Cognizable Offence
Definition
An offence for which a police officer may arrest without a warrant and start investigating without a magistrate's prior order, listed as such in the First Schedule to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.
Related terms
- Arrest Memo
- A written record of an arrest, naming the time and place, attested by a witness and given to the arrested person, required...
- Bailable Offence
- An offence for which release pending trial is a matter of right once security or a bond is furnished, not a matter...
- Charge Sheet
- The final report an investigating officer files with a magistrate at the close of investigation, summarising evidence and naming the accused to...
- Compounding of Offences
- A statutory process by which a complainant agrees to withdraw a criminal complaint, ending the prosecution, available only for offences the legislature...
- Felony and Misdemeanour
- A two-tier classification, still used across most of the United States, that typically separates offences by whether the maximum sentence exceeds one...
- First Information Report (FIR)
- The written record an officer in charge of a police station prepares on receiving information about a cognizable offence, which sets the...
- Non-Bailable Offence
- An offence for which bail is not a right; a court weighs factors such as the severity of the charge and flight...
- Non-Cognizable Offence
- An offence for which a police officer may not arrest without a warrant, and cannot investigate without a magistrate's order or a...
- Police Custody
- The period during which an arrested person is held under police control for investigation, distinct from later judicial custody in prison pending...
- Zero FIR
- FIR registered at any police station regardless of territorial jurisdiction, then transferred to the station with jurisdiction. BNSS 173(1) proviso codifies the...
Explained in these topics
- Classifying Offences: Cognizable, Bailable and Compoundable
- Criminal Investigation: From Complaint to Charge SheetAn offence for which the police may register a case and arrest without prior judicial permission, generally the more serious category of crime.