154. Every information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence if given orally to an officer in charge of a police-station, shall be reduced to writing by him or under his direction, and be read over to the informant; and every such information, whether given in writing or reduced to writing as aforesaid, shall be signed by the person giving it, and the substance thereof shall be entered in a book to be kept by such officer in such form as the Government may prescribe in this behalf.

155.(1) When information is given to an officer in charge of a police-station of the commission within the limits of such station of a non-cognizable offence, he shall enter in a book to be kept as aforesaid the substance of such information and refer the informant to the Magistrate.

(2) No police-officer shall investigate a non-cognizable case without the order of a Magistrate of the first or second class having power to try such case or ¹[send] the same for trial ²[***]. (3) Any police-officer receiving such order may exercise the same powers in respect of the investigation (except the power to arrest without warrant) as an officer in charge of a police-station may exercise in a cognizable case.

156.(1) Any officer in charge of a police-station may, without the order of a Magistrate, investigate any cognizable case which a Court having jurisdiction over the local area within the limits of such station would have power to inquire into or try under the provisions of Chapter XV relating to the place of inquiry or trial. (2) No proceeding of a police-officer in any such case shall at any stage be called in question on the ground that the case was one which such officer was not empowered under this section to investigate. (3) Any Magistrate empowered under section 190 may order such and investigation as above mentioned.

157.(1) If, from information received or otherwise, an officer in charge of a police-station has reason to suspect the commission of an offence which he is empowered under section 156 to investigate, he shall forthwith send a report of the same to a Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of such offence upon a police-report, and shall proceed in person, or shall depute one of his subordinate officers not being below such rank as the Government may, by general or special order, prescribe in this behalf to proceed, to the spot, to investigate the facts and circumstances of the case, and, if necessary, to take measures for the discovery and arrest of the offender:

Provided as follows:- (a) when any information as to the commission of any such offence is given against any person by name and the case is not of a serious nature, the officer in charge of a police-station need not proceed in person or depute a subordinate officer to make an investigation on the spot;

(b) if it appears to the officer in charge of a police-station that there is no sufficient ground for entering on an investigation, he shall not investigate the case. (2) In each of the cases mentioned in clauses (a) and (b) of the proviso to sub-section (1), the officer in charge of the police-station shall state in his said report his reasons for not fully complying with the requirements of that sub-section, and, in the case mentioned in clause (b), such officer shall also forthwith notify to the informant, if any, in such manner as may be prescribed by the Government, the fact that he will not investigate the case or cause it to be investigated.

158.(1) Every report sent to a Magistrate under section 157 shall, if the Government so directs, be submitted through such superior officer of police as the Government, by general or special order, appoints in that behalf. (2) Such superior officer may give such instructions to the officer in charge of the police-station as he thinks fit, and shall, after recording such instructions on such report, transmit the same without delay to the Magistrate.

159. Such Magistrate, on receiving such report, may direct an investigation or, if he thinks fit, at once proceed, or depute any Magistrate subordinate to him to proceed, to hold a preliminary inquiry into, or otherwise to dispose of, the case in manner provided in this Code.

160. Any police-officer making an investigation under this Chapter may, by order in writing, require the attendance before himself of any person being within the limits of his own or any adjoining station who, from the information given or otherwise, appears to be acquainted with the circumstances of the case; and such person shall attend as so required.

161.(1) Any police-officer making an investigation under this Chapter or any police-officer not below such rank as the Government may, by general or special order, prescribe in this behalf, acting on the requisition of such officer may examine orally any person supposed to be acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case. (2) Such person shall be bound to answer all questions relating to such case put to him by such officer, other than questions the answers to which would have a tendency to expose him to a criminal charge or to a penalty or forfeiture. (3) The police-officer may reduce into writing any statement made to him in the course of an examination under this section, and if he does so he shall make a separate record of the statement, of each such person whose statement he records.

