CrPC-1898-Batch-4-of-6-Jurisdiction-Charge-Trial judiciary
55 questions
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Question 1 of 55
Under Section 199, no Court shall take cognizance of an offence of adultery or enticing a married woman except upon a complaint made by:
ExplanationSection 199 restricts standing to bring such a complaint to the husband (or his authorised representative in his absence) — a narrow, specifically defined complainant category.
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Question 2 of 55
Under Section 265-C, before framing of charge, the prosecution must furnish the accused with copies of the police report, the FIR, statements of prosecution witnesses, and other relevant documents. Pakistani superior courts have held this requirement to be:
ExplanationPakistani case law (e.g., as reflected in Prosecutor General Punjab's compiled precedents) treats non-compliance with specific parts of Section 265-C as potentially fatal to the trial, reinforcing that fair-trial disclosure is a substantive right, not a mere formality — echoing the same principle Section 241-A applies at the Magistrate level.
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Question 3 of 55
Pakistani case law has established a foundational principle that when a Magistrate takes cognizance under Section 190(1)(b) on a police report, he takes cognizance of:
ExplanationThis is a foundational, frequently-tested principle: cognizance attaches to the offence as a matter of law, meaning the Magistrate can issue process against other persons who appear concerned in that same offence, even if the police report itself did not name them.
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Question 4 of 55
Under Section 204, once a Magistrate is satisfied there are sufficient grounds for proceeding, he issues process, which in a summons case is a summons, and in a warrant case is:
ExplanationSection 204 gives the Magistrate discretion even in warrant cases to issue a summons instead, if he considers it appropriate — process need not automatically escalate to a warrant.
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Question 5 of 55
Pakistani case law establishes that when a Magistrate dismisses a complaint under Section 203, failure to record reasons for the dismissal is:
ExplanationPakistani courts have held that recording reasons for dismissal is essential — without them, a reviewing court cannot properly assess whether the Magistrate's discretion under Section 203 was exercised correctly, so the omission is treated as a genuine defect, not a mere formality.
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Question 6 of 55
An application under Section 249-A/265-K (early acquittal in the trial court) is functionally distinct from a Section 561-A petition, in that Section 561-A:
ExplanationWhile 249-A/265-K applications ask the trial court itself to acquit based on the record already before it, a Section 561-A petition goes to the High Court's inherent jurisdiction to quash the FIR or proceedings as an abuse of process — different forums, different legal tests, though both aim to spare an accused a baseless trial.
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Question 7 of 55
Pakistani case law confirms that a Magistrate reviewing a Section 173 police report and disagreeing with its conclusions may take cognizance under Section 190(1)(b):
ExplanationThe Supreme Court (Muhammad Akbar, 1972 SCMR 335) confirmed that the Magistrate's own independent assessment of the material governs — a negative or exculpatory police report does not bind him if the record itself supports a prima facie case.
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Question 8 of 55
Under Section 177, the ordinary rule for place of trial is that every offence shall ordinarily be inquired into and tried by a Court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction:
ExplanationSection 177 establishes the default territorial jurisdiction rule: trial occurs where the offence was committed, subject to numerous specific exceptions in the following sections (e.g., continuing offences, offences on a journey).
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Question 9 of 55
Under Section 205, a Magistrate issuing a summons may, if he sees reason to do so, dispense with the personal attendance of the accused and permit him to appear by:
ExplanationSection 205 allows representation through a pleader instead of mandatory personal attendance, reducing unnecessary hardship in appropriate cases while preserving the accused's right to a defence.
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Question 10 of 55
Under Section 245, if upon taking all the evidence the Magistrate finds the accused not guilty, he shall record an order of:
ExplanationSection 245 requires a formal acquittal (not a mere discharge) where the evidence, once fully taken, fails to establish guilt — a legally final and more protective outcome than discharge.
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Question 11 of 55
Pakistani High Court Rules direct that, once a Sessions trial has begun, it should:
ExplanationHigh Court Rules and Orders direct day-to-day continuation of a Sessions trial once commenced — reflecting the principle that criminal trials, especially serious ones, should proceed with reasonable continuity rather than being allowed to drag on through repeated piecemeal adjournments.
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Question 12 of 55
Under Section 200, a Magistrate taking cognizance of an offence on complaint must examine, upon oath, the complainant and:
ExplanationSection 200 requires the Magistrate to personally examine the complainant and any present witnesses under oath, recording the substance in writing — a screening step before process can issue.
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Question 13 of 55
Under Section 224, words used in describing an offence in a charge are deemed to be used in the sense attached to them respectively by:
ExplanationSection 224 ties the legal meaning of charge language to the specific statute creating the offence, ensuring technical terms carry their precise statutory meaning rather than a loose colloquial one.
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Question 14 of 55
The Supreme Court (State v. Abdul Rehman, 2005 SCMR 1544) clarified that Sections 249-A, 265-K, and 561-A:
ExplanationThis ruling places an important limit on the seemingly broad 249-A/265-K/561-A powers — ordinary criminal cases should generally run their full course (evidence, Section 342 examination, arguments) rather than being routinely short-circuited, with early acquittal reserved for genuinely clear-cut cases.
