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Process of Criminal Litigation in India



India has a well- established statutory, executive and judicial frame for felonious trials. Indian Penal laws are primarily governed by 3 Acts

  • The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.);

  • The Indian Penal Code, 1960 (IPC);

  • The Indian Substantiation Act, 1872 (IEA).

Cr.P.C. is a comprehensive and total procedural law for conducting a felonious trial in India, including the manner for collection of substantiation, examination of substantiations, interrogation of indicted, apprehensions, safeguards and procedure to be espoused by Police and Courts, bail, process of felonious trial, system of conviction, and the rights of the indicted for a fair trial. The procedure for a felonious trial in India, is primarily, except as otherwise handed, governed by The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.). IPC is the primary correctional law of India, which is applicable to all offences, except as may be handed under any other law in India. IEA is a detailed convention on the law of" substantiation", which can be proffered in trial, manner of product of the substantiation in trial, and the evidentiary value, which can be attached to similar substantiation. IEA also deals with the judicial presuppositions, expert and scientific substantiation. There are certain other laws, which have been legislated to deal with crime in special circumstances.

It's also important to note that India follows the inimical system, where generally the onus of evidence is on the State ( Execution) to prove the case against the indicted, and until and unless the allegation against the indicated are proved beyond reasonable distrustfulness, the indicted is presumed to be innocent. In certain exceptional cases, which may relate to terrorism,etc., the onus of evidence has been put on the indicted person, who claims to be not shamefaced.

India has a largely advanced felonious justice and execution system, supported by judicial precedents, still, there may be certain issues or enterprises relating to the prosecution of the same by Police and perpetration by Judiciary. The courts in India, particularly High Courts and Supreme Court have been proactively guarding the rights of the indicted. Indeed, Composition 21 of the Constitution of India has been interpreted in a largely dynamic manner to cover the rights, life and liberty of the citizens, by also incorporating the principles of natural justice.

By the flowchart hereinbelow, an attempt is being made to make the anthology compactly understand the process of felonious disquisition and trial in India, as a lot of foreign companies andEx-pats are coming to India, and due to unfortunate circumstances, they may, at times find themselves bogged in gratuitous felonious cases.

To appreciate the process of Indian felonious law, it's necessary that to understand following important language

  1. Bailable Offence, means an offence, which has been distributed as bailable, and in case of similar offence, bail can be claimed, subject to fulfillment of certain conditions, as a matter of right under Section 436 of theCr.P.C. In case of bailable offences, the Police is authorised to give bail to the indicated at the time of arrest or detention.

  2. Non-bailable Offence, means an offence in which the bail can not be granted as a matter of right, except on the orders of a competent court. In similar cases, the indicted can apply for entitlement of bail under Section 437 and 439 of theCr.P.C. It's important to note that the entitlement of bail in non-bailable offenses is subject to judicial discretion of the Court, and it has been commanded by the Supreme Court of India that"Bail, not Jail"should be the governing and guiding principle.

  3. Anticipant Bail, under Section 438 of theCr.P.C., means that a person who apprehends arrest on a wrongful blameworthiness of committing a non-bailable offence, can apply before a competent court for a direction to police to incontinently release such a person on bail in the event of arrest. Still, the entitlement of anticipatory bail is optional and dependant on the nature and graveness of allegations, the antecedents of the aspirant and the possibility of the aspirant fleeing from justice.

  4. Cognizable Offence/ case, has been defined under Section 2 (c) ofCr.P.C., as an offence/ case in which a Police Officer can be arrested without a leave.

  5. Non-cognizable Offence/ case, has been defined under Section 2 (l) ofCr.P.C., as an offence/ case in which a Police Officer has no authority to arrest without a leave.

  6. Whether an offence/ case is bailable or not bailable, and cognizable or non-cognizable, has been qualified under the 1st Table of the 1st Schedule ofCr.P.C., which relate to the offences under IPC.

  7. F.I.R ( first information report), is formal recordal of a complaint, by police in case of commission of a cognizable offence, and can be considered as a first step in the process of the disquisition of a cognizable offence by Police.

  8. The Table II of the 1st Schedule ofCr.P.C., gives a general guideline to determine whether an offence is bailable,non-bailable, cognizable or non-cognizable. The criteria in the table below, is applicable in those cases which are silent on this aspect. For easy understanding, the following criteria may be understood


Offence

Cognizable or Non-Cognizable

Bailable or Non-bailable

Punishable With Imprisonment For


Non-cognizable

Bailable

Less Than 3 Years or with fine only

Punishable With Imprisonment For

  • 3 Years or more


Cognizable

Non-Bailable


  1. The felonious disquisition process and execution medium in India, can be started in any of the following manner

  2. On complaint/ reporting/ knowledge of the commission of a cognizable offence, any police officer, indeed without the orders of a Magistrate, can probe the cognizable case. ( Section 156 (1) of theCr.P.C.)

  3. In case of failure or inactivity of a police officer to probe a cognizable offence, a felonious complaint can be filed before a Magistrate under Section 190 ofCr.P.C., for taking cognizance of similar offence, and on similar complaint, the Magistrate himself can take cognizance of the case and do the enquiry, or in the volition under Section 156 (3) of theCr.P.C., order Police to register anF.I.R and probe the offence.

  4. In case of non-cognizable offence, Police isn't obliged to probe, and the judicial process can be started by filing a felonious complaint before the competent court, under Section 190 of theCr.P.C.


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