162.(1) No statement made by any person to a police-officer in the course of an investigation under this Chapter shall, if reduced into writing, be signed by the person making it; nor shall any such statement or any record thereof, whether in a police-diary or otherwise, or any part of such statement or record, be used for any purpose (save as hereinafter provided) at any inquiry or trial in respect of any offence under investigation at the time when such statement was made: Provided that, when any witness is called for the prosecution in such inquiry or trial whose statement has been reduced into writing as aforesaid, the Court shall on the request of the accused, refer to such writing and direct that the accused be furnished with a copy thereof, in order that any part of such statement, if duly proved, may be used to contradict such witness in the manner provided by section 145 of the Evidence Act, 1872. When any part of such statement is so used, any part thereof may also be used in the re-examination of such witness, but for the purpose only of explaining any matter referred to in his cross-examination: Provided, further that, if the Court is of opinion that any part of any such statement is not relevant to the subject-matter of the inquiry or trial or that its disclosure to the accused is not essential in the interests of justice and is inexpedient in the public interests, it shall record such opinion (but not the reasons therefor) and shall exclude such part from the copy of the statement furnished to the accused. (2) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to apply to any statement falling within the provisions of section 32, clause (1), of the Evidence Act, 1872 or to affect the provisions of section 27 of that Act.

163.(1) No police-officer or other person in authority shall offer or make, or cause to be offered or made, any such inducement, threat or promise as is mentioned in the Evidence Act, 1872, section 24. (2) But no police-officer or other person shall prevent, by any caution or otherwise, any person from making in the course of any investigation under this Chapter any statement which he may be disposed to make of his own free will.

164.(1) ³[Any Metropolitan Magistrate, any Magistrate of the first class] and any Magistrate of the second class specially empowered in this behalf by the Government may, if he is not a police-officer record any statement or confession made to him in the course of an investigation under this Chapter or at any time afterwards before the commencement of the inquiry or trial. (2) Such statements shall be recorded in such of the manners hereinafter prescribed for recording evidence as is, in his opinion best fitted for the circumstances of the case. Such confessions shall be recorded and signed in the manner provided in section 364, and such statements or confessions shall then be forwarded to the Magistrate by whom the case is to be inquired into or tried. (3) A Magistrate shall, before recording any such confession, explain to the person making it that he is not bound to make a confession and that if he does so it may be used as evidence against him and no Magistrate shall record any such confession unless, upon questioning the person making it, he has reason to believe that it was made voluntarily; and, when he records any confession, he shall make a memorandum at the foot of such record to the following effect:- "I have explained to (name) that he is not bound to make a confession and that, if he does so, any confession he may make may be used as evidence against him and I believe that this confession was voluntarily made. It was taken in my presence and hearing, and was read over to the person making it and admitted by him to be correct, and it contains a full and true account of the statement made by him. Explanation-It is not necessary that the Magistrate receiving and recording a confession or statement should be a Magistrate having jurisdiction in the case.

165.(1) Whenever an officer in charge of a police-station or a police-officer making an investigation has reasonable grounds for believing that anything necessary for the purposes of an investigation into any offence which he is authorized to investigate may be found in any place within the limits of the police-station of which he is in charge, or to which he is attached, and that such thing cannot in his opinion be otherwise obtained without undue delay, such officer may, after recording in writing the grounds of his belief and specifying in such writing, so far as possible, the thing for which search is to be made, search, or cause search to be made, for such thing in any place within the limits of such station: Provided that no such officer shall search, or cause search to be made, for anything which is in the custody of a bank or banker as defined in the Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 1891 (XVIII of 1891), and relates, or might disclose any information which relates, to the bank account of any person except,-(a) for the purpose of investigating an offence under sections 403, 406, 408 and 409 and section 421 to 424 both inclusive and sections 465 to 477A (both inclusive) of the Penal Code with the prior permission in writing of a Sessions Judge; and(b) in other cases, with the prior permission in writing of the High Court Division. (2) A police-officer proceeding under sub-section (1) shall, if practicable, conduct the search in person. (3) If he is unable to conduct the search in person, and there is no other person competent to make the search present at the time, he may after recording in writing his reasons for so doing require any officer subordinate to him to make the search, and he shall deliver to such subordinate officer an order in writing specifying the place to be searched and, so far as possible, the thing for which search is to be made; and such subordinate officer may thereupon search for such thing in such place. (4) The provisions of this Code as to search-warrants and the general provisions as to searches contained in section 102 and section 103 shall, so far as may be, apply to a search made under this section. (5) Copies of any record made under sub-section (1) or sub-section (3) shall forthwith be sent to the nearest Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of the offence and the owner or occupier of the place searched shall on application be furnished with a copy of the same by the Magistrate: Provided that he shall pay for the same unless the Magistrate for some special reason thinks fit to furnish it free of cost.

