386. Order for disposal of property

During or at the conclusion of any inquiry or trial in any criminal court the court may make such order as it thinks fit for the disposal of any document, livestock or other property produced before it.

The power conferred upon the court by this section includes power to make an order for the forfeiture or confiscation or for the destruction or for the delivery to any person of any property regarding which any offence is or was alleged to have been committed or which appears to have been used for the commission of any offence but shall be exercised subject to any special provisions regarding forfeiture, confiscation, destruction or delivery contained in the Act under which the conviction was had or in any other Act applicable to the case.

When the High Court or a District Court makes such order and cannot, through its own officers, conveniently deliver the property to the person entitled to it, that court may direct that the order shall be carried into effect by a Magistrate.

When an order is made under this section in a case in which an appeal lies, the order shall not, except when the property is livestock or is subject to speedy and natural decay, be carried out until the period allowed for presenting an appeal has passed or, when an appeal is presented within that period until the appeal has been disposed of.

In this section “property” includes, in the case of property regarding which an offence appears to have been committed, not only such property as was originally in the possession or under the control of any party, but also any property into or for which it has been converted or exchanged and anything acquired by such conversion or exchange, whether immediately or otherwise.[385