Cognizable Offence:

A cognizable offence is an offence in which the police officer as per the first
schedule or under any other law for the time being in force, can arrest the convict
without a warrant and can start an investigation without the permission of the
court. Cognizable offences are generally heinous or serious in nature such as
murder, rape, kidnapping, theft, dowry death etc. The first information report
(FIR) is registered only in cognizable crimes.
Under section Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), a police officer is bound to
register an FIR in case of a cognizable crime. He can also conduct some kind of
preliminary inquiry before registering the FIR. In these offences, a convict is
arrested and produced before the magistrate in the stipulated time. Owing to the
serious nature of the crime, court?s approval is implicit in cognizable offences.

Non-Cognizable Offence:
A non-cognizable offence is the offence listed under the first schedule of the bd
Penal Code and is bailable in nature. In case of a non-cognizable offence, the
police cannot arrest the accused without a warrant as well as cannot start an
investigation without the permission of the court. The crimes of forgery, cheating,
defamation, public nuisance, etc., fall in the category of non-cognizable crimes.
In this type of crimes, a criminal complaint is lodged with the metropolitan
magistrate who is supposed to order the concerned police station to initiate an
investigation. The police officer is supposed to file the charge sheet with the court
which is followed by a trial. After the trial, if the accused is found guilty, the court
passes the order to issue the warrant to arrest the accused.
Based on the above information, some of the key differences between Cognizable
and Non-Cognizable offence are as follows:
Cognizable Non-Cognizable
It is the offence in which a police It is the offence in which a police
officer can arrest the convict without officer cannot arrest a person without
the warrant. the warrant.
The police can start a preliminary
investigation without the permission
of the court or without registering the
FIR.
These are heinous crimes like murder,
rape, dowry death etc.
The victim can file an FIR or make a
complaint to the magistrate.
It is defined in the Section 154 of the
Criminal Procedure Code, 1898
The police officer is bound to register
the FIR even without the permission of
Magistrate.
It is a non-bailable offence.
The police officer cannot start the
investigation without the permission
of the court.
These crimes are not so serious like
forgery, cheating, defamation etc.
The victim can only make a complaint
to the magistrate.
It is defined in Section 155 of Criminal
Procedure Code 1898
The police officer is not bound to
register the FIR or cannot register the
FIR without prior permission of the
magistrate.
It is a bailable offence.