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The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898

( ACT NO. V OF 1898 )

[ 22nd March, 1898 ]

Part II

CONSTITUTION AND POWERS OF CRIMINAL COURTS AND OFFICES

Chapter II

OF THE CONSTITUTION OF CRIMINAL COURTS AND OFFICES

A.-Classes of Criminal Courts

Classes of Criminal Courts
1[6.(1) Besides the Supreme Court and the Courts constituted under any law for the time being in force, other than this Code, there shall be two classes of Criminal Courts in Bangladesh, namely:-
 
(a) Courts of Sessions ; and
 
 
(b) Courts of Magistrates.
 
 
(2) There shall be two classes of Magistrate, namely: -
 
 
(a) Judicial Magistrate; and
 
 
(b) Executive Magistrate.
 
 
(3) There shall be four classes of judicial Magistrate, namely: -
 
(a) Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Metropolitan Area and Chief judicial Magistrate to other areas;
 
(b) Magistrate of the first class, who shall in Metropolitan area, be known as Metropolitan Magistrate;
 
 
(c) Magistrate of the second class; and
 
 
(d) Magistrate of the third class.
 
 
Explanation: For the purpose of this sub-section, the word "Chief Metropolitan Magistrate" and "Chief judicial Magistrate" shall include "Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate" and "Additional Chief judicial Magistrate" respectively.]
 

B. -Territorial Divisions

Sessions divisions and districts
7.(1) Bangladesh shall consist of sessions divisions: and every sessions division shall, for the purposes of this Code, be a district or consist of districts.
Power to alter divisions and districts
(2) The Government may alter the limits or the number of such divisions and districts.
Existing divisions and districts maintained till altered
. (3) The sessions divisions and districts existing when this Code comes into force shall be sessions divisions and districts respectively, unless and until they are so altered.
 
 
2[(4) 3[A] Metropolitan Area shall, for the purposes of this Code, be deemed to be a sessions division.]
Power to divide districts into Upazilas etc
4[8. The Government may divide a district into Upazilas and, by notification in the official Gazette, fix or alter the limits of a Upazila or merge the areas of more than one Upazila into one Upazila and in so fixing, altering or merging, the Government shall ensure that the area of a Upazila is identical with the local area included in a Police Station.]
Existing sub-divisions maintained
(2) All existing sub-divisions which are now usually put under the charge of a Magistrate shall be deemed to have been made under this Code.
 
 

C.-Courts and Offices

Court of Sessions
9.(1) The Government shall establish a Court of Session for every sessions division, and appoint a judge of such Court 5[; and the Court of Session for 6[a] Metropolitan Area shall be called the Metropolitan Court of Session.]
 
 
(2) The Government may, by general or special order in the official Gazette, direct at what place or places the Court of Session shall hold its sitting; but, until such order is made, the Courts of Session shall hold their sittings as heretofore.
 
 
(3) The Government may also appoint Additional Sessions Judges and Assistant Sessions Judges to exercise jurisdiction in one or more such Courts.
 
7[***]]
 
 
8[(3A) The members of the Bangladesh Judicial Service shall be appointed as Sessions Judge, Additional Sessions Judge and Joint Sessions Judge in accordance with the rules framed by the President under the proviso to Article 133 of the constitution to exercise jurisdiction in one or more of such areas.]
 
 
(4) A Sessions Judge of one sessions division may be appointed by the Government to be also an Additional Sessions Judge of another division, and in such case he may sit for the disposal of cases at such place or places in either division as the Government may direct.
 
 
(5) All Courts of Session existing when this Code comes into force shall be deemed to have been established under this Act.
Executive Magistrates
9[10.(1) In every district and in every Metropolitan Area, the Government shall appoint as many persons as it thinks fit to be
 
Executive Magistrates and shall appoint one of them to be the District Magistrate.
 
(2) The Government may also appoint any Executive Magistrate to be an Additional District Magistrate, and such Additional District Magistrate shall have all or any of the powers of a District Magistrate under this Code or under any other law for the time being in force, as the Government may direct.
 
