Trial of Warrant Cases; Hearing on Sentence (ss.261–273 BNSS) — BNSS (Criminal Law II) Notes

Trial of Warrant Cases; Hearing on Sentence (ss.261–273 BNSS)

Below the Sessions Court, most serious offences are tried by Magistrates as warrant cases — a two-track procedure that splits depending on whether the case came by police report or by complaint. The perennial problem is the Magistrate who convicts but forgets to hear the accused on sentence.

A warrant case is one punishable with death, life, or imprisonment exceeding two years. It is tried in one of two ways:

A. Cases instituted on a police report (ss.261–267 [ss.238–243 CrPC])

Supply of documents and consideration (s.261).
Discharge (s.262 [s.239 CrPC]). If the charge is groundless, the accused is discharged, with reasons.
Framing of charge (s.263 [s.240 CrPC]).
Plea; prosecution evidence; cross-examination; defence evidence.
Acquittal or conviction (s.266) and hearing on sentence (s.267 read with s.258(2)).

B. Cases instituted otherwise than on a police report — on complaint (ss.268–273 [ss.244–250 CrPC])

Here the complainant leads evidence first (s.268 [s.244 CrPC]); the Magistrate may discharge if no case is made (s.269 [s.245 CrPC]); otherwise he frames a charge and proceeds. Section 273 [s.250 CrPC] empowers the Magistrate to order compensation for an accusation without reasonable cause (this victim-protection aspect is taught in Unit IV, 4.9).

🔑 In both tracks, on conviction the accused must be heard on the sentence before it is passed.

🧩 WORKED EXAMPLE — conviction without a hearing on sentence

Facts. A Magistrate convicts A in a warrant case and immediately sentences him without hearing him on the sentence.

Rule. The Magistrate must hear the accused on the question of sentence before passing it (s.258(2), applied to warrant trials).

Apply. The conviction, reached on the evidence, is unaffected; only the sentencing step was skipped.

Conclusion. The conviction stands, but the sentence is set aside and the matter remitted for a hearing on sentence. The decoy is that the whole order is void.

Section 262(1) BNSS: “If, upon considering the police report and the documents sent with it… and making such examination, if any, of the accused as the Magistrate thinks necessary… the Magistrate considers the charge against the accused to be groundless, he shall discharge the accused, and record his reasons for so doing.”

In Simple Terms: In a police-report warrant case, the Magistrate first checks whether the accusation has substance; a groundless charge means discharge with reasons.

flowchart TD
    ROOT["Warrant case"]:::root
    ROOT --> A["On police report ss.261-267"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> B["On complaint ss.268-273"]:::leaf
    A --> A1["Discharge s.262 / charge s.263 /<br/>evidence / hear on sentence"]:::leaf
    B --> B1["Complainant's evidence first s.268 /<br/>discharge s.269 / charge / sentence"]:::leaf
    B --> B2["s.273 compensation for<br/>groundless accusation (see 4.9)"]:::sidebox
    classDef root fill:#FFF8DC,stroke:#000,stroke-width:1px,color:#000;
    classDef leaf fill:#E6F3FF,stroke:#1E3A8A,color:#000;
    classDef sidebox fill:#FDE7C9,stroke:#B45309,color:#000;
    linkStyle default stroke:#888,stroke-width:1px;

Case Laws

Santa Singh v. State of Punjab (1976) — the hearing on sentence is a mandatory step; its breach affects the sentence, not the conviction.
Ajoy Kumar Ghose v. State of Jharkhand (2009) — explains the sequence of a complaint-instituted warrant trial and the discharge stage.

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