taken under any such law, shall be deemed to have been 
done  or  taken  under  the  corresponding  provisions  of  this  Act  and  shall  continue  to  have  effect 
accordingly, unless and until superseded by anything done or any action taken under this Act. 

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THE FIRST SCHEDULE 

[See sub-section (1) of section 3] 

Court of  

To the officer in charge of the ………………………………………….. (State name of prison). 

You are hereby required to produce                       , now confined in                                       , under 

safe and sure conduct before the Court of                                       at                                                    

on the                                        day of                                          next by                                       of the 
clock  in the  forenoon  of  the  same  day,  there to  give  evidence  in a  matter  now  pending  before the  said 
Court, and after the said                                      has then and there given his evidence before the said 
Court or the said Court has dispensed with his further attendance, cause him to be conveyed under safe 
and sure conduct back to the prison. 

The                                           day of  

A. B. 

(Countersigned) C.D. 

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THE SECOND SCHEDULE 

[See sub-section (2) of section 3] 

Court of  

To the officer in charge of the ………………………………………….. (State name of prison). 

You are hereby required to produce                       , now confined in                                       , under 
safe and sure conduct before the Court of                                       at                     on the                               

day of                                    next by                           of the clock in the forenoon of the same day, there to 
answer a charge now pending before the said Court, and after such charge has been disposed of or the said 
Court has dispensed with his further attendance, cause him to be conveyed under safe and sure conduct 
back to the said prison. 

The                                           day of  

A. B. 

(Countersigned) C.D. 

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