The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 CrPC (India)

An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to Criminal Procedure. The Act received the assent of the President of India on 25-1-1974.

Criminal Procedure Code, CrPC 1973 (India) ACT NO. 2 OF 1974 [25th January, 1974.] is the main legislation on procedure for administration of substantive criminal law in India. It was enacted in 1973 and came into force on 1 April, 1974. It provides the machinery for the investigation of crime, apprehension of suspected criminals, collection of evidence, determination of guilt or innocence of the accused person and the determination of punishment of the guilty. Additionally, it also deals with public nuisance, prevention of offenses and maintenance of wife, child and parents.

The Act consists of 484 sections, 2 schedules and 56 forms. The sections are divided into 38 chapters.

   History :

In medieval India, subsequent to the conquest by the Muslims, the Mohammedan Criminal Law came into prevalence. The British rulers passed the Regulating Act of 1773 under which a Supreme Court was established in Calcutta and later on at Madras and in Bombay. The Supreme Court was to apply British procedural law while deciding the cases of the Crown’s subjects. After the Rebellion of 1857, the crown took over the administration in India. The Criminal Procedure Code, 1861 was passed by the British parliament.

The 1861 code continued after independence and was amended in 1969. It was finally replaced in 1972. To make the criminal procedure more comprehensive the Law Commission was asked to undertake a detailed examination of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Be it enacted by Parliament in the Twenty-fourth Year of the Republic of India as follows :-


   Legislative History :

Repealing and Amending Act, 1974 (56 of 1974)
Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1978 (45 of 1978)
Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1980 (63 of 1980)
Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1983 (43 of 1983)
Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act, 1983 (46 of 1983)
Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1988 (32 of 1988)
Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1990 (10 of 1990)
Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1991 (43 of 1991)
Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1993 (40 of 101,3)
Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1993 (42 of 1993)
Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2001 (50 of 2001)
Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2005 (25 of 2005)
Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2005 (2 of 2006)
Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Amending Act, 2006 (25 of 2006)
Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2008 (5 of 2009)

Details of various sections of CrPC to come in next articles. Stay tuned.

   Table of Content :

Section 1 CrPC : Short title, extent and commencement
Section 2 CrPC : Definations
Section 3 CrPC : Construction of References
Section 4 to 7 CrPC
Section 8 - 9 CrPC
Section 10 - 11 : The Code of Criminal Procedure
Section 12, CrPC : Chief Judicial Magistrate and Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, etc
Section 13 CrPC : Special Judicial Magistrates