JUDGMENT
1. The learned Magistrate, First Class, has erred in law in deciding the case without taking evidence. He says “there is no reason to take evidence because the facts are admitted” that make the accused out to have been members of an unlawful assembly. An accused person may admit some or even all of the facts alleged by the prosecution, but if he pleads not guilty, the Court trying him is bound to proceed according to law by examining the witnesses and giving an opportunity to the accused to cross-examine the witnesses for the prosecution and adduce his own evidence. In the present case the accused not only denied the charge in the complaint but appears to have admitted only some of the allegations of the prosecution. That is what we gather from the learned Magistrate’s judgment, They have had no trial at all but have been convicted without being heard according to law. We reverse the convictions and sentences and direct the Magistrate to hold a trial according to law.
