Article 20 affords protection against arbitrary and excessive punishment to any person who commits an offence. There are four such guaranteed protections:
(1) A person can be convicted of an offence only if he has violated a law in force at the time when he is alleged to have committed the offence.
(2) No person can be subjected to a greater penalty than what might have been given to him under the law that was prevalent when he committed the offence.
(3) No person can be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once.
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(4) No person accused of an offence can be compelled to be a witness against himself.
The Draft Constitution did not contain the term “prosecuted” in the clause prohibiting double punishment. It was pointed out in the Constituent Assembly that such a word was necessary because punishment here meant only that which was given by a court of law. Departmental punishment would not be taken as “punishment” in the sense in which the word is used in the Constitution.
Nor would any punishment given in a court of law preclude departmental action leading to punishment for the same offence committed by the same official. This means that disciplinary action may be taken by the Government against an official despite the sentence of a court of law and such action will not infringe the right guaranteed under this Article.
Taken together, these provisions guard against retrospective application of a punitive law and double punishment for the same offence. These are, indeed, guarantees of great importance which establish “the primacy of law over the passions of man.”