Cognisable and Noncognisable Offences

#CognisableAndNoncognisableOffences #CriminalJustice #CriminalLaw

Cognizable and Non cognizable
Offences.

Offence or Offense.
It will not be out place to first describe what is an offence or offense?
It is very simple, the word offence is used in British English and the word offense is used in American English but the meaning is the same, which means a the commission of a wrong doings i.e. it could be a violation of civil or criminal law. So what is an offence or crime it needs some elaboration, which is as under;
Offence. The word offence is derived from the word offender, which means any person who is not acting according to law, for example, if a driver is driving 25 mph in a 20 mph area is not committing any crime but committing an offence, which is punishable only by fines with points on the licence etc
An offence is a breach of law or regulation and all crimes could be considered as offences, but not all offences could be considered as crimes. In short, if any person ends up with a fine in a court, he is alleged to have committed an offense.
Crime. It means an act or omission punishable by law. The word Crime is used for more serious offences for example, murder, theft etc are crimes.
There are three main elements of a crime i.e. Mens rea (an intention), ulterior motives (the reason) and Actus reus;( the criminal act). So the combination of all the three is forming the commission of a crime.
But our topic of discussion is Cognisable and Non-Cognisable Offences. So let’s see what cognisable and cognisable offences are?

Cognisable Offences.
It means those offences wherein the police officer has been authorised to arrest any person without the need of a warrant. Under these offences the police officer has the authority to start investigation without the permission of a court. (Section 4(f) Cr P C, 1898)
Section 54 Criminal Procedure Code, 1898 of Pakistan, further says about the arrest of the persons in cognisable offences/cases;
It says a police officer may arrest without a warrant.
i. Any person who has any sort of concern or there is any reasonable complaint or any credible information or any reasonable suspicion of his involvement in the commission of a cognisable offence,
ii. Any person who is in possession of an illegal object or any substance without any lawful excuse, which can be used in any incriminating act or omission the burden of proving of such thing shall lie on that person,
iii. Any proclaimed offender( an accused person who is not attending the court and a decision has been made against him in a criminal case) either under Cr P C or by order of the Provincial Government;
iv. Any person who is in possession of a stolen property or anything which has any relation with the commission any offence,
v. Any person who obstructs a police-officer while in the execution of his duty or who has escaped, or attempts to escape from lawful custody;
vi. Any person who run away from the armed forces of Pakistan
vii. Any person who has committed an offence outside of Pakistan which is considered an offence if committed in Pakistan and punishable in Pakistan or any of the above situation mentioned above in No. 1
viii. Any released convict committing a breach of any rule made under section 565, sub-section (3), Cr P C.
ix. Any person for whose arrest a request has been received from another police officer, provided that the request clearly specifies the person to be arrested, the offence or any other reason for the arrest is to be made.

Example of Cognisable Offences.
The following are the main cognisable offences. Murder, Attempt to murder, Rioting, Theft etc.
Non-Cognisable Offences.
It means those offences wherein the police officer has not been authorised to arrest any person without a warrant of arrest of a competent Court. Under these offences the police officer has no authority to start investigation without the permission of a court. (Section 4(n) Cr P C, 1898).
The Non-Cognisable offences are not very serious in nature. Under these offences a complaint is lodged to a Magistrate of the area who, after a proper examination of the complaint, issues an order to the incharge of the police station of the area to initiate an investigation. After a proper investigation of the case the police officer has to file the charge sheet (which is called a Chaallan) at the court, and after the completion of the trial, if the accused is found guilty, the court will issue a warrant for the arrest of the accused.
Examples of Non-Cognisable Offences.
The main example of Non-Cognisable offences are Negligence, Tort, Contributory Negligence, Forgery, Cheating, Defamation, Public Nuisance, etc.
How would you recognise a Cognisable and Non-Cognisable offences?
For this purpose you have to go to the end of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1898 of Pakistan, wherein there are Schedules which clarifies the Cognisable and Non-Cognisable offences.

[DeenOrDuniyaByMehwishnazir]

Like 22. Ur explanation skills too good

[mehndipassion]

Explaining is so good keep it up
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