Offences punishable under this Act shall be triable by any Magistrate having jurisdiction in the place where the offence is committed.
But such Magistrate shall be restrained within the limits of his jurisdiction under the Code of Criminal Procedure, as to the amount of fine or imprisonment he may inflict.
STATE AMENDMENT
Uttar Pradesh.--
Insertion of new section 14-A in Act No. 3 of 1867.--After section 14 of the Public Gambling Act, 1867, the following section shall be inserted, namely:--
"14-A. Compounding of offences.--An officer specially empowered in this behalf by the State Government by notification may, subject to any general or special order of the State Government in this behalf, compound any offence punishable under this Act, either before or after the institution of the prosecution, on realization of such amount of composition fee as he thinks fit, not exceeding the maximum amount of fine fixed for the offence; and where the offence is so compounded--
(i) before the institution of the prosecution, the offender shall not be liable to prosecution for such offence and shall, if in custody, be set at liberty ;
(ii) before the institution of the prosecution, the composition shall amount to acquittal of the offender."
Provided that nothing contained in this section shall authorize the composition of any subsequent offence committed by an offender who has once been convicted for any offence punishable under this Act.
[Vide Uttar Pradesh Act 35 of 1979, s. 6]
Abatement of certain trials.--Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, --
(1) the trial of an accused for --
(a) an offence punishable under --
"(i) the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988; or"
(ii) the Public Gambling Act, 1867, not being an offence punishable under section 3 of that Act or an offence in respect of wagering punishable under section 13 of that Act; or
(iii) section 34 of the Police Act, 1861; or
(iv) section 160 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860; or
(b) any other offence punishable with fine only, or
(2) a procedure, under section 107 or section 109 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, pending before a Magistrate on the date of commencement of this Act from before "December 31, 2015" shall abate.
[Vide the Uttar Pradesh Act 35 of 1979, s. 9, and amended by Uttar Pradesh Act 29 of 2016 and 9 of 2018].