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

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. 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 (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 a non-cognisable offence, a

community service register A community service register is a register maintained in every Indian police station for a non-cognisable offence Cognisable offence and non-cognisable offence are classifications of crime used in the legal system of India, Sri Lanka, Bangl ...

is registered instead of a first information report.

In India

In India, crimes like rape, murder 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) was the official criminal code of the Republic of India, inherited from British India after independence. It remained in force until it was repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in December 2023 ...

(IPC). On 12 November 2013, the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

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 The Code of Criminal Procedure, commonly called Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), was the main legislation on procedure for administration of substantive criminal law in India. It was enacted in 1973 and came into force on 1 April 1974. It provi ...

, 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