Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
Section 449
Withdrawal of cases and appeals by Sessions Judges
(1) A Sessions Judge may withdraw any case or appeal from, or recall any case or appeal which he has made over to a Chief Judicial Magistrate subordinate to him.
(2) At any time before the trial of the case or the hearing of the appeal has commenced before the Additional Sessions Judge, a Sessions Judge may recall any case or appeal which he has made over to any Additional Sessions Judge.
(3) Where a Sessions Judge withdraws or recalls case or appeal under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2), he may either try the case in his own Court or hear the appeal himself, or make it over in accordance with the provisions of this Sanhita to another Court for trial or hearing, as the case may be.
Why this exists
Sessions Judges regularly distribute their heavy caseload to subordinate Magistrates and Additional Sessions Judges, but circumstances can change, workload imbalances, concerns about how a case is being handled, or administrative needs, requiring the Sessions Judge to reclaim control over a specific case. This provision preserves that flexibility while limiting the recall of a case from an Additional Sessions Judge to before the actual hearing has begun, to avoid disrupting proceedings already underway. It corresponds to section 409 of the earlier CrPC.