N. G. SHELAT, J. ( 1 ) AT about 9-00 a. m. on 25-3-69 the accused was found grasing his goats in the field of the complainant Patel Kevaldas Ugardas of Varevada and thereby he caused damage to the extent of Rs. 15. 00. The accused was further alleged to have rescued two goats when the complainant was taking them away to the cattle pound. The complaint was lodged at the Kakosi Police Station. After finishing the investigation of the case charge sheet against the accused was sent up to the Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class Sidhpur for offences under secs. 161 and 162 of the Gujarat Panchayats Act. ( 2 ) WHEN the accused was produced before the learned Magistrate on 5-4-69 he was found to be deaf and dumb. He was therefore sent to the Sidhpur Hospital for his examination. That report showed that he had congenital defects of hearing and speach contre. On 23-5-69 the complainant and the accused presented a composition in respect of the said offences. That composition was rightly not allowed by the learned Magistrate as the offences were not compoundable. Then it appears that a separate statement in writing under the thumb impression of the accused wherein be admitted to have committed the offences through mistake was put in. The learned Magistrate accepted that statement as his admission of the guilt and since he could not pass any further orders viz. of sentence for the same he has made this reference to this Court under sec. 341 of the Criminal Procedure Code through the Sessions Judge Mehsana. The material part of his order as disclosed in his letter for reference runs thus:-THE accused has thus admitted the guilt Ex. 9. P. 12 Guj. file 1. He is not able to understand the proceedings even though tried by me. As the accused has admitted guilt before the beginning of the trial the trial is not to be Proceeded with. As the accused has admitted guilt as above the case thus ends in conviction and hence this reference is made under sec. 341 of Cr. P. C. to the Honourable High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad through the District and Sessions Judge Mehsana. ( 3 ) NOW sec. As the accused has admitted guilt as above the case thus ends in conviction and hence this reference is made under sec. 341 of Cr. P. C. to the Honourable High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad through the District and Sessions Judge Mehsana. ( 3 ) NOW sec. 341 under which this reference is made runs thus:- If the accused though not insane cannot be made to understand the proceedings the Court may proceed with the inquiry or trial; and in the case of a Court other than a High Court if such inquiry results in a commitment or if such trial results in a conviction the proceedings shall be forwarded to the High Court with a report of the circumstances of the case and the High Court shall pass thereon such order as it thinks fit. NOW it is clear that though the accused is not insane as reported by the earned Magistrate he was unable to understand the proceedings. He was both deaf and dumb besides being illiterate. When he was not able to understand the proceedings the learned Magistrate ought to have proceeded with the inquiry by making a note that his plea could not be recorded as he was unable to understand the proceedings as required in sec. 341 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Once he was satisfied that he was not able to understand the proceedings there was hardly any question for treating his admission of the guilt as a basis for his conviction for the offences in question. The only course open to the learned Magistrate was to proceed with the trial and if such trial resulted in a conviction his duty further was to forward the proceedings to this Court with a report of the circumstances of this case so as to enable the High Court to pass thereon such order as it thinks fit. The learned Magistrate has failed to proceed with the case by examining the complainant and witnesses and has wrongly chosen to act upon the admission of his guilt. ( 4 ) SEC. 243 of the Criminal Procedure Code contemplates recording of the admission of the accused as early as possible in the words used by him. The learned Magistrate has failed to proceed with the case by examining the complainant and witnesses and has wrongly chosen to act upon the admission of his guilt. ( 4 ) SEC. 243 of the Criminal Procedure Code contemplates recording of the admission of the accused as early as possible in the words used by him. In other words the plea of the accused in respect of the offence with which he has been charged has to be recorded by the Court and any such statement given by him under his thumb impression cannot and at any rate need not be treated as enough for the purposes of this trial. It is open to the learned Magistrate to accept any such plea if it can be so said under sec. 243 or reject the same and put the accused on trial. The discretion is wide enough to reject the same and be satisfied on the evidence led to hold him guilty. In view of what the learned Magistrate says viz. that he was not able to understand the proceedings though tried by him it was not proper or rather correct to treat any such statement as admission of his guilt and act upon the same for convicting him for the offences in question. ( 5 ) IN any view of the matter therefore the learned Magistrate was in error to convict him and that cannot be accepted by this Court in absence of any proper trial having taken place. ( 6 ) IN those circumstances when the accused is not able to understand the proceedings the learned Magistrate shall proceed with the trial and in case he holds him guilty for the offences with which he has come to be charged he has to forward the proceeding to this Court so as to enable this Court to pass suitable orders under sec. 341 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The case is therefore sent back to the trial Court for proceeding further in accordance with Saw keeping in mind the observations set out hereabove. .