Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 — Section 193 — Cognizance by Court of Session

August 23rd, 2013

Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 — Section 193 — Cognizance by Court of Session — Key words in the Section — Twin conditions for taking cognizance — Held, first of all the case must be committed by the Magistrate and second only after the case had been committed to it, could the Court of Session take cognizance of the offence exercising original jurisdiction.

HELD: The key words in the Section are that “no Court of Session shall take cognizance of any offence as a Court of original jurisdiction unless the case has been committed to it by a Magistrate under this Code.” The above provision entails that a case must, first of all, be committed to the Court of Session by the Magistrate. The second condition is that only after the case had been committed to it, could the Court of Session take cognizance of the offence exercising original jurisdiction. Although, an attempt has been made by Mr. Dave to suggest that the cognizance indicated in Section 193 deals not with cognizance of an offence, but of the commitment order passed by the learned Magistrate, we are not inclined to accept such a submission in the clear wordings of Section 193 that the Court of Session may take cognizance of the offences under the said Section.

(Para 26)

Dharam Pal v. State of Haryana[Bench Strength 5], Criminal Appeal No. 148/2003(18/07/2013), 2013(9) SCALE 207 [Altamas Kabir, C.J.: Surinder Singh Nijjar, J.: Ranjan Gogoi, J.: M.Y. Eqbal, J.: Vikramajit Sen, J.]

Entry Filed under: Legal Updates