(3) Whenever in consequence of the office of a District Magistrate becoming vacant, any officer succeeds temporarily to the chief executive in the administration of the district, such officer shall, pending the orders of the Government, exercise all the powers and perform all the duties respectively conferred and imposed by this Code on the District Magistrate.
 
(4) The Government may, or subject to the control of the Government, the District Magistrate may, from time to time, by order define local areas within which the Executive Magistrate may exercise all or any of the powers with which they may be invested under this Code and, except as otherwise provided by such definition, the jurisdiction and powers of every such Executive Magistrate shall extend throughout the district.
 
(5) The Government may, if it thinks expedient or necessary, appoint any persons employed in the Bangladesh Civil Service (Administration) to be an Executive Magistrate and confer the powers of an Executive Magistrate on any such member.
 
(6) Subject to the definition of the local areas under sub-section (4) all persons appointed as Assistant Commissioners, Additional Deputy Commissioners or Upazila Nirbahi Officer in any District or Upazila shall be Executive Magistrates and may exercise the power of Executive Magistrate within their existing respective local areas.
 
(7) Nothing in this section shall preclude the Government from conferring, under any law for the time in force, on a Commissioner of Police, all or any of the powers of an executive Magistrate in relation to a Metropolitan area.]
Judicial Magistrates
10[11. (1) In every district outside a Metropolitan Area, the Chief Judicial Magistrates, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrates and other Judicial Magistrates shall be appointed from the persons employed in the Bangladesh Judicial service in accordance with the rules framed by the President under the proviso to Article 133 of the constitution.
 
(2) An Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate shall have all or any of the powers of the Chief Judicial Magistrate under this Code or any other law for the time being in force, as the Government may direct.
 
11[(2A) The Government may, by general or special order in the official Gazette, direct at what place or places the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate and other Judicial Magistrates shall hold its sitting.]
 
 
(3) The Government may, or subject to the general or special orders issued by the Government in consultation with the High Court Division, the Chief Judicial Magistrate may, from time to time, define local areas within which the Judicial Magistrates may exercise all or any of the powers with which they may be invested under this Code, and except as otherwise provided by such definition, the jurisdiction and powers of every such Magistrate shall extend throughout the district.
 
 
(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section, the Government may require any Executive Magistrate to perform the functions of a Judicial Magistrate for a period to be determined in consultation with the High Court Division and during such period, the Magistrate shall not perform the functions of an Executive Magistrate.]
Special Magistrate
12[12. (1) The Government may confer upon any person all or any of the powers conferred or conferrable by or under this Code on an Executive Magistrate in respect of particular cases or a particular class or classes of cases, or in regard to cases generally in any local area outside a Metropolitan area:
 
Provided that no power shall be conferred under the sub-section on any police officer below the grade of an Assistant Superintendent of Police and no powers shall be conferred on a such police officer except so far as may be necessary for preserving the peace, preventing crime and detecting apprehending and detaining offenders, in order to bring the offender before a Magistrate, and for the performance by the officer of any other duties imposed upon him by any law for the time being in force.
 
(2) The persons on whom the powers under sub-section (1) are conferred shall be called Special Executive Magistrates and shall be appointed for such term as the Government may by general or special order direct.
 
(3) The Government may, in consultation with the High Court Division confer upon any Magistrate all or any of the powers conferred or conferrable by or under this Code on a Judicial Magistrate of the first, second or third class in respect of particular cases or a particular class or classes of cases or in regard to cases generally in any local area outside a Metropolitan area.
 
(4) The Magistrate on whom the powers under sub-section (3) are conferred shall be called Special Magistrates and shall be appointed for such term as the Government may, in consultation with the High Court Division, by general or special order direct.
 
(5) The Government may in consultation with the High Court Division confer upon any Metropolitan Magistrate all or any of the powers conferred or conferrable by or under this Code on Metropolitan Magistrate in respect of particular cases or a particular class or classes, or in regard to cases generally in any Metropolitan Area.
 
