Court nod not needed for FIR if offence is both cognisable, non-cognisable: HC

Prior permission from a magistrate under section 155 (2) of the CrPC is not required for registering an FIR when the offences involved are both cognisable and non-cognisable, the high court has held.

Section 155 (2) of the CrPC bars a police officer from investigating a non-cognisable case without a magistrate's prior order.

The court gave the ruling on a petition filed by the owner of a pub on Residency Road, which was raided by the CCB on March 3, 2020, as customers engaged in a luck-based game called Andar Bahar.

The pub owner's petition sought the quashing of a police complaint and an FIR registered under under sections 79 and 80 of the Karnataka Police (KP) Act and section 34 of the Karnataka Excise Act.

The pub owner argued that offences under the Karnataka Police Act are non-cognisable and cannot be registered without prior permission from a magistrate.

Justice K Natarajan disagreed.

Noting that the explanation under section 155(4) of the CrPC is clear, the judge stated: "Where a case relates to two or more offences, of which at least one is cognisable, the case shall be deemed to be a cognisable case, notwithstanding that the other offences are non-cognisable."

The court said: "In view of section 155(4) of the CrPC, since the offence under section 34 of the Excise Act is cognisable and the offences under sections 79 and 80 of the Karnataka Police Act are non-cognisable have no consequences.

"Therefore, the contention raised by the counsel for the petitioner for quashing the FIR is not sustainable in law. There is no violation of provisions of section 155 (2) of the CrPC by the police officer, while registering the FIR," the high court ruled.