CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

 Object and Juriprudence

 Crpc is intended to provide a mechanism for the enforcement of criminal

law. It is meant to be complimentary to the criminal law.

 A crime is considered to be a wrong against the society and societal interest

lies in the fact that the culprit shall be prosecuted, convicted, punished for
that certain fundamental rights of the accused such as life and liberty,
freedom of speech & expression needs to be curtailed. Further, the cardinal
principle of jurisprudence is that the accused has to be presumed innocent
until his guilt is proved. Thus, rights of the accused is curtailed even though
he has not been proved to be guilty.

 Purposive interpretation means first the purpose of Crpc will be examined

and then in that light the purpose of that provision will be examined and
best interpretation will be adopted out of various interpretation. Heydon’s
principle is based on the concept the purpose of every law and every
provision of law is to do away with mischief of the society and whichever
interpretation helps in doing away with that mischief to the best shall be
adopted.

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 Therefore, the purpose of Crpc is to do justice between the individual and
society and interpretation has to be adopted which serves ends of justice to
the best and which can remove the mischief to the best. This is called
balancing of interest. On the one hand it provides for prosecution and on
the other hand it provides for safeguarding the interest of accused and for
this Crpc has been amended several times.

 The basic structure of constitution includes within itself the principles of

natural justice, reasonableness, non-arbitrariness in all circumstances and
any curtailment of the right of the accused, therefore, shall be in adherence
with these rules.

 This aspect is based on the following two maxims:-

 Audi altrem partem (hear other side)

 Nemi judex causa sua(no person can be judge in his own case) i.e.
rule against bias S. 479 Cr.Pc.

 Supreme Court Shivjee Singh v. Nagendra Tiwari AIR 2010 SC 2261 held
that the provisions of the Code are to be interpreted in light of recognized
principles of construction that procedural laws are meant for doing
substantial justice.

 SCOPE: Commencement, extent and applicability of the Code

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 The Code has 37 Chapters, 484 Sections.

 Subject of Crpc is Entry No. 2 in 7th Schedule(Concurrent List).

 The Code mandatorily applies to offences under the Indian Penal Code but
in case of other laws, the Code applies only if and only to such extent to
which there are no procedural provisions under that law.

 Section 320 of this Code contains the entire list of offences under the India
Penal Code which are compoundable but the Code does not declare any
offence under any other law to be compoundable.

 In the First Schedule of the Code, a complete and special classification of all
offences under the Indian Penal Code has been done but for offences under
other laws, only a general classification, at a cursory level, has been done in
the second part of the first Schedule of the Code.

 Special importance is given to Indian Penal Code as Section 2(y) of this Code
states that words and expressions which have been used in the Code but
not defined therein and are defined under the Indian Penal Code shall have
same meanings given to them under IPC. Hence, IPC is supplementary to
this Code but no other law has this position.

 The Preamble of this Code uses the word “consolidate” which indicates
that from the perspective of criminal procedure, this Code is complete in

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 itself. But the use of word “consolidate” in any Act or Code merely
indicates that on that particular subject, the Act or Code is complete in
itself but that the word consolidate does not put a prohibition on the
legislative power of the Parliament and the State legislature on that
subject. The legislature can make new provisions on the same matter in
future. For e.g., law relating to attendance of the accused through video
conferencing was not originally present in the Code, hence the code in the
beginning was not exhaustive on this point.

 Came into force on 1st April 1974.

 According to Section 1 of Crpc it extends to whole of India including

Jammu and Kashmir after Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act
2019[Section 95(1)(Fifth Schedule Table 5)] from 31 October 2019.

 It further says that the provisions of Crpc other than those relating to
Chapter VIII, X and XI are NOT applicable in certain districts of State of
Nagaland and Tribal areas.

 Tribal areas for the purpose of Section 1 of the Criminal Procedure Code
means Assam as prescribed in Para 20 of the Sixth Schedule of the
Constitution.

