Article 20 provides protection against ex-post facto laws, double jeopardy and self-. incrimination, which are all safeguards intended for persons accused of committing an offence. These are well recognized protections and have been considered to be basic defences in the law relating to crimes in all common law jurisdictions. The Constitutional Advisor had pointed out that these protections had been afforded in many of the other progressive constitutions of the world and that the protection against ex-post facto laws had found a place in the Irish, U.S., and the Weimar Constitutions. This paper seeks to understand the basic concept of Fundamental Rights of the Accused with special reference to Ex post facto laws and also compares with the constitutions of the UK and USA.
