Section 190 and Section 193

“190. Cognizance of offences by Magistrates. –

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Chapter, any Magistrate of the first class, and any Magistrate of the second class specially empowered in this behalf under sub-section (2), may take cognizance of any offence –

(a) upon receiving a complaint of facts which constitute such offence;

(b) upon a police report of such facts;

(c) upon information received from any person other than a police officer, or upon his own knowledge, that such offence has been committed.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate may empower any Magistrate of the second class to take cognizance under sub-section (1) of such offences as are within his competence to inquire into or try.

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193. Cognizance of offences by Courts of Session. –

Except as otherwise expressly provided by this Code or by any other law for the time being in force, 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.

Analysis of both sections

Sections 190 and 193 of the Code are in Chapter XIV. This Chapter contains the title “Conditions requisite for initiation of proceedings”.

Section 190 deals with cognizance of offence by Magistrates. It empowers any Magistrate of the First Class, and any Magistrate of the Second Class which are specially empowered to take cognizance “of any offence” under three circumstances mentioned therein. These three circumstances include taking of cognizance upon a Police report of such facts which may constitute an offence.

It is trite law that even when Police report is filed stating that no offence is made out, the Magistrate can ignore the conclusion arrived at by the Investigating Officer and is competent to apply its independent mind to the facts emerging from the investigation and take cognizance of the case if it thinks that the facts emerging from the investigation do lead to prima facie view that commission of an offence is made out.

In such a situation, the Magistrate is not bound to follow the procedure laid down in Sections 200 and 202 of the Code for taking cognizance of the case under Section 190(1)(a) though it is open for him to act under Section 200 or Section 202 as well {See Minu Kumari & Anr. v. State of Bihar & Ors.[3]}.

Thus, when a complaint is received by the Magistrate under Section 190(1)(a) of the Act, the Magistrate is empowered to resort to procedure laid down in Section 200 or 202 of the Code and then take cognizance. If Police report is filed, he would take cognizance upon such a report, as provided under Section 190(1)(b) of the Code in the manner mentioned above as highlighted in the case of Minu Kumari.

Likewise, Section 193 of the Code empowers Court of Session to take cognizance of offences and states that the Court of Session shall not take cognizance of any offence as the Court of original jurisdiction unless the case has been committed to it by the Magistrate under this Code. As per this Section, the Court of Session can take cognizance only after the case has been committed to it by the Magistrate. However, once the case is committed to it by the Magistrate, the Court of Session is empowered to take cognizance acting ‘as a Court of original jurisdiction’.

In view of the aforesaid provisions, question that arises is as to whether Magistrate can take cognizance of an offence which is triable by the Court of Session or he is to simply commit the case to the Court of Session, after completion of committal proceedings as it is the Court of Session which is competent to try such cases.

On the one hand, Section 190 of the Code empowers the Magistrate to “take cognizance of any offence” which gives an impression that such Magistrate can take cognizance even of an offence which is triable by the Court of Session.

On the other hand, when the case is committed to the Court of Session by the Magistrate, Section 193 of the Code stipulates that Court of Session shall take cognizance ‘as a Court of original jurisdiction’ which shows that the cognizance is taken by the Court of Session as a Court of original jurisdiction and, thus, it is the first time the cognizance is taken and any order passed by the Magistrate while committing the case to the Court of Session did not amount to taking cognizance of the offence which are triable by the Court of Session.

A bare reading of Section 190 of the Code which uses the expression “any offence” amply shows that no restriction is imposed on the Magistrate that Magistrate can take cognizance only for the offence triable by Magistrate Court and not in respect of offence triable by a Court of Session.

Thus, he has the power to take cognizance of an offence which is triable by the Court of Session. If it is so, the question is as to what meaning is to be assigned to the words “as a Court of original jurisdiction” occurring in Section 193 of the Code when Court of Session takes cognizance of any offence.

To put it otherwise, when the Magistrate has taken cognizance and thereafter only committed the case to the Court of Session, whether the Court of Session is not empowered to take cognizance of an offence again under Section 193 of the Code or it still has power to take cognizance acting as Court of original jurisdiction.

Reference

Balveer Singh v. State of Rajhasthan (2016)