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 Supreme Court in the following cases has held that though the provisions of
Crpc are not applicable in certain districts of the State of Nagaland, it only
means that the rules of Crpc would not apply but the authorities would be
governed by the substance of these rules:-

 Mowu v. Superintendent Special Jail, Nowgong, Assam(1971)

 Saptawana v. State of Assam(1972)
 Naga people’s movement of Human Rights and Union of India
(1998)

 Applicability of the Code: According to Section 4 of the Code generally

Cr.PC. is applicable in respect of investigation, inquiry or trial of offences
punishable under Indian Penal Code.

 Section 4(2) further lays down that offences under any other law shall also
be investigated, inquired and tired according to the procedure in the Code.
But if there is any enactment which regulates the manner, place of
investigation, inquiry or trial of offences the procedure prescribed in that
enactment will be followed. The Code of criminal procedure does not apply
to court proceedings as contempt of court is not an offence within Section
4(2).

 Section 5 lays down that in absence of any specific provision in the Code,
the provisions of any special or local law, special jurisdiction or power
conferred or special form of procedure shall not be affected.

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  A conjoint reading of both sections clearly provides that for
offences punishable under IPC procedure prescribed in Cr.PC. shall
be applicable but if there is any special or local law, special
procedure or power conferred by any other law, such law,
procedure or power shall be applicable.

 Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Assn. v. Union of India (2016)

Other enactments which prescribe procedure would not be affected by CrPc if

such statute specifically provides for the applicable procedure and derogates from
the Code.

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 CHAPTER: 2

DEFINITIONS: SECTION 2

(a) Bailable offence and non-bailable offence

 Bailable offence means an offence which is shown as Bailable in the First

Schedule or which is made bailable by any other law for the time being in
force.

 A non-bailable offence means any other offence.

 Whether the offence is bailable or not is provided in the Column 5 of First

Schedule which lays down classification of offences given under the Indian
Penal Code.

 According to the First Schedule the offences under laws other than IPC,
which are punishable with imprisonment of 3 years or more are considered
to be non-bailable, while offences punishable with less than 3 years of
imprisonment are considered to be bailable.

 The provisions relating to bail are laid down in Chapter XXXIII of the Code.

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  In case of being arrested or taken into custody for a non-bailable offence,
release of the person on bail is generally subject to discretion of the
competent police officer and court.

 The provisions of anticipatory bail under Section 438 and provision of police
remand under Section 167 apply only in cases of non-bailable offences.

Bailable Offences Non-Bailable Offence

1. Bailable offence means an
offence which is shown as
bailable in the FirstNon-Bailable Offence means any other
Schedule or which is madeoffence.
bailable by any other Law
for the time being in force.
2. Bailable offences are
Bailable offences are grave and serious
regarded as less grave and
offences, For example- offence of murder.
less serious.
3. Under bailable offences,
Under Non-bailable offences, bail is a matter
bail is claimed as a matter
of discretion.
of right.

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(b) Charge

 Charge includes any head of charge when the charge contains more
heads than one.

 A charge can be defined as a precise formulation of the specific

accusation made against a person. It is framed when a prime facie case
is disclosed about commission of certain offence or offences.

 Form No. 32 of the Second Schedule of the Code is related to Charge.

Chapter 17(Section 211-214) of the Code deals with contents of charge,
language, effect of errors, alteration and combination of charges.

 Section 215 of the Code deals with the error in framing of charges and is
to be read with Section 464.

 The object of framing charge is two fold:-

1. To give notice of the essential facts which the prosecution proposes to
establish against the accused in order to prove the case against him, so that
the accused may not be prejudiced in his defense.
2. It is the foundation of the accused in a criminal trial and separates the
inquiry stage from the trial.

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 Section Manner of framing Trial
Section 228(1) In writing By court of sessions
Section 240 In writing Of warrant case(on
police report) by
Magistrate
Section 246(1) In writing Of warrant case (on
other than Police
Report) by Magistrate
Section 251 In writing or oral Of Summons case by
Magistrate.

