Cognisable offence and non-cognisable offence are classifications of crime used in the legal system of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. Non-cognisable offences includes misbehavior, public annoyance etc, while cognisable offences are more serious crimes.

Definition

Generally, cognisable offence means an offence in which a police officer has the authority to make an arrest without a warrant and to start an investigation with or without the permission of a court. By contrast, in the case of a non-cognisable offence, a police officer does not have the authority to make an arrest without a warrant and an investigation cannot be initiated without a court order. The police can file a

first information report __NOTOC__ A first information report (FIR) is a document prepared by police organisations in Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asian countries including Myanmar, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan when they receive information about the commissio ...

(FIR) only for cognisable offences. In cognizable cases police can make an investigation without prior permission of a magistrate. Cognizable cases are more serious than non-cognizable cases. Normally, serious offences are defined as cognizable and usually carry a sentence of 3 years or more. For non Cognisable offense, community service register is registered instead of a first information report.

In India

In India, crimes like rape, murder and theft are considered cognizable unlike crimes like public nuisance, hurt and mischief. In general non-cognizable offences are bailable and placed under First Schedule of

Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established ...

(IPC). On 12 November 2013, the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

said it was mandatory for the police to register a First Information Report for all complaints in which a cognizable offence has been discovered.

Procedure

The Section 154 in the

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicatio ...

, of India states:

References

Law enforcement in India Law enforcement in Pakistan Law enforcement in Bangladesh {{Law-enforcement-stub

Definition

In India

Procedure

See also

References