Samiul Azim :
From my childhood I become so much fascinated whenever I saw an advocate presenting his/her case or cross examining the witness before the court. These fascinations lead me to choose the most challenging subject Law. As a student of Law I always faced a question from my relatives or from my friends and the question is that what they should do if any criminal offence occurred in front of them or they become the victim of that criminal offence.
Though it might not be possible to answer every single aspect but I will certainly covering the area which will help the people to understand what they should do in the primary stage. So first of all we need to know what is a offence? Offence means any act or omission made punishable by any law for the time being in force. Now move into the next part where Cognizable Offence and Non Cognizable Offence will be discussed.
Cognizable Offence means any offence for which police officer may arrest without warrant. He /She can investigate without the directions from the Magistrate. In a cognizable offence it is the duty of the state to bring the criminal before the justice system. For example murder, attempt to murder, causing death by rash driving, abetting in the commission of suicide, abetment of any offence if abettor is present when offence is committed. There are also many examples which are given in the 2nd schedule of Code of Criminal Procedure. If any kind of offence which is mentioned above is occurring in front of us or if we become the victim of these kinds of offences we can inform the police to take action against the offender. Though police can arrest a person under section 54 of C.R.P.C without arrest warrant if he/she is associated with any cognizable offence but in the case of Blast vs Bangladesh the Honorable High Court Division has given some directions such as
o The police should disclose his identity.
o Immediately after bringing him to the police station the police officer shall record the reasons for the arrest including the knowledge which he has about the involvement of the person in a cognizable offence particulars of the offence, the source of information, description of place etc. note the date and time of arrest, name and address of the persons present at the time of the arrest in a diary.
o At the time of arrest if police found any injury they should record it and it should be checked by the Government doctor and shall collect a certificate from attending doctor.
o The officer shall furnish a copy of the recording to the arrested person within 3 hours
o If the person is not arrested from his residence or his business place the police officer shall inform the nearest relative of the arrested person.
o The police officer should inform the relative within one hour through phone call.
o The arrested person shall be allowed to consult with the lawyer.
Under Section 156 of the C.R.PC the police has the power to investigate a cognizable offence without the order of Magistrate. In the case of Abdur Rahman Vs The State29 DLR 259 (SC) it has been
o Section 156 empowers a police officer to investigate without the order of a Magistrate any cognizable offence.
o The officer in charge may even start investigating on the basis of informal information received.
Non Cognizable offences are those offences where a police cannot arrest offender without warrant nor can investigate without the direction of Magistrate. For example cheating, mischief by destroying or moving etc a landmark fixed by public authority, forgery.
Now let us know how we can file a case. We can file a case in the police station. Police case is known as G.R (General Registered Case) when F.I.R instituted in the police station they give a case number in the general register which later on pass to the court and later on court officer gave another number in the complaint register.)But what if the police is not willing to take the case. We can file a Complaint register case which is also known as C.R case.
C.R case means when any person complaint to the magistrate in writing to the about the commission of commission of cognizable or non cognizable offence, with a view to that he will take action. But there are four conditions to be fulfilled and they are the allegation must be made to a Magistrate, with a view to that magistrate will take action, against a person who has committed the crime and lastly it cannot be a police report. This complaint will be examiner under section 200 of the C.R.P.C. and if the Magistrate is satisfied upon such examination than the court may take cognizance of the case or dismiss the case.
Lastly I would like to conclude by saying that if there is any criminal offence is occurring or occurred the informant should not delay because delaying in filing a F.I.R or Complaint will raise a serious doubt in the fact.
(Samiul Azim, student of North South University)
