Exercising the power of inherent jurisdiction

IN the case of Karpal Singh & Anor v Public Prosecutor (1991), the following question of law was referred to the then Supreme Court for its consideration: “Whether the court has a general inherent power to protect its process from abuse to safeguard an accused person from oppressing or prejudice by striking out frivolous proceedings.”

The then Supreme Court held that by virtue of Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), the subordinate courts had no power to strike out proceedings or acquit an accused person without hearing evidence for the prosecution.