B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 7 Criminal Law II 2022 Oct Question Paper with Solutions

For full marks, cover: the classes of criminal courts under section 6 of the Code; the territorial units (sections 7 and 8); how each court is constituted (sections 9 to 23); which court tries which offence (section 26); the sentencing powers (sections 28 to 30); several offences at one trial (section 31); the ordinary place of trial (section 177); the leading cases; the matching sections of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023; a conclusion.

The scheme of the Code

The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 sets up the criminal courts in Chapter II (sections 6 to 25). It gives them power in Chapter III (sections 26 to 35). The word jurisdiction here has two senses. One is the power to try an offence and pass a sentence. The other is the local area within which a court acts.

Classes of criminal courts (section 6)

Besides the High Courts and courts under other laws, every State has four classes of criminal courts:

1. Courts of Session;

3. Chief Judicial Magistrate (section 12). The High Court appoints a first class Magistrate in each district as Chief Judicial Magistrate. It may also appoint an Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate and Sub-divisional Judicial Magistrates.
4. Special Judicial Magistrates (section 13). The High Court may give a serving or retired government servant a Magistrate's powers for particular cases, for up to one year at a time.
5. Metropolitan Magistrates (sections 16 to 19). In metropolitan areas the State sets up courts of Metropolitan Magistrates. The High Court appoints one as Chief Metropolitan Magistrate.
6. Executive Magistrates (sections 20 to 23). The State appoints them in every district and metropolitan area. One is the District Magistrate, and others may be Sub-divisional Magistrates. They do not try offences.

Subordination (sections 15 and 19). Judicial Magistrates are subordinate to the Chief Judicial Magistrate and, through him, to the Sessions Judge. Metropolitan Magistrates are subordinate to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate.

Which court tries which offence (section 26)

Under section 30, a Magistrate may order imprisonment in default of fine. It cannot exceed his powers, and where imprisonment is part of the sentence, it is limited to one-fourth of the term he could award.

Several offences at one trial (section 31)

The court may sentence a person convicted of several offences at one trial to a punishment for each. They run one after another unless the court makes them concurrent. The total may exceed the court's power for one offence. But it cannot exceed fourteen years, nor twice that power.

Facts. In O.M. Cherian v. State of Kerala, decided on 11 November 2014, a husband was convicted of cruelty and abetment of his wife's suicide. The sentences were ordered to run consecutively.

Held. Under section 31, the court has a discretion to order concurrent sentences. It must exercise it on the facts. Here the sentences were made concurrent.

Why it bears. It explains how a court uses its power to combine sentences.

Under the Sanhita

From 1 July 2024 the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 replaced the Code. Section 6 keeps four classes but drops Metropolitan Magistrates. Section 8 replaces section 9 and has no Assistant Sessions Judges. Sections 21 to 25 replace sections 26 to 31. Fines rise to Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 10,000, and the cap for consecutive sentences rises to twenty years. Section 197 replaces section 177.

Conclusion. The Code creates a pyramid of courts. Executive Magistrates keep the peace, and Judicial and Metropolitan Magistrates try most offences. The Court of Session tries grave ones, and the High Court stands above. Sections 26 to 31 fix what each may try and how far each may punish. Section 177 ties the trial to the place of the offence. The Sanhita keeps this frame with fewer classes and higher fines.