Limitation for taking cognizance –Sections 467 to 473

If your neighbour borrows your bike and never returns it, you can complain today, next month or, in theory, years later. But if a man was slapped in a bus queue in 2015 and files a complaint in 2024, will a Magistrate still listen? Civil claims die with time under the Limitation Act. Criminal law is more careful: a murder can be prosecuted after thirty years, but a minor offence cannot. Where does the line fall, and who draws it?

In two minutes

No court may take cognizance of a minor offence after the period in s.514 (six months for fine-only offences, one year for offences up to one year, three years for offences above one year and up to three years); the clock runs from the offence or its discovery, certain periods are excluded, and the court may still take cognizance late if the delay is explained or the interests of justice require it.

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.