Bailable and Non-Bailable Offence

July 26, 2021 admin

Introduction

Offence is any type of illegal activity which is punishable under a particular law. There are different types of offences and it depends on the nature of offence to include any particular type of penalty.

Offence

The offenses committed by the accused fall under two categories which are bailable and non bailable offences. The word offense generally means any activity which is forbidden by a penal law to be committed and also any omission to do what the law commands and this can be considered as literal meaning of offence.

Offence meaning

The section 2(n) of Crpc defines the term offense which says that offense is any act or omission on the part of individual which is made punishable by law currently in force. It may include all the act in which complaint can be made under section 20 of cattle trespass act,1871.

Types of offences

The different types of offences are as follows:

Compoundable and Non-Compoundable offences

Compoundable offences

Under section 320 of CrPCdeals with the compounding of offences and are considered to be less serious crimes and the compoundable offences are those in which the complainant files a complaint against the accused and enters into a compromise whereby he agrees to drop the charges against the accused with a bonafide intention.

They are of two types:

Where court permission is not required before compounding in offences such as adultery, defamation, criminal trespass etc.
Where court permission is required before compounding in offences like criminal breach of trust, causing grievous hurt voluntarily, assaulting a woman outraging her modesty, dishonest misappropriation of property.

The application of the compounding offences shall be made in the same court where the trial proceedings were going on. Any offence which was to be compounded but not yet compounded shall have the same effect as the other offences.

Compoundable offences examples

Criminal breach of contract service
Criminal or house trespass
Uttering words with deliberate intention of defaming any religion
Printing defamatory matter.
Adultery
Causing intentional hurt
Cheating and theft

Offences compoundable with permission of court

Criminal breach of trust
Causing miscarriage
Causing grievous hurt
Intentional assault of woman

Non Compoundable Offences

The non-compoundable offences are not mentioned under the list given in section 320 of CrPC , these are some of the offences which cannot be compounded as the nature of the offence is grave and heinous and they can only be quashed. In these cases only the state can file the case and there is no question of compromising. It can be both the society and parties that can be affected by the offence.

The compromise is not allowed by the court as the nature of the crime is serious. In these offences based on evidences full trials are held for acquittal.

Non Compoundable Offences examples

Causing hurt by a dangerous women and voluntary action
Wrongful confinement of a person
Criminal force to women to outrage her modesty
Misappropriation of property by dishonesty
Negligent and rash grievous hurt to endanger human life

Cognizable and Non-Cognizable offence

Cognizable offence

Section 154 of CrPC explains about the cognizable offences and says that the police is obliged to file a case in cognizable offences. These are the serious offences in which the police can arrest the convict without the warrant and can start the investigation without the warrant. These heinous crimes are murder, rape, kidnapping, dowry death, theft etc. the convict can be

arrested afterwards and presented before the magistrate in the stipulated time. It is the illegal offence which is punishable in nature and registered with police.

Cognizable offence example

It includes the following

Murder
Theft
Kidnapping
Criminal breach of trust
Dowry death
Rape
Rioting

Non Cognizable Offence

Non cognizable offences are bailable in nature and the police cannot arrest without warrant and also the investigation cannot be done without the court’s permission. It is defined in section 2(I) of CrPC and the police is not bound to register the FIR prior in these types of offences.

Non cognizable offence examples

Forgery
Assault
Cheating
Nuisance
Defamation
Hurt

Bailable and Non Bailable offences

To understand the bailable offence, one needs to understand what is bail?

Bail in Bailable Offence

Bail is the surety of the accused of its presence whenever he is required to be present before the court. Bail is not termed specifically in Crpc but it is essentially to be called as the agreement under which the accused has to give a written undertaking to appear before the court whenever required and he has to comply with the conditions which are given in the agreement. If a person fails to meet the conditions the agreement assures to forfeit some amount of money specified.

Right to be released on bail has been defined under section 50 of Crpc says any offence that is considered to be a bailable one includes the duty of the police to inform the accused that he can be released on bail. In the case ofRashik lal v kishore, it was held by the supreme court that under bailable offences it is the right of a person to claim bail which is considered as absolute and the police is bound to release the accused.

Bailable offences

Section 2(a) of Crpc defines bailable offence. The Bailable offences are those offences which are not considered heinous in nature and in those cases the bail is considered to be a right for a person. The arrested person can be released after depositing the bail to police. The police has the power to release the person on bail on executing a bail bond.

Bail bond Includes certain terms and conditions which may include restriction to leave territorial jurisdiction. The accused shall be appearing before the police whenever required. In the bailable offence the court has the discretion to decline the bail even if the offence is bailable if the person has failed to comply with the conditions of the bailable bond.

Examples of bailable offences

These less heinous crimes includes as follows:

Giving any type of false evidence in the judicial proceedings.
Disobeying the public servant with the intention of causing injury.
Selling noxious food and drinks.
Bribery involved in the election process.
Causing disturbance to religious worship assemblies.
Rioting and armed with deadly weapons.
Membership of any unlawful assembly etc.

Non bailable offence in India

A non bailable offence in india is given under section 2 (a) of Crpc and it includes all those offence which are not included under bailable offences given in the first schedule.