166.(1) An officer in charge of a police-station or a police-officer not being below the rank of sub-inspector making an investigation may require an officer in charge of another police-station, whether in the same or a different district, to cause a search to be made in any place, in any case in which the former officer might cause such search to be made, within the limits of his own station. (2) Such officer, on being so required, shall proceed according to the provisions of section 165, and shall forward the thing found, if any, to the officer at whose request the search was made. (3) Whenever there is reason to believe that the delay occasioned by requiring an officer in charge of another police-station to cause a search to be made under sub-section (1) might result in evidence of the commission of an offence being concealed or destroyed, it shall be lawful for an officer in charge of a police-station or a police-officer making an investigation under this Chapter to search, or cause to be searched, any place in the limits of another police-station, in accordance with the provisions of section 165, as if such place were within the limits of his own station. (4) Any officer conducting a search under sub-section (3) shall forthwith send notice of the search to the officer in charge of the police-station within the limits of which such place is situate, and shall also send with such notice a copy of the list (if any) prepared under section 103, and shall also send to the nearest Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of the offence, copies of the records referred to in section 165, sub-sections (1) and (3). (5) The owner or occupier of the place searched shall, on application, be furnished with a copy of any record sent to the Magistrate under sub-section (4): Provided that he shall pay for the same unless the Magistrate for some special reason thinks fit to furnish it free of cost.

167.(1) Whenever any person is arrested and detained in custody, and it appears that the investigation cannot be completed within the period of twenty-four hours fixed by section 61, and there are grounds for believing that the accusation or information is well-founded, the officer in charge of the police-station or the police-officer making the investigation if he is not below the rank of sub-inspector shall forthwith transmit to the ⁴[nearest Judicial Magistrate] a copy of the entries in the diary hereinafter prescribed relating to the case, and shall at the same time forward the accused to such Magistrate.

⁵[(2) The Magistrate to whom an accused person is forwarded under this section or produced otherwise, may, whether he has or has not jurisdiction to try the case from time to time authorize the detention of the accused in such custody as such Magistrate thinks fit, for a term not exceeding fifteen days in the whole; and if he has not jurisdiction to try the case or send it for trial, and considers further detention unnecessary, he may order the accused to be forwarded to a Magistrate having such jurisdiction:

Provided that no Magistrate of the third class, and no Magistrate of the second class not specially empowered in this behalf by the Government, shall authorize detention in the custody of the police:

Provided further that no Magistrate shall, under any particular case, authorize the detention of an accused person in police custody for a period exceeding fifteen days in the whole; and where further detention is considered necessary, the Magistrate may, upon production of the accused either in person or through electronic video linkage, authorize such detention in judicial custody.

Explanation- For the purposes of this Chapter, “judicial custody” means the custody of an accused in jail or in any other custody, other than the custody of the police, under the order of a Magistrate or Court during investigation.]

 

⁶[(2A) A Magistrate authorizing the detention of an accused person in police custody under sub-section (2), may order that the accused be examined by a medical officer of nearest government hospital before he is handed over to such custody; and upon expiry of the period of police custody, the accused shall be produced before the Magistrate without unnecessary delay; and if, upon such production, there appears to be any mark of injury on the body of the person accused, or the accused alleges that he has been subjected to torture during such custody, the Magistrate shall direct that the accused be examined by a medical officer of the nearest government hospital and where the medical report reveals that the accused has been subjected to torture during police custody, the Magistrate shall proceed in accordance with law.]

(3) A Magistrate authorizing under this section detention in the custody of the police shall record his reasons for so doing.

⁷[(4) If such order is given by a Magistrate other than the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate or the Chief Judicial Magistrate, he shall forward a copy of his order, with his reasons for making it to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate or to the Chief Judicial Magistrate to whom he is subordinate.]

⁸[(4A)] If such order is given by a Chief Metropolitan Magistrate or a Chief Judicial Magistrate, he shall forward a copy of his order, with reasons for making it to the Chief Metropolitan Sessions Judge or to the Sessions Judge to whom he is subordinate.]

