As per Section 2(w), "summons-case" means a case relating to an offence, and not being a warrant-case and as per Section 2 (x), "warrant-case" means a case relating to an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term exceeding two years. Cr P C classifies an offence as either cognizable or non-cognizable, and a trial procedure as summons case or warrant case. Thus, the terms summons case and warrant case are in reference to the procedure adopted for the trial of the case. Thus, the difference between the two can be seen from the point of view of their trial procedures as highlighted below -
Summons Case Warrant case
Cr P C prescribes only one procedure for all summons cases, whether instituted upon a police report or otherwise. Cr PC prescribes two procedures for the trial of a warrant case my magistrate - one for case instituted upon a police report and one for case instituted otherwise than on a police report.
No charge needs to be framed only the particulars of the offence needs to be conveyed to the accused. A charge needs to be framed against the accused.
As per S. 252, if the accused pleads guilty, the magistrate must record the plea of the accused and may, in his discretion, convict him on such plea. As per S. 241, After the charge is framed, the accused may plead guilty and the magistrate may convict him on his discretion.
Accused my plead guilty by post without appearing before the magistrate. Accused must appear personally.
The accused may be acquitted, if the complainant is absent or if the complainant dies. Magistrate can discharge the accused if complainant is absent, or no charge is framed, or if the offence is compoundable and non cognizable.
The complainant may, with the permission of the court, withdraw the complaint against the accused. The complainant may, with the permission of the court, withdraw the remaining charges against an accused, if he is charged with several offences and convicted on one or more of them.
When a warrant case is tried as a summons case and if the accused is acquitted under S. 255, the acquittal will only amount to discharge. When a summons case is tried as a warrant case and if the accused is discharged under S 245, the discharge will amount to acquittal.
Trial of a warrant case as a summons case it is a serious irregularity and the trial is vitiated if the accused has been prejudiced. Trial of a summons case as a warrant case is an irregularity which is curable under Section 465.
A summons case cannot have charges that require a warrant case. A warrant case may contain charges that reflect a summons case.
Accused gets only one opportunity. Accused may get more than one opportunity to cross-examine the prosecution witness.
A charge under a warrant case cannot be split up into its constituents for trial under summons case.
No such power to the magistrate in summons case. After convicting the accused, the magistrate may take evidence regarding previous conviction not admitted by the accused.
All cases which are not punishable by death, imprisonment for life, or for more than two years are summons cases. All cases which are punishable by death, imprisonment for life, or for more than two years are warrant cases.
Conversion
As per Section 259, a summons case can be converted into a warrant case if the case relates to an offence that entails more than 6 months of imprisonment as punishment and the judge feels that in the interest of justice it the case should be tried as a warrant case. A warrant case cannot be converted into a summons case.
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Compoundable Offence Section 320 Non Compoundable Offence
Offences classified as compoundable by S. 320 of CrPC Rest of the offences
Offence mostly affects a private party. Private party as well as society both are considerably affected by the offence.
The victim and the offender may reach compromise with or without the permission of the court depending on the offence. No compromise is allowed. Even court does not have the power to compound the offence.
Upon compromise, the offender is acquitted without any trial. Full trial is held and acquittal or conviction is given as per the evidence.
In Ram Lal vs State of J&K, 1999, SC held that when an offence is declared non-compoundable by law, it cannot be compounded even with the permission of the court. However, the court may take the compromise into account while delivering judgment.
The case of B S Joshi vs State of Haryana, AIR 2003 is interesting in this regard. The case was about the matter related to Section 498A, which is non-compoundable offence. In this case, the parties reached a compromise but the High Court refused to quash the FIR, on the ground that the offence is non-compoundable. However, SC held that in the backdrop of the interpretation of the various relevant provisions of the Code under Chapter XIV and of the principles of law enunciated by this Court in a series of decisions relating to the exercise of the extraordinary power under Article 226 or the inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code, such power could be exercised either to prevent abuse of the process of any court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice, though it may not be possible to lay down any precise, clearly defined and sufficiently channelised and inflexible guidelines or rigid formulate and to give an exhaustive list of myriad kinds of cases wherein such power should be exercised. It further observed that in this case, the parties were not asking for compounding the offence but for quashing the FIR. It observed that since because of the amicable settlement, there is no chance of conviction and in such a case the court has the power to quash the proceeding.
Information Complaint
No legal definition. It is used in its regular English meaning. As per Section 2(d), a complaint means any allegation made orally or in writing to a magistrate, with a view to his taking action under this code (CrPC), that some person, whether known or unknown, has committed an offence, but does not include a police report.
No action from the magistrate is expected. The purpose of complaint is that the magistrate takes action on it and provide relief.
No cognizance is taken. Magistrate takes cognizance of the offence as per Section 190.
It may include information about commission of offences, apprehension about breach of peace, and presence of absconder and suspected persons to police officers or magistrate. Thus, an information may not necessarily about an offence. It is always about commission of an offence.
