(1)In this Sanhita, unless the context otherwise requires, -
(a)“audio -video electronic ” means shall include use of any communication device for the
purposes of video conferencing, recording of processes of identification, search and seizure or
evidence, transmission of electronic communication and for such other purposes and by such other
means as the State Government may, by rules provide;
(b)“bail” means release of a person accused of or suspected of commission of an offence from the
custody of law upon certain conditions imposed by an officer or Court on execution by such person of
a bond or a bail bond;
(c)“bailable offence ” means an offence whic h is shown as bailable in the First Schedule, or which
is made bailable by any other law for the time being in force; and “non-bailable offence ” means any
other offence;
(d)“bail bond ” means an undertaking for release with surety;
(e)“bond ” means a perso nal bond or an undertaking for release without surety;
(f)“charge ” includes any head of charge when the charge contains more heads than one;
(g)“cognizable offence ” means an offence for which, and "cognizable case" means a case in which,
a police officer may, in accordance with the First Schedule or under any other law for the time being in
force, arrest without warrant;
(h)“complaint ” means any allegation made orally or in writing to a Magistrate, with a view to his
taking action under this Sanhita, tha t some person, whether known or unknown, has committed an
offence, but does not include a police report.
Explanation .-A report made by a police officer in a case which discloses, after investigation, the
commission of a non -cognizable offence shall be deem ed to be a complaint; and the police officer by
whom such report is made shall be deemed to be the complainant;
(i)“electronic communication ” means the communication of any written, verbal, pictorial
information or video content transmitted or transferred (whether from one person to another or from
one device to another or from a person to a device or from a device to a person) by means of an
electronic device including a telephone, mobile
phone, or other wireless telecommunication device, or a computer, o r audio -video player or camera
or any other electronic device or electronic form as may be specified by notification, by the Central
Government;
(i)in relation to any State, the High Court for that State;
(ii)in relation to a Union territory to which the jurisdiction of the High Court for a State has
been extended by law, that High Court;
(iii)in relation to any other Union territory, the highest Court of criminal appeal for that
territory other than the Supreme Court of India ;
(k)“inquiry ” means every inquiry, other than a trial, conducted under this Sanhita by a Magistrate
or Court;
(l)“investigation ” includes all the proceedings under this Sanhita for the collection of evidence
conducted by a police officer or by any perso n (other than a Magistrate) who is authorised by a
Magistrate in this behalf.
Explanation .-Where any of the provisions of a special Act are inconsistent with the provisions of
this Sanhita, the provisions of the special Act shall prevail;
(m)“judicial pr oceeding ” includes any proceeding in the course of which evidence is or may be
legally taken on oath;
(n)“local jurisdiction ”, in relation to a Court or Magistrate, means the local area within which the
Court or Magistrate may exercise all or any of its o r his powers under this Sanhita and such local area
may comprise the whole of the State, or any part of the State, as the State Government may, by
notification, specify;
(o)“non-cognizable offence ” means an offence for which, and “non-cognizable case” means a case
in which, a police officer has no authority to arrest without warrant;
(p)“notification ” means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
(q)“offence ” means any act or omission made punishable by any law for the time being in force
and includes any act in respect of which a complaint may be made under section 20 of the Cattle
Trespass Act, 1871 (1 of 1871) ;
(r)“officer in charge of a police station ” includes, when the officer in charge of the police station
is absent from the station -house or unable from illness or other cause to perform his duties, the police
18
officer present at the station -house who is next in rank to such officer and is above the rank of constable
or, when the State Government so directs, any other police officer so pr esent;
(s)“place ” includes a house, building, tent, vehicle and vessel;
(t)“police report ” means a report forwarded by a police officer to a Magistrate under
sub-section ( 3) of section 193;
(u)“police station ” means any post or place declared generally or specially by the State
Government, to be a police station, and includes any local area specified by the State Government in
this behalf;
(v)“Public Prosecutor ” means any person appointed under section 18, and inclu des any person
acting under the directions of a Public Prosecutor;
(w)“sub-division ” means a sub -division of a district;
(x)“summons -case” means a case relating to an offence, and not being a warrant -case;
(y)“victim ” means a person who has suffered any loss or injury caused by reason of the act or
omission of the accused person and includes the guardian or legal heir of such victim;
(z)“warrant -case” means a case relating to an offence punishable with death, imprison ment for life
or imprisonment for a term exceeding two years.
(2)Words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the Information
Technology Act, 2000 (2 of 2000) and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 shall hav e the meanings
respectively assigned to them in that Act and Sanhita.