DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COGNIZABLE & NON COGNIZABLE OFFENCES.

Difference between Cognizable and non-cognizable offence

The offence in which the police suo motu takes cognizance of crime and also does not need approval of court, known as a cognizable offence. While, in non-cognizable, police has no authority to arrest a person for crime on its own, without prior approval of court.

In cognizable, the police can arrest a person without any warrant. While, in case of non-cognizable offence, a warrant must needed for arrest of person.

In cognizable, court’s order is not required to start an investigation. Conversely, in the non-cognizable offence, first of all, court’s order should be obtained for undertaking an investigation.

Cognizable are heinous crimes, whereas non-cognizable offences are not so serious.

Cognizable encompasses murder, rape, theft, kidnapping, counterfeiting, etc. On the contrary, non-cognizable offences include offences like forgery, cheating, assault, defamation and so forth.

For a cognizable, one can file FIR or make a complaint to the magistrate. Unlike, in case of non-cognizable offence one can only make a complaint to the magistrate.