Sufficient grounds for commitment Sufficient grounds for conviction
When a magistrate takes cognizance of an offence under Section 190 (upon receipt of a complaint or otherwise), he examines the complaint in accordance with Section 200 by examining the facts and the witnesses. If he finds that the complaint is with merits, the case is deemed committed for trial and the magistrate issues the process under Section 204. If the offence is exclusively triable by Court of Session, the magistrate commits the case to Court of Session under Section 209. Upon holding the trial, if the court is satisfied with the evidence provided by the prosecute that the accused is guilty of the alleged offence, he convicts the offender.
At this stage it is not considered whether the grounds are sufficient for conviction. The evidence must prove the guilt of the accused without any doubt.
Discharge Acquittal
Session Trial
As per Section 227, if, upon consideration of the record of the case and the documents submitted therewith, and after hearing the submissions of the accused and the prosecution in this behalf, the Judge considers that there is not sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused, he shall discharge the accused and record his reasons for so doing. Session Trial
If after evaluating the evidence given by the prosecute, the judge considers that there is no evidence that the accused has committed the offence, the judge acquits the offender under Section 232.
However, if the offender is not acquitted under Section 232, he is permitted to give his defense and evidence. After hearing the arguments of both the parties, the court may acquit of convict the person under Section 235.
Warrant Trial By Magistrate
As per Section 239, if, upon considering the police report and the documents sent with it under section 173 and making such examination, if any, of the accused as the Magistrate thinks necessary and after giving the prosecution and the accused an opportunity of being heard, the Magistrate considers the charge against the accused to be groundless, he shall discharge the accused, and record his reasons for so doing. Warrant Trial By Magistrate
As per Section 248, if, in any case under this Chapter in which a charge has been framed, the Magistrate finds the accused not guilty, he shall record an order of acquittal.
Discharge does not mean that the accused has not committed the offence. It just means that there is not enough evidence to proceed with the trial. Acquittal means that the accused has been held innocent.
If further evidence is gathered later on, the accused may be tried again. The accused cannot be tried again for the same offence once he has been acquitted.
Cognizable offence Non Cognizable offence
Defined in Section 2(c) - "cognizable offence" means an offence for which, and "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.
Examples - Murder, Dowry death, grevious hurt, theft. Defined in 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.
Example - keeping a lottery office,voluntarily causing hurt, dishonest misappropriation of property.
Police has to record information about a cognizable offence in writing as per Section 154. As per Section 155, Police has to enter information in register prescribed for it and refer the informant to a magistrate.
Police can start investigation without the order of a magistrate. Police officer cannot investigate the case without the order of a magistrate.
In general, cognizable offences are of serious nature which involve imprisonment of more than three years. However, there is no such precise rule. To be cognizable, an offence must be declared so by the law defining that offence. Several offences which carry less prison term such as rioting (2 yrs) have been declared cognizable, while several with bigger prison term such as False Evidence (7 yrs) or Rape by a man with his own wife of not less than 12 yrs have been declared non-cognizable.
A FIR is not substantive evidence that is, it is not evidence of the facts which it mentions. However, it is very important since it conveys the earliest information about the occurrence of an offence and it can be used to corroborate the information under Section 157 of Indian Evidence Act or to contradict him under Section 145 of Indian Evidence Act, if the informant is called as a witness in a trial. It is considered that FIR has a better corroborative value if it is recorded before there is time and opportunity to embellish or before the memory of the information becomes hazy. There must be a reasonable cause for the delay. For example, in case of Harpal Singh vs State of HP, 1981, involving rape, the FIR was registered after 10 days. It was held that the delay was reasonable because it involved considerable matter of honor for the family and that required time for the family to decide whether to take the matter to court or not. As FIR can also be used in cross examination of the informant.
However, if the FIR is made by the accused himself, it cannot be used against him because of Section 25 of Evidence act which forbids any confession made to the police to be used against the accused.
1. A kind of fast track proceeding where a case is resolved in one sitting.
2. Meant for petty offenses, to reduce the burden of court
S. 260 - When a case involving the following offenses comes to CJM, MM, and JMFC for hearing, they have the discretionary power to decide whether they want to try the case summarily or not. There are 9 such offences -
any offence that does not have death, life imprisonment or imprisonment of more than 2 yrs as punishment, theft, lurking house trespass, receiving stolen property, assisting in concealment of stolen property, abetment of the offences covered under this section, attempt of these offences.
If at any point in while trying the matter in this manner, if the court thinks that it is undesirable to try the case summarily, it shall recall any witnesses who may have been examined and proceed to re-hear the case in the manner provided in this code (i.e. as a summons trial or warrant trial)
S. 261 - High Court may give power to Judicial Magistrate Second class to try offences involving imprisonment of less than 6 months summarily.
S. 262 - Sentence of imprisonment of more than 3 months cannot be passed in a summary trial and the procedure adopted in a summary trial will be same as the procedure adopted in a Summons case except the following changes -
S. 263 - The judge must record the following particulars in the prescribed format - serial number of the case, date of offence, date of complaint, name of complainant, name, age, address, parentage of accused, offence complained and offence proved, plea of the accused and his examination, findings, sentence, and date of termination of the proceeding.
S. 264 - If the accused does not plead guilty, the judge must record the substance of the evidence and give reasons for the judgment.
S. 265 - Every the such record and judgment shall be in the language of the court.
No appeal lies if only a sentence of fine not exceeding 200/- is awarded. A revision application would lie to the High Court in such a case.
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