⁹[ (5) If the investigation is not concluded within one hundred and twenty days from the date of receipt of the information relating to the commission of the offence or the order of the Magistrate for such investigation-

(a) the Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of such offence or making the order for investigation may, if the offence to which the investigation relates is not punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment exceeding ten years, release the accused on bail to the satisfaction of such Magistrate; and

(b) the Court of Session may, if the offence to which the investigation relates is punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment exceeding ten years, release the accused on bail to the satisfaction of such Court:

Provided that if an accused is not released on bail under this sub-section, the Magistrate or, as the case may be, the Court of Session shall record the reasons for it:

Provided further that in cases in which sanction of appropriate authority is required to be obtained under the provisions of the relevant law for prosecution of the accused, the time taken for obtaining such sanction shall be excluded from the period specified in this sub-section.

Explanation-The time taken for obtaining sanction shall commence from the day the case, with all necessary documents, is submitted for consideration of the appropriate authority and be deemed to end on the day of the receipt of the sanction order of the authority.]

(6)-(7A) [Omitted by section 2 of the Criminal Procedure (Second Amendment) Act, 1992 (Act No. XLII of 1992).]

(8) The provisions of sub-section (5) shall not apply to the investigation of an offence under section 400 or section 401 of the Penal Code, 1860 (Act XLV of 1860).]

¹⁰[167A. (1) Where the officer making the investigation in a case seeks a person who is already in custody in another case to be shown arrested in that case, the Magistrate shall not allow such prayer unless the arrested person is produced before him along with a copy of the entries in the diary relating to such case and given opportunity of being heard and unless the application appears to be well-founded.

(2) The Magistrate shall not authorize the detention of any person in judicial custody where the police forwarding report discloses that the arrest has been made for the purpose of detaining him under any law providing for preventive detention.

(3) If the Magistrate has reason to believe that any officer who has legal authority to commit a person in confinement has acted contrary to law, he shall proceed against such officer under section 220 of the Penal Code.]

168. When any subordinate police-officer has made any investigation under this Chapter, he shall report the result of such investigation to the officer in charge of the police-station.

169. If, upon an investigation under this Chapter, it appears to the officer in charge of the police-station or to the police-officer making the investigation that there is not sufficient evidence or reasonable ground of suspicion to justify the forwarding of the accused to a Magistrate, such officer shall, if such person is in custody, release him on his executing a bond, with or without sureties, as such officer may direct, to appear, if and when so required, before a Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of the offence on a police-report and to try the accused or ¹¹[send] him for trial.

170.(1) If, upon an investigation under this Chapter, it appears to the officer-in-charge of the police-station that there is sufficient evidence or reasonable ground as aforesaid, such officer shall forward the accused under custody to a Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of the offence upon a police-report and to try the accused or ¹²[send] him for trial or, if the offence is bailable and the accused is able to give security, shall take security from him for his appearance before such Magistrate on a day fixed and for his attendance from day to day before such Magistrate until otherwise directed. (2) When the officer-in-charge of a police-station forwards an accused person to a Magistrate or takes security for his appearance before such Magistrate under this section , he shall send to such Magistrate any weapon or other article which it may be necessary to produce before him, and shall require the complainant (if any) and so many of the persons who appear to such officer to be acquainted with the circumstances of the case as he may think necessary, to execute a bond to appear before the Magistrate as thereby directed and prosecute or give evidence (as the case may be ) in the matter of the charge against the accused. (3) If the Court of the ¹³[Chief Metropolitan Magistrate,] ¹⁴[or the Chief Judicial Magistrate] is mentioned in the bond, such Court shall be held to include any Court to which such Magistrate may refer the case for inquiry or trial, provided reasonable notice of such reference is given to such complainant or persons. (5) The officer in whose presence the bond is executed shall deliver a copy thereof to one of the persons who executed it, and shall then send to the Magistrate the original with his report.

171. ¹⁵[(1)] No complainant or witness on his way to the Court of the Magistrate shall be required to accompany a police-officer,

or shall be subjected to unnecessary restraint or incon-venience, or required to give any security for his appearance other than his own bond:

Provided that, if any complainant or witness refuses to attend or to execute a bond as directed in section 170, the officer in charge of the police-station may forward him in custody to the Magistrate, who may detain him in custody until he executes such bond, or until the hearing of the case is completed. ¹⁶[(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), it shall be the responsibility of the police-officer to ensure that the complainant or the witness appears before the Court at the time of hearing of the case.]