Non bailable meaning

Non bailable means any serious crime which doesn’t allow the privilege of bail until and unless the court has not granted it. It is a provision that any person who has been arrested for a serious crime, he cannot ask for bail for release. The court can refuse the bail grant if the bail bond has not been complied with. The application of bail is filed before the magistrate and the accused is presented on the day it is heard. It is on the discretion of the magistrate to allow it if it deems fit.

Right to be released on bail it is up to the discretion of the court whether a bail should be granted or not and it is subjected to the conditions given in section 437 of CrPC . Any accused on punishable offence up to death or imprisonment will only be released when the person is:

Accused is Sick
It is a woman
Below the age of sixteen years
infirm

Such a person shall not be released when there is no involvement of a reasonable ground.

Non bailable warrants

Under section 70 to 81 in the code of criminal procedure,1973 the issuance of warrants have been mentioned. In the non bailable warrants the issuance involves the interference with personal liberty. The court has to carefully analyse about its issuance of this warrant and it can only be issued when there is importance to curtail one’s freedom due to larger interest of public and the state. In the famous case of IndermohanGoswami and Another v State of Uttaranchal and Others, the guidelines regarding the issuance of non bailable warrant were issued.

The non bailable warrant is further issued when it is observed by the court that the person who has committed heinous offences and it can be anticipated that the person is likely to destroy all the evidence.

The warrant further is issued by analysing the scrutiny of the facts of the case. In the case of State of UP v Poosu and Another, it was held that the court would consider all the factors related to seriousness of crime, the character of evidence and also factors in relation to the larger interest of public and the state.

Difference between cognizable and non-cognizable offence

Cognizable offence	Non cognizable offence
It is the type of crime in which the police is authorized to take in the cognizance of offence without warrant and can investigate without the permission of the court.	It is the type of offence in which police has no authority to arrest without a warrant
The approval of the court is not required for the investigation.	The approval of the court is required prior in non cognizable offence
Offences are heinous	Offences are comparatively less heinous
Petition includes FIR and complaint	The petition includes Complaint

Difference between bailable and non-bailable offence

Bailable offence	Non bailable offence
Offences which are shown bailable under the first schedule or by law for time period	Non bailable offences are other than the bailable offences
These are less heinous crime	These include heinous crimes
The bail is claimed as a matter of right	The bail is a matter of discretion

List of bailable and non-bailable offence

Section	Offence	Bailable/Non -bailable	Punishment
107	Abetment	Depends on the offence	Depends on the offence
120B	Criminal conspiracy to commit an offence punishable with death	Depends on the offence. E.g. for Punishment for murder, Non-bailable	Depends on the offence
121	Waging or attempting to wage war, or abetting the waging of war, against the Government of India	Non-bailable	Imprisonment for life or imprisonment upto 10 years along with fine
124A	Sedition.	Non-bailable	Imprisonment for life and fine or Imprisonment for 3 years and fine or fine.
131	Abetting mutiny or attempting to seduce a soldier, sailor or airman	Non-bailable	Imprisonment for life or 10 years with fine
140	Wearing soldier’s garb, sailor, airman	Bailable	Imprisonment for 3 months along with 500
144	Punishment for unlawful assembly	Bailable	Imprisonment for 6 months with fine
154	Owner or occupier of land on which unlawful assembly is held	Bailable	INR 1000 fine
158	Being hired to be part of unlawful assembly or riot	Bailable	Imprisonment for 6 months up to 2 yrs along with fine
166A	Public servant disobeying direction under law	Bailable	Imprisonment for 6 months up to 2 yrs
167	Public servant framing incorrect document	Bailable	Imprisonment for 3 years and fine

172	Absconding to avoid service of summons	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 1 month or fine INR 1000
177	Furnishing false information	Bailable	Imprisonment for 6 months and fine INR, 1000
181	False statement on oath to public servants	Bailable	Imprisonment for 3 years along with fine
186	Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant	Bailable	Imprisonment for 3 months and fine of INR 500
189	Threat of injury to public servant	Bailable	Imprisonment for 2 years along with fine
191	Giving false evidence	Bailable	Imprisonment for seven years along with fine
195A	Threatening any person to give false evidence	Bailable	Imprisonment for seven years along with fine
203	Giving false information respecting an offence	Bailable	Imprisonment for two years along with fine
210	Fraudulently making false claim in court	Bailable	Imprisonment for two years along with fine
213	Taking gift, to screen an offender from punishment	Bailable	Imprisonment for three to seven years along with fine
223	Escape from confinement or custody negligently suffered by public servant	Bailable	Imprisonment for two years along with fine
228	Intentionally insult or interruption to public servant sitting in judicial proceeding	Bailable	Imprisonment for 6 months along with fine of INR 1000