(C) Cognizable offence and non-cognizable offence [Section 2(c) and Section 2(l)]

 According to Section 2(c), a “Cognizable offence” means an offence for

which & “Cognizable Case” means a case in which a police officer may, in
accordance with the first schedule or under any other law for the time
being in force, arrest without warrant.

 According to Section 2(l), “non-cognizable offence” means an offence for

which and non-cognizable case means a case in which a police officer has
no authority to arrest without warrant.

 Information to police about cognizable offences is called FIR (First

Information Report) whose procedure for being recorded is given under
Section 154.
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 Section 156(1) Cr.P.C. , any officer in charge of police station may without
the order of magistrate investigate any cognizable case. This section makes
it expressly clear that a cognizable case can be investigated by the police
officer without the order of the magistrate. Whereas Section 155(2) of
Cr.P.C., states that police officer shall not investigate a non-cognizable case
without the order of a magistrate having power to try such a case or
commit the case for trial.

 On the point of arrest in cognizable and non-cognizable cases reference

may be made to Section 41 (1) of Cr.PC. It says that any police officer may
without the order of magistrate and without warrant, arrest any person.
Whereas Section 41(2) lays down that no person concerned in a non-
cognizable case shall be arrested without or warrant or order from the
court. (Section 42 being exception)

 For any cognizable offence, a suspect or accused may be arrested by any

police officer without warrant subject to Sections 41A and 41B of the Code.

 Generally, a suspect or accused charged for a non-cognizable offence

cannot be arrested by the police without a warrant but he may be arrested
under Section 42 only to ascertain the name and address.

 The classification of offences in to cognizable and non-cognizable is shown

in Column 4 in the First Schedule of the Code.

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 Cognizable offence + Cognizable offence = Cognizable
case
Cognizable offence+ Non-cognizable offence= Cognizable
Cognizable Non-Cognizable
case (Section 155(4))
Non-cognizable offence + Non-cognizable offence= Non-
It is the offence in which a It is the offence in which a
cognizable case
police officer can arrest the police officer cannot arrest a
convict without the warrant. person without the warrant.

The police can start a The police officer cannot start

preliminary investigation the investigation without the
without the permission of the permission of the court.
court or without registering
the FIR.

These are heinous crimes like These crimes are not so serious
murder, rape, dowry death etc. like forgery, cheating,
defamation etc.

The victim can file an FIR or The victim can only make a
make a complaint to the complaint to the magistrate.
magistrate.

It is defined in the Section 2(c) It is defined in Section 2(I) of

of the Criminal Procedure Criminal Procedure Code 1973.
Code, 1973.

The police officer is bound to The police officer is not bound

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 register the FIR even without to register the FIR or cannot
the permission of Magistrate. register the FIR without prior
permission of the magistrate.

It is a non-bailable offence. It is a bailable offence.

 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CASE AND OFFENCE?

 The moment FIR/complaint is given it will be called as cognizable case and before
FIR/complaint/information it will be cognizable offence.

 Therefore, whenever after the commission of an offence the moment proceeding starts the
offence converts into a case. It may involve a single offence or several offence, in the case
of several offences it will be a cognizable case only if at least one of them is cognizable
offence and only one case will be for all offence.

 For non-cognizable offence/case, a given complaint to SHO, he will record substance of

non-cognizable case in a book called NCR(record of non-cognizable offence). He will give
copy of it to the informant. He will also take all NCR to the Magistrate for getting
permission from authority to investigate as without order of area magistrate police can’t
investigate.

 It is clearly manifested in Section 155(2) that there can’t be an investigation in a non-

cognizable case without the order of magistrate. Thus, the investigation done without such
order will be an irregular/ illegal investigation. The general rule is that the accused must as
soon as possible raise an objection in this regard. He can in the course of investigation file
an application under Section 482 before High Court. The High Court in such case will quash
investigation proceeding and, in this stage, it is incurable irregularity and there will be no
examination of failure of justice.