(6) The persons on whom the powers under sub-section (5) are conferred shall be called Special Metropolitan Magistrates and shall be appointed for such term as the Government may in consultation with High Court Division by general or special order direct.]
Benches of Magistrates
15.(1) The Government may direct any two or more Magistrates in any place 13[outside 14[a] Metropolitan Area] to sit together as a Bench, and may by order invest such Bench with any of the powers conferred or conferrable by or under this Code on a Magistrate of the first, second or third class, and direct it to exercise such powers in such cases, or, such classes of cases only, and within such local limits, as the Government thinks fit.
Powers exercisable by Bench in absence of special direction
(2) Except as otherwise provided by any order under this section, every such Bench shall have the powers conferred by this Code on a Magistrate of the highest class to which any one of its members, who is present taking part in the proceedings as a member of the Bench, belongs, and as far as practicable shall, for the purposes of this Code, be deemed to be a Magistrate of such class.
Power to frame rules for guidance of Benches
16. The Government may, or, subject to the control of the Government, the 15[Chief Judicial Magistrate] may, from time to time, make rules consistent with this Code for the guidance of Magistrates' Benches in any district respecting the following subjects:-
 
 
(a) the classes of cases to be tried;
 
 
(b) the times and places of sitting;
 
 
(c) the constitution of the Bench for conducting trials;
 
 
(d) the mode of settling differences of opinion which may arise between the Magistrates in session.
Subordination of Executive,Judicial and Metropolitan Magistrates.
16[17. (1) All Executive Magistrate appointed under section 10 and 12 (1) shall be subordinate to the District Magistrate who, from time to time, give special order consistent with this Code as to the distribution of business among such Magistrates.
 
 
(2) All Judicial Magistrates appointed under section 11 and 12 (3) and all Benches constituted under section 15 shall be subordinate to the Chief Judicial Magistrate who may, from time to time give special orders consistent with this Code and rules made by the Government under section 16 as to the distribution of business among Magistrates and Benches.
 
 
(3) All Metropolitan Magistrates including Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, and Special Metropolitan Magistrate appointed under section 12 (5) and Benches constituted under section 19, shall be subordinate to the chief Metropolitan Magistrate, who may, from time to time, give special orders consistent with this Code and rules made by the Government under section 16 as to the distribution of business among such Magistrates and Benches.
 
 
(4) All Judicial Magistrates including the Chief Judicial Magistrate shall be subordinate to the Sessions Judge and all Metropolitan Magistrates including the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate shall be subordinate to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge.
Subordination of Joint Sessions Judges
17[17A. (1) All Joint Sessions Judges shall be subordinate to the Sessions Judge in whose Court they exercise jurisdiction, and the Sessions Judge may, from time to time, make rules or give special orders consistent with this Code as the distribution of business among such joint Sessions Judges.
 
 
(2)The Sessions Judge may also, when he himself is unavoidably absent or incapable of acting, make provision for the disposal of any urgent application by an Additional or Joint Sessions Judge and such Judge shall have jurisdiction to deal with any such application.]
 
 

D.-Courts of Metropolitan Magistrates

Appointment of Metropolitan Magistrates
18. 18[(1) In every Metropolitan Area, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and other Metropolitan Magistrates shall be appointed from among the persons employed in the Bangladesh judicial Service.]
 
 
(2) The Government may appoint one or more Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrates, and such Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrates shall have all or any of the powers of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate under this Code or under any other law for the time being in force, as the Government may direct.
 
 
19[***]
Benches
19. Any two or more of Metropolitan Magistrates may, subject to the rules made by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, sit together as Bench.
Local limits of jurisdiction
20. Every Metropolitan Magistrate shall exercise juris-diction in all places within 20[a] Metropolitan Area for which he is appointed.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate
21.(1) The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate shall exercise within the local limits of his jurisdiction all the powers 21[conferred on him or on a Metropolitan Magistrate under this Code, or under any law for the time being in force] and may, from time to time, with the previous sanction of the Government, make rules consistent with this Code to regulate-
 
 
(a) the conduct and distribution of business and the practice in the Courts of Metropolitan Magistrates;
 
 
(b) the constitution of Benches of Metropolitan Magistrates;
 
 
(c) the times and places at which such Benches shall sit;
 
 
(d) the mode of settling differences of opinion which may arise between Metropolitan Magistrates in session; and
 
 
(e) any other matter which could be dealt with by a 22[Chief Judicial Magistrate] under his general powers of control over the Magistrates subordinate to him.
 