232	Counterfeiting Indian coin	Non bailable	Imprisonment for life or 10 years with fine
238	Import or export of counterfeiting Indian coin	Non bailable	Imprisonment for life or 10 years with fine
246	Fraudulently diminishing weight of coin	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 3 years with fine
255	Counterfeiting of government stamp	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 3 years with fine
264	Fraudulent use or false instrument for weighing	Bailable	Imprisonment for 1 year with fine
269	Negligent act likely to spread infectious disease dangerous to life	Bailable	Imprisonment for 6 months with fine
272	Adulteration for food or drink intended for sale	Bailable	Imprisonment for 6 months with fine of INR 1000
274	Adulteration of drug	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 6 months with fine of INR 1000

275	Sale of adulterated drug	Bailable	Imprisonment for 6 months with fine of INR 1000
279	Rash driving or riding on a public way	Bailable	Imprisonment for 6 months with fine of INR 1000
283	Danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation	Bailable	INR 200
292	Sale of obscene book	Bailable	Imprisonment for 2 years with fine of INR 2000
295	Injuring places of worship with an intent to insult the religion of any class	nb	Imprisonment for 2 years with fine.
295A	Deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings of any class, by insulting religious beliefs.	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 3 years with fine.
297	Trespassing on burial places	Bailable	Imprisonment for 1 years with fine.
302	Punishment for murder	Non bailable	Imprisonment for life term or capital punishment
304	Punishment for Culpable homicide not amounting to murder.	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 10 years with fine
304A	Punishment for causing death by negligence	Bailable	Imprisonment for 2 years.
304B	Dowry death	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 7 years up to life term.
306	Abetment of suicide	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 10 years with fine.
307	Attempt to murder	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 10 years with fine.
308	Attempt to commit culpable homicide	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 3-7 years with fine.
309	Attempt to commit suicide	Bailable	Imprisonment for 1 year or with fine.
318	Concealment of birth by secret disposal of body	Bailable	Imprisonment for 2 years with fine.
323	Causing hurt	Bailable	Imprisonment for 1 years with fine.
349	Using force	Bailable	Imprisonment for 3 months or with fine of INR 500
354D	Stalking	Bailable	Imprisonment for 3 months or with fine.

363	Punishment for Kidnapping	Bailable	Imprisonment for 7 months or with fine
369	Abduction of child under 10	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 7 months or with fine
370	Trafficking of person	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 7-10 years or with fine
376	Punishment for Rape	Non bailable	Rigorous imprisonment for life or not less than 7 years
376D	Gang rape	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 20 years which may extend till life
377	Unnatural offence	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 10 years which may extend till life
379	Punishment for Theft	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 3 years and fine
384	Punishment for Extortion	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 3 years
392	Punishment for Robbery	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 3 years and fine
395	Punishment for Dacoity	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 10 years and fine
406	Punishment for Criminal breach of trust	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 3 years and fine
411	Dishonestly receiving Stolen property	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 3 years and fine
417	Punishment for Cheating	Bailable	Imprisonment for 1 years and fine
420	Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 7 years and fine
426	Punishment for Mischief	Bailable	Imprisonment for 3 months
447	Punishment for Criminal trespass	Bailable	Imprisonment for 3 months and fine of INR 500

465	Forgery	Bailable	Imprisonment for 2 years and fine
477A	Falsification of accounts	Bailable	Imprisonment for 2 years and fine
489A	Counterfeiting currency notes or banknotes	Non bailable	Imprisonment for life and fine
489C	Possession of forged currency notes or banknotes	Bailable	Imprisonment for 7 years and fine

494	Marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife	Bailable	Imprisonment for 7 years and fine
496	Marriage ceremony fraudulently gone through without lawful marriage	Bailable	Imprisonment for 7 years and fine
498	Enticing or taking away or detaining with criminal intent	Bailable	Imprisonment for 2 years and fine
498A	Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty	Non bailable	Imprisonment for 3 years and fine
500	Punishment for Defamation	Bailable	Imprisonment for 2 years and fine
506	Criminal intimidation	Bailable	Imprisonment for 2 years for simple offence and 7 years if threat is to cause death or grievous hurt
509	Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman	Bailable	Imprisonment for 3 years and fine
510	Misconduct in public by drunken person	Bailable	Imprisonment for 24 hours and fine of INR 10

Conclusion

The offence and type of offences are categorized under different arenas of law such as bailable, non bailable, cognizable and non-cognizable etc., and these offences are being defined under Indian Penal Code and the code of criminal procedure as per the nature of offence.

References

https://www.lawfarm.in/blogs/everything-about-bailable-and-non-bailable-offence

http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l391-Non-Bailable-Warrants.html

https://lawrato.com/indian-kanoon/criminal-law/what-is-a-bailable-and-non-bailable-offence-in-india-613

https://lawrato.com/indian-kanoon/criminal-law/what-is-a-compoundable-and-non-compoundable-offence-in-india-611

http://kanoon.nearlaw.com/2018/01/20/compoundable-non-compoundable-offence/

LEGAL SHORTS-Bailable and Non-Bailable Offences, Cognizable and Non-Cognizable Offences

https://www.vakilno1.com/legal-news/bailable-non-bailable-offences-difference.html/embed#?secret=fZmNrd45BE

https://www.lawyersnjurists.com/article/bailable-and-non-bailable-offences/
https://blog.ipleaders.in/bailable-non-bailable-offence/

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