 If no such application is filed, investigation was completed and police report was filed then
on the ground that there was no order of magistrate, the magistrate can refuse to take
cognizance. If by chance he takes cognizance and at trial stage an application of Section
482 Crpc is filed or after the judgment, an appeal is filed and in appeal the objection is
raised then the defect becomes curable irregularity under Section 465 of Crpc and the
proceeding will be quashed only if there had been failure of justice against the accused.

 Therefore, from investigation to Police Report Stage it is incurable irregularity under Section 482 and
from Investigation to Judgment and after that appeal under Section 482 it is curable regularity.
 Under Section 156, police can investigate those cases whose trial can be made by the Magistrate of that
area.

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(d) Complaint

 Complaint means any allegation made orally or in writing to a Magistrate

with a view to his taken action under this Code, that some person whether
known or unknown has committed an offence but does not include a police
report.

 There is no particular format of a complaint it may be in writing or oral and

contain the name of the accused or may not mention any name considering
them to be unknown.

 Generally, a Police report is not considered to be a complaint but if after

investigation done on basis of FIR it is found that the case relates to a non-
cognizable offence, then as per Explanation :-
 Such report shall be deemed to be complaint; and
 The investigating officer shall be deemed to be complainant.

 A complaint may be made in both, cognizable or non-cognizable case.

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 In a cognizable case, a complaint may be made without lodging an FIR and
the magistrate may :-

 Pass an order under Section 156(3) directing investigating to be

carried out after lodging FIR; or
 Take cognizance and under Section 202, conduct inquiry or cause
injury to be made or pass order for investigation.

 A complaint need not be a person aggrieved except in cases falling under

Section 195-199 of the Code. Any person having knowledge of the
commission of any offence can file a complaint.

 Some special and local acts (Cattle Trespass Act, Prevention of food
Adulteration Act, Employees Provident Fund Act etc.) provides that
complaint should be made only by some particular person.

 Complaint Form—Oral or written

 Commission of offence—cognizable or non-cognizable
 Person—known or unknown made with a view of his taking action under the Code.
 Made to—Magistrate
 It must not be police report

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(e)High Court

Under the Code High Court means High courts having jurisdiction over the
respective states and union territories.

(f) India

The territories to which this Code extends but Nagaland & Scheduled areas except
for the purpose of Chapter 8,10 and 11 are not part of India.

(g)Investigation Section 2(h); Inquiry Section 2(g); Trial

 Investigation includes all proceedings under the Code for the collection of
evidence conducted by the police officer or any person, other than the
magistrate authorized by him.

 Investigation is not conducted by the magistrate, however in certain cases

or circumstances magistrate may authorize any person other than police
officer to conduct an investigation.

 FIR is not part of investigation

 Inquiry means every inquiry, other than trial conducted under this Code by
a Magistrate or Court.

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 The basic purpose of inquiry is to ascertain or falsity of facts in order to
proceed further under the Code.

 Inquiry is conducted by the Magistrate and inquiry and trial does not
overlap. Where the trial begins, inquiry stops.

 Proceedings under Sections 107, 108, 109, 110, 125, 133, 144, 145,
147,148, 202, 340 are held to be inquiries.

 The term Trial has not been defined in the Code. There can be no universal
meaning of the term trial. It can be defined as proceeding to determine
guilt or innocence of the accused.

 Trial always ends in either acquittal or conviction while inquiry is all

proceedings prior to the framing of charge are considered to be inquiry.

 The inquiry includes every inquiry other than a trial conducted under the
Code of Criminal Procedure by a Magistrate or a Court. While a Trial is the
examination and determination of a cause by a judicial tribunal which has
jurisdiction over it.