 
23[ *** ]

E.-Justices of the Peace

Justice of the peace for the mafassal
22. 24[The Government] may, by notification in the official Gazette, appoint such persons resident within Bangladesh and not being the subjects of any foreign State as it thinks fit to be Justices of the Peace within and for the local area mentioned in such notification.
Repealed
23 and 24. [Repealed by section 4 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1923 (Act No. XII of 1923).]
Ex-officio Justices of the Peace.
25. In virtue of their respective offices, the Judges of the 25[Supreme Court] are Justices of the Peace within and for of the whole of Bangladesh, Sessions Judges, 26[Chief Judicial Magistrate] and Metropolitan Magistrates] are Justices of the Peace within 27[their respective jurisdictions].

F.-Suspension and Removal

Repealed
26 and 27. [Repealed by the Government of India (Adaptation of Indian Laws) Order, 1937.]
  • 1
    Section 6 was substituted by section 5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).
  • 2
    Sub-section (4) was added by section 2 and Schedule of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance, 1976 (Ordinance No. LXXXVI of 1976)
  • 3
    The letter "A" was substituted, for the words "the Dacca" by section 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1980 (Act No. IV of 1980)
  • 4
    Section 8 was substituted by section 6 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).
  • 5
    he semicolon and words "; and the Court of Session for the Dhaka Metropolitan Area shall be called the Metropolitan Court of Session" were added by section 2 and Schedule of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance, 1976 (Ordinance No. LXXXVI of 1976)
  • 6
    The letter "a" was substituted, for the words "the Dacca" by section 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1980 (Act No. IV of 1980)
  • 7
    The proviso was omitted by section 7 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).
  • 8
    Sub-section (3A) was inserted by section 7 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).
  • 9
    Section 10 was substituted by section 8 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).
  • 10
    Section 11 was substituted by 8 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).
  • 11
    Sub-section (2A) was inserted after the sub-section (2) by section 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, (Amendment) Act, 2012 (Act No. XXXVII of 2012).
  • 12
    Section 12 was substituted by 8 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).
  • 13
    The words "outside the Dacca Metropolitan Area" were inserted by section 2 and Schedule of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment)) Ordinance, 1976 (Ordinance No. LXXXVI of 1976)
  • 14
    The letter "a" was substituted, for the words "the Dacca" by section 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1980 (Act No. IV of 1980)
  • 15
    The words “Chief Judicial Magistrate” were substituted for the words “District Magistrate” by section 9 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).
  • 16
    Sections 17 was substituted by section 10 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).
  • 17
    Sections 17A was substituted by section 10 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).
  • 18
    Sub-section (1) was substituted for the sub-section (1) by section 11 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).
  • 19
    Sub-section (3) was omitted by section 11 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).
  • 20
    The letter "a" was substituted, for the words "the Dacca" by section 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1980 (Act No. IV of 1980)
  • 21
    The words and comma "conferred on him or on a Metropolitan Magistrate under this Code, or under any law for the time being in force" were substituted, for the words "conferred on him by this Code" by section 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1980 (Act No. IV of 1980)
  • 22
    The words “Chief Judicial Magistrate” were substituted for the words “District Magistrate” by section 12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).
  • 23
    Sub-section (2) was omitted by section 12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).
  • 24
    The words "The Government" were substituted, for the words and commas "A Provincial Government, so far as regards the territories subject to it, administration," by section 3 and 2nd Schedule of the Bangladesh Laws (Revision And Declaration) Act, 1973 (Act No. VIII of 1973)
  • 25
    The words "Supreme Court" were substituted, for the words "High Courts" by section 3 and 2nd Schedule of the Bangladesh Laws (Revision And Declaration) Act, 1973 (Act No. VIII of 1973)
  • 26
    The words “Chief Judicial Magistrate” were substituted for the words “District Magistrate” by section 13 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).
  • 27
    The words "their respective jurisdictions" were substituted, for the words "and for the whole of the territories administered by the Provincial Government under which they are serving" by section 3 and 2nd Schedule of the Bangladesh Laws (Revision And Declaration) Act, 1973 (Act No. VIII of 1973)
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