Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
Section 268
When accused shall be discharged
(1) If, upon taking all the evidence referred to in section 267, the Magistrate considers, for reasons to be recorded, that no case against the accused has been made out which, if unrebutted, would warrant his conviction, the Magistrate shall discharge him.
(2) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prevent a Magistrate from discharging the accused at any previous stage of the case if, for reasons to be recorded by such Magistrate, he considers the charge to be groundless.
Why this exists
This protects an accused in a privately-initiated warrant case from being forced through a full trial when the complainant's own evidence fails to build even a basic case against him, and it lets a Magistrate cut a hopeless case short at any point rather than waiting till the bitter end. It mirrors section 245 of the earlier Code of Criminal Procedure.