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 Investigation Inquiry Trial
Conducting Police officer or Magistrate of the Judge or a
Authority any person Court Magistrate.
authorized by a
Magistrate
Commencement When FIR is It starts when It starts either
lodged or complaint is filed by framing of
complaint is to the Magistrate charge or
made to the arrangement of
Magistrate the accused
Meaning Proceedings An inquiry does
conducted by not necessarily Whereas A
Police officer. mean an inquiry trial, on the
Its main into an offense for other hand, is
purpose is it may relate to always of an
collection of matters which are offense
evidence and not offenses.
forming an
opinion about
whether there
is a case that
can be
presented
before a
Magistrate for
trial based on

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 the materials
collected.
Examples Arrest under Proceedings for After all the
S.41, recording maintenance of evidence is
FIR, proceeding public order and collected, they
to the scene of tranquility or the are produced
offence (S.154), inquiry by before the
conducting Magistrate into court one by
search & the cause of one, witnesses
seizure (S.165) death of a person are examined
are all parts of dying under and cross-
the suspicious examined and
investigation circumstances the parties
(S.174) are present their
examples of arguments (S.
inquiry. 234). These are
part of the trial.
Result It finishes with It finishes with It finishes with
the result but recommendations the punishment
with opinion of whether charges or acquittal.
the police has to framed for
officer to be proceeding of trial
submitted or dismissed.
before the
Court.
Stage It may be first An inquiry is the A trial is the

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 or second stage second stage in a third stage in a
criminal case criminal case.
Nature It is always non- It can be either It is always
judicial in judicial or non- judicial in
nature judicial nature.

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In FIR Case:-

 FIR----------Investigation--------Police Report is submitted-----investigation is completed after filing

charge sheet/police report
 Arrest, inquest, search of seizure, recording of accused, arrest memo etc. are part of investigation.
 After police report magistrate will take cognizance and inquiry starts as soon as cognizance is
taken.
 At the time of argument----hearing on charge------accused is discharge----it is inquiry.
 If after hearing is charge is framed then trial starts. Hearing is part of inquiry.
 The moment charge is framed the inquiry ends and trial commences. As per Section 2(g), inquiry
and trial are mutually exclusive stage. Therefore, these two stages can never overlap. Inquiry ends
where Trial begins.

In complaint case
Post charge it is trial stage; till that
 inquiry. If complaint is dismissed at the
hearing of framing of charge it will be
inquiry only. Charge

Document + complaint
cognizance
Complaint
Issue of
allegation proceeding
process/com
plain
dismissed

Can there be any stage that only Direct Trial is possible?

There can be a stage of only inquiry but there cannot be a stage of only trial as in every case some inquiry
proceeding has to be done. For instance, at least the cognizance, issue of process, hearing on charge has
to be conducted which will be a part of inquiry stage. Therefore, a sole trial stage cannot be there as it has
to be preceded by a inquiry but can be a case of inquiry alone either in a case the complaint was dismissed
or in a complaint case where accused is discharged or in a case of information where accused was
discharged. As per Section 2(g) inquiry and trial are mutually exclusive.

Can there be only investigation stage?

No because after Police Report as soon as magistrate uses his judicial mind to see whether cognizance can
be taken or not even in case of closure report. This stage of application of judicial mind would be called
inquiry. Therefore, sole investigation stage cannot be there as that has to be preceded by a inquiry.

But there can be stage where investigation may overlap with inquiry stage. If the police officer after filing
police report continues with supplementary charge sheet or additional/further investigation then the
stage where this stage going parallel to the inquiry/cognizance proceeding will be stage where both the
proceedings will overlap with each other thus it has been concluded that the investigation stage may
overlap with inquiry stage. Another example is : Though complaint case begins from inquiry but
meanwhile magistrate can order the investigation under Section 202(1) and both inquiry & investigation
may overlap.
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 (i) Judicial Proceedings

 Any proceeding in which evidence is taken or can be taken on

oath is called a judicial proceedings.

 e.g., inquiry and trial

 In the context of offence of “False Evidence” Investigation has

been declared a Judicial Proceeding under Section 193 IPC.

