Classes of criminal courts in India.

HIERARCHY AND POWERS OF CRIMINAL COURTS IN INDIA

Indian constitution is one of the finest and comprehensive constitution in the world. It provides basic structure of administration and government , their powers, rights and duties of people etc. Indian democracy is the largest democracy in the world which provides for rule of law. Government consists of mainly three pillars i.e. Legislature, Executive and Judiciary.
Indian Judiciary is finely arranged in pyramid structure having Supreme Court at the top, followed by High Courts and Subordinate Courts. The structure is made in such a manner that all the persons can get justice.

HIERARCHY OF COURTS:

Supreme Court 
     |
High Courts 
     |
Court of Sessions/ Additional Session judge
     |
Assistant Court of Sessions
     |
Chief Metropolitan magistrate                        Chief Judicial Magistrate
/ Additional CMM                                        / Additional CJM     
        |                                                        |
______________________                                   ____________________
Metropolita Magistrate                                   JMIC             JMIIC
 

SUPREME COURT:

The Supreme court is the apex court established under Article 124 of Indian Constitution. It is a Court of original jurisdiction , interprets the constitution and laws, has power of judicial review , hears appeals and special leave petitions.

HIGH COURTS:

High Courts are established under Article 214 of Indian Constitution. It has original jurisdiction, appellate jurisdiction and supervisory jurisdiction.

Classes of Criminal Courts in India: (Sec 6-23)

Section 6 of Cr.P.C. , 1973 provides for classes of criminal courts. It provides:
Besides High Court and Special Court constituted under any other law, there are following classes of criminal courts in every state:

• Court of Sessions(sec 9-10)
• Judicial Magistrate I class(sec 11-15)
• In metropolitan area, metropolitan Magistrates (sec 16-19)
• Judicial Magistrates II class
• Executive Magistrates (sec 20-23)

TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS OF STATE:

Section 7 provides for following territorial divisions of a state- Session divisions ----- Districts ------ Sub divisions

METROPOLITAN AREA

Any city or town in a state whose population exceeds 1 million i.e. 10 lakhs , State Government can declare such area as metropolitan area.

KINDS OF MAGISTRATES:

• Judicial Magistrate
• Executive Magistrate

Judicial Magistrates are assigned with judicial functions and they work under superintendence of high court.
Executive Magistrates are assigned administrative functions who works under state government.

Courts by which offences are triable.

Section 26 of crpc provides for the courts by which offences are triable. It says :
Subject to the provisions of this Code, (a) Any offence under the Indian Penal Code shall be tried by-

1. High Court
2. Court of Sessions
3. Any other court by which such offence is shown triable in the first schedule

Proviso provides that any offence relating to women shall be tried by woman judge as far as practicable.
(b) Any offence under any other law shall be tried by such court as mentioned in such law.If no court is mentioned, it may be tried by:

1. High Court
2. Any other court by which such offence is shown triable in the first schedule.

POWER OF COURTS TO PASS SENTENCES (Sec 28,29)

Supreme Court - Pass any sentence
High Courts - Pass any sentence
Court of Sessions / Additional Session Judge - Pass any sentence, death sentence must be confirmed by high court under section 368.
Assistant sessions judge - Imprisonment upto 10 years and fine . Chief Judicial Magistrate - Imprisonment upto 7 years and fine. Metropolitan Magistrate has powers of Chief Judicial magistrate . Judicial Magistrate first class - Imprisonment upto 3 years and fine upto 10,000.
Judicial Magistrate second class - Imprisonment upto 1 year and fine upto 5,000.

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