The protection that a person shall not be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once. Guaranteed in India by Article 20(2). It rests on the maxim "nemo debet bis vexari" (no one should be twice vexed for the same cause).
- Article 20(2): "No person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once."
- The Indian protection is narrower than the American: it bars a second prosecution only where there has been both a previous prosecution and punishment; a mere prior prosecution without punishment may not bar a fresh trial in the same way.
- It applies to proceedings before a court or judicial tribunal, not to departmental or administrative inquiries, so a person can face both a criminal trial and a separate disciplinary action.
- The fuller protection (against being tried again after acquittal or conviction, the rule of autrefois acquit and autrefois convict) was provided by Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and is now carried by Section 337 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, which replaced the CrPC.
- Like the rest of Article 20, it cannot be suspended even during a national emergency.
Article 20(2) is a high-frequency Fundamental Rights item, often distinguished from the wider American rule and from departmental proceedings.
Article 20(2) requires both prosecution and punishment earlier; it does not bar parallel departmental or disciplinary action, which is not a "prosecution".
Article 20(2): no prosecution and punishment twice for the same offence; narrower than the American double-jeopardy rule.