(j) Local jurisdiction

It means the local area within which the Court or Magistrate may exercise all or
any of its or his powers under this Code or as maybe notified by the State
Government.

(k)metropolitan area

It means the area declared, or deemed to be declared, under section 8, to be a

metropolitan area;

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(n) Offence

 means any act or omission made punishable by any law for the time being
in force

 includes any act in respect of which a complaint may be made under

section 20 of the Cattle-trespass Act, 1871

(o)Officer in charge of Police Station

 According to this clause, if the officer in charge of a police station is absent

from the station house or is unable to perform his duties due to illness or
any other cause:-
 the police officer next in rank to such officer and above the rank of
constable
 any other police officer stationed there as per direction of the State
Government, shall be considered to be the officer in charge of the police
Station.

 According to paragraph 49 of the UP Regulation, in the absence of any

police officer higher in rank to constable, a literate senior constable may

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 assume charge of the station but he shall not be entitled to carry out
investigation.

(p)Place

Includes a house, building, tent, vehicle and vessel;

(q)Pleader

 When used with reference to any proceeding in any Court

 means a person authorized by or under any law for the time being in
force, to practice in such Court, and includes
 any other person appointed with the permission of the Court to act
in such proceeding;

 On the basis of second category, pubic prosecutor and assistant public

prosecutor are considered to be pleaders.

(r) Police Report

 It means a report forwarded by a police officer to a Magistrate under sub-

section (2) of section 173;

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  If it discloses the commission of offence it is known as charge sheet or
challan. If it does not disclose the commission of offence it is known as final
report or closure report.

(s) Police Station

 It means any post or place declared generally or specially by the State

Government, to be a police station and includes any local area specified by
the State Government in this behalf.

 A chowki is also included under police station.

(t) Prescribed

 Rules prescribed under this Code.

(u) Public Prosecutor

 Any person appointed as public prosecutor under Section 24 or any

person acting under the directions of a public prosecutor.

(v) Sub-Division

It means a sub-division of a district.

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(w) Summons Case

 A case in which none of the offences is punishable with death, life

imprisonment or imprisonment for a term exceeding two years is called
a summons case.

 In other words, cases relating to only such offences are summons case
which is punishable only with fine or imprisonment up to 2 years with or
without fine.

(x) Warrant case

 Such a case is a warrant case in which one or more of the offences in

punishable with- death or imprisonment or imprisonment for a term
exceeding two years.

 Classification into summons case and warrant case has mainly two
purposes:-

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  For issuing process against the accused.

(i.e. in summons cases, generally, issuing summon is mandatory,

while in warrant cases, arrest warrant may be issued directly
without issuing summons. (Section 204 r/w Section 87)

 For adopting different procedure for trial depending on

gravity of the offences.
e.g.’s, in warrant cases, charges must be framed in writing, but
this is not necessary in summons cases. In warrant cases, it is
mandatory to give opportunity of hearing on the sentence, but
it is not so in summons case.

(wa) Victim

 Victim means a person who has suffered any loss or injury caused by
reason of the act or omission for which the accused person has been
charged and the expression victim includes his or her guardian or legal
heir.

 This definition has been inserted by the Code of criminal procedure

(Amendment) Act, 2008 which came into force on 31.12.2009.

(y) Meaning of the words and expressions used in this Code and not defined but
defined in the Indian Penal Code, 1860 are applicable to this Code.

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Section 3: Construction of references

 Under this Section, the references to some courts are to be construed in a

particular sense. This can be understood from the following table :-

Used Term Construction of the used term

In General Areas In Metropolitan

Areas
Magistrate Judicial Magistrate Metropolitan
Magistrate
Magistrate of First Class JMFC MM
Magistrate of Second Class JMSC MM
Chief Judicial Magistrate Chief Judicial Chief Metropolitan
Magistrate Magistrate
Magistrate of Third Class Judicial Magistrate Metropolitan
of Second Class Magistrate
Presidency Magistrate - MM
Chief Presidency Magistrate - CMM

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