172.(1) Every police-officers making an investigation under this Chapter shall day by day enter his proceedings in the investigation in a diary setting forth the time at which the information reached him, the time at which he began and closed his investigation, the place or places visited by him, and a statement of the circumstances ascertained through his investigation. (2) Any Criminal Court may send for the police-diaries of a case under inquiry or trial in such Court and may use such diaries, not as evidence in the case, but to aid it in such inquiry or trial. Neither the accused nor his agents shall be entitled to call for such diaries, not shall he or they be entitled to see them merely because they are referred to by the Court; but, if they are used by the police-officer who made them, to refresh his memory or if the Court uses them for the purpose of contradicting such police-officer, the provisions of the Evidence Act, 1872, section 161 or section 145, as the case may be, shall apply.

173.(1) Every investigation under this Chapter shall be completed without unnecessary delay, and, as soon as it is completed, the officer in charge of the police-station shall- (a) forward to a Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of the offence on a police-report a report, in the form prescribed by the Government, setting forth the names of the parties, the nature of the information and the names of the persons who appear to be acquainted with the circumstances of the case, and stating whether the accused (if arrested) has been forwarded in custody or has been released on his bond, and, if so, whether with or without sureties, and (b) communicate, in such manner as may be prescribed by the Government, the action taken by him to the person, if any, by whom the information relating to the commission of the offence was first given. (2) Where a superior officer of police has been appointed under section 158, the report shall in any cases in which the Government by general or special order so directs, be submitted through that officer, and he may, pending the orders of the Magistrate, direct the officer-in-charge of the police-station to make further investigation. (3) Whenever it appears from a report forwarded under this section that the accused has been released on his bond, the Magistrate shall make such order for the discharge of such bond or otherwise as he thinks fit. ¹⁷[(3A) When such report is in respect of a case to which section 170 applies, the police-officer shall forward to the Magistrate along with the report- (a) all documents or relevant extracts thereof on which the prosecution proposes to rely other than those already sent to the Magistrate during investigation; (b) the statements recorded under sub-section (3) of section 161 of all the persons whom the prosecution proposes to examine as its witnesses. (3B) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to preclude further investigation in respect of an offence after a report under sub-section (1) has been forwarded to the Magistrate and, whereupon such investigation, the officer in charge of the police-station obtains further evidence, oral or documentary, he shall forward to the Magistrate a further report or reports regarding such evidence in the form prescribed; and the provisions of sub-section (1) to (3A) shall, as far as may be, apply in relation to such report or reports as they apply in relation to a report forwarded under sub-section (1).] (4) a copy of any report forwarded under this section shall on application, be furnished to the accused before the commencement of the inquiry or trial: Provided that the same shall be paid for unless the Magistrate for some special reason thinks fit to furnish it free of cost.

¹⁸[173A.   (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) of section 173, before completion of an investigation of any case under this Chapter, the Police Commissioner or the District Superintendent of Police or any other officer of equivalent rank supervising the investigation, as the case may be, may require the Investigating Officer to submit an interim investigation report as to the progress of the investigation of the case.

(2) If the interim investigation report, as required, discloses that there is insufficient evidence against any accused, the Police Commissioner, the District Superintendent of Police or any other officer of equivalent rank supervising the investigation, as the case may be, may direct the Investigating Officer to submit the report to the Magistrate and upon receipt of such report, the Magistrate or the Tribunal, as the case may be, may, if satisfied, order to discharge such accused subject to sub-section (3), without prejudice to the continuation of investigation against the remaining accused persons.

(3) Notwithstanding the discharge of any accused under sub-section (2), if, upon completion of the investigation, it appears on the basis of sufficient and substantive evidence that such person is involved in the commission of the alleged offence, the Investigating Officer shall not be precluded from including his name in the police report under section 173.]

¹⁹[173B.(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Code, every investigation under this Chapter shall be completed within sixty working days from the date of receipt of the information relating to the offence.

(2) Where, for reasonable cause, the investigation cannot be completed within the period specified in sub-section (1), the investigating officer shall record the reasons for such delay in the case diary, apply to the Magistrate for extension of time stating the specific grounds and the additional time required, and forward a copy of such application to the superior officer supervising the investigation.

(3) Upon consideration of the application made under sub-section (2), the Magistrate may, by order, extend the time for investigation as may be deemed reasonable, and the investigating officer shall conclude the investigation within the extended time.

