Cognizance of Offences and Commencement of Judicial

A police report lands on a Magistrate's table in Kurla, or a shopkeeper walks in with a written complaint about a cheque that bounced. Nothing has been decided. The accused has not been called, and no witness has been examined. But the Magistrate has one important decision to make at the very start: should this case go forward at all? Taking cognizance is the moment a court formally takes notice of an offence. Everything before it is preparation, and everything after it is the trial machinery. This topic explains what has to happen, and in what order, before a trial can begin.

In two minutes

A Magistrate takes cognizance of an offence on a complaint, a police report, or information from another person or his own knowledge (s.210); for some offences a sanction or a complaint by a particular person is a precondition (ss.215-222); on a complaint he examines the complainant on oath (s.223), may inquire or dismiss (ss.225-226), and if there is sufficient ground issues process (s.227).

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Criminal Procedure Code 1973, Juvenile Justice Act 2015 and POCSO Act 2012 on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.