Jurisdiction of the Criminal Courts in Inquiries and Trials — Section 177 to189

A man in Pune calls an NRI client in Dubai on WhatsApp, persuades him to transfer money to an account in Bengaluru, and the account holder, who lives in Kolkata, withdraws it. The victim files a complaint in Mumbai, where his family lives. Which court can try the cheating? Every city in that chain has a court, but a case cannot be heard wherever the complainant pleases. The Sanhita gives a general rule for where a trial should take place and then a long list of exceptions for crimes that do not sit in one place.

In two minutes

An offence is ordinarily inquired into and tried by the court within whose local jurisdiction it was committed (s.197); ss.198 to 206 widen this for uncertain, continuing, consequential, journey, electronic and joint offences, and ss.207 to 209 deal with offences beyond local limits or outside India.

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.