(4) Where the investigation is not completed within the time so extended under sub-section (3), the investigating officer shall, upon expiry of such period, report the reasons in writing to the Magistrate and send a copy thereof to the superior officer supervising the investigation.

(5) Upon consideration of the explanation submitted under sub-section (4), or where no such explanation is submitted by the investigating officer, the Magistrate may-

(a) direct that the investigation be conducted by another officer;

(b) treat such delay as incompetence or misconduct on the part of the investigating officer, cause a note thereof to be recorded in the officer's Annual Confidential Report, and direct the appropriate authority to take action in accordance with the relevant service rules.

(6) If, upon submission of the investigation report, the Court is satisfied, having regard to the materials on record, that any person named as an accused ought, in the interest of justice, to be treated as a witness, the Court may pass an order to that effect, and such person shall be treated as a witness in the case.

(7) If, upon conclusion of the trial, the Court finds that the investigating officer either negligently or with intent to protect any person from criminal liability-

(i) failed to collect or consider any admissible evidence;

(ii) treated any person as a witness who ought to have been made an accused; or

(iii) failed to examine a material witness without justification, the Court may record a finding to that effect, treat such act or omission as misconduct or incompetence, and direct the controlling authority to take appropriate legal action against the officer in accordance with law.]

174.(1) The officer in charge of a police-station or some other police-officer specially empowered by the Government in that behalf, on receiving information that a person- (a) has committed suicide, or (b) has been killed by another, or by an animal, or by machinery or by an accident, or (c) has died under circumstances raising a reasonable suspicion that some other person has committed an offence, shall immediately give intimation thereof to the ²⁰[nearest Executive Magistrate] empowered to hold inquests, and, unless otherwise directed by any rule prescribed by the Government, or by any general or special order ²¹[of the District Magistrate], shall proceed to the place where the body of such deceased person is, and there, in the presence of two or more respectable inhabitants of the neighborhood, shall make an investigation, and draw up a report of the apparent cause of death, describing such wounds, fractures, bruises and other marks of injury as may be found on the body, and stating in what manner, or by what weapon or instrument (if any), such marks appear to have been inflicted: Provided that, unless the Government otherwise directs, it shall not be necessary under this sub-section, in any case where the death or any person has been caused by enemy action, to make any investigation or to draw up any report or to send any intimation to a Magistrate empowered to hold inquests. (2) The report shall be signed by such police-officer and other persons, or by so many of them as concur therein, and shall be forthwith forwarded to ²²[ the District Magistrate]. (3) When there is any doubt regarding the cause of death, or when for any other reason the police-officer considers it expedient so to do, he shall, subject to such rules as the Government may prescribe in this behalf, forward the body, with a view to its being examined, to the nearest Civil Surgeon, or other qualified medical man appointed in this behalf by the Government, if the state of the weather and the distance admit of its being so forwarded without risk of such putrefaction on the road as would render such examination useless. (4) [Omitted by the Schedule of the Adaptation of Central Acts and Ordinances Order, 1949.] ²³[(5) The following Magistrates are empowered to hold inquest, namely, any District Magistrate or any other Executive Magistrate specially empowered in this behalf by the Government or the District Magistrate.]

175.(1) A police-officer proceeding under section 174 may, by order in writing summon two or more persons as aforesaid for the purpose of the said investigation, and any other person who appears to be acquainted with the facts of the case. Every person so summoned shall be bound to attend and to answer truly all questions other than questions the answers to which would have a tendency to expose him to a criminal charge, or to a penalty or forfeiture. (2) If the facts do not disclose a cognizable offence to which section 170 applies, such persons shall not be required by the police-officer to attend a Magistrate's Court.

176.(1) When any person dies while in the custody of the police, the nearest Magistrate empowered to hold inquests shall, and, in any other case mentioned in section 174, clauses (a), (b) and (c) of sub-section (1), any Magistrate so empowered may hold an inquiry into the cause of death either instead of, or in addition to, the investigation held by the police-officer, and if he does so, he shall have all the powers in conducting it which he would have in holding an inquiry into an offence. The Magistrate holding such an inquiry shall record the evidence taken by him in connection therewith in any of the manners hereinafter prescribed according to the circumstances of the case.

(2) Whenever such Magistrate considers it expedient to make an examination of the dead body of any person who has been already interred, in order to discover the cause of his death, the Magistrate may, cause the body to be disinterred and examined.