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Question 15 of 55
Under Section 236, if a single act or series of acts is of such a nature that it is doubtful which of several offences the facts constitute, the accused may be charged with:
ExplanationSection 236 accommodates genuine legal uncertainty at the charging stage — allowing multiple or alternative charges rather than forcing prosecutors to guess wrong and lose the case on a technicality.
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Question 16 of 55
Under Section 202, before issuing process on a complaint, a Magistrate may postpone the issue of process and either inquire into the case himself, or direct an investigation to be made by:
ExplanationSection 202 gives the Magistrate discretion to postpone process and order further inquiry or investigation — by police or another suitable person — to test the complaint's substance before summoning the accused.
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Question 17 of 55
Under Section 233, the general rule is that for every distinct offence of which a person is accused, there shall be:
ExplanationSection 233 sets the default rule against combining unrelated offences in one trial — separate charge, separate trial — with exceptions carved out in Sections 234-239 for specific situations like offences of the same kind within a year.
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Question 18 of 55
Under Section 237, if in a case under Section 236 the accused is charged with one offence but it appears the facts show he committed a different offence, he may be:
ExplanationSection 237 permits conviction for the offence actually proven, even though the formal charge named a different one — provided the situation matches the alternative-charge scenario contemplated by Section 236.
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Question 19 of 55
Under Section 234, a person may be charged with, and tried at one trial for, up to three offences of the same kind committed within a period of:
ExplanationSection 234 permits joint trial of up to three same-kind offences committed within one year, avoiding the need for repeated separate trials for closely-spaced similar conduct.
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Question 20 of 55
Under Section 180, where an act is an offence by reason of its relation to any other act which is also an offence (or would be an offence if the doer were capable of committing one), the first offence may be inquired into or tried by a Court within whose jurisdiction:
ExplanationSection 180 extends jurisdiction to cover either linked act's location — relevant, for example, to receiving stolen property, where the theft and the receiving may occur in different districts.
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Question 21 of 55
Under Section 265-J, a statement recorded under Section 164 (before a Magistrate during investigation) is treated in a Sessions trial as:
ExplanationSection 265-J confirms the general evidentiary value of a properly-recorded Section 164 statement — reinforcing why Section 164 (Magistrate-recorded) statements carry far more weight than ordinary Section 161 (police-recorded) statements.
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Question 22 of 55
Under Section 179, where an act is an offence by reason of anything done and of a consequence that ensued, the offence may be inquired into or tried by a Court within whose local jurisdiction:
ExplanationSection 179 gives concurrent territorial jurisdiction to the courts of both the place of the act and the place of its consequence — relevant, for instance, where an injury inflicted in one district causes death in another.
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Question 23 of 55
Under Section 243, if the accused admits the truth of the accusation as read out to him, the Magistrate shall record the admission and:
ExplanationSection 243 allows a Magistrate to convict on a genuine admission of guilt, though this remains discretionary rather than mandatory — the Magistrate must still be satisfied the admission is voluntary and unambiguous.
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Question 24 of 55
Under Section 227, a Court may alter or add to any charge:
ExplanationSection 227 gives courts continuing flexibility to correct or supplement a charge as the evidence unfolds, right up until judgment — reflecting that a charge is a working procedural document, not a rigid, unchangeable pleading.
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Question 25 of 55
Pakistani courts have clarified that the phrase 'at any stage' in Section 265-K (and its Magistrate-level counterpart, Section 249-A) means the power to acquit:
ExplanationPakistani superior court rulings confirm that 'at any stage' genuinely means what it says — the Court may acquit even before evidence is recorded or a charge is framed, provided it can already see the prosecution's case is groundless — though this discretion must be exercised judicially, not to deny the prosecution a fair opportunity to present its case.
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Question 26 of 55
Under Section 265-L, the power to stay a prosecution before a Sessions Court belongs to the:
ExplanationSection 265-L gives the Advocate-General — the Province's chief law officer — a distinctive statutory power to stay a Sessions Court prosecution, a check not available to ordinary prosecutors or police officials.
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Question 27 of 55
Under Section 265-D, in a case triable by the High Court or Court of Session, if the Court finds no ground to discharge the accused, it must:
ExplanationSection 265-D requires the formal framing of a charge once the Court is satisfied there is no ground for discharge — a mandatory procedural checkpoint before evidence-taking begins.
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Question 28 of 55
Pakistani case law has clarified that in Sessions Court proceedings, compliance with Section 265-C (supply of documents) must occur:
ExplanationThe Sindh High Court has confirmed the mandatory sequence: the accused must first be supplied the relevant documents under Section 265-C so he understands the exact nature of the allegations against him, before the Court proceeds to frame the charge under Section 265-D.
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Question 29 of 55
The Supreme Court has clarified (Model Custom Collectorate Islamabad v. Aamir Mumtaz Qureshi, 2022 SCMR 1861) that Sections 249-A/265-K may NOT be invoked where there is:
ExplanationThe Supreme Court held that even a remote — not merely a strong — probability of conviction is enough to bar early acquittal under these sections; each case must be judged on its own facts, with courts required to actually record their reasons rather than simply asserting the charge is groundless.
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Question 30 of 55
Under Section 265-A, trials before a Court of Session are to be conducted by:
ExplanationSection 265-A requires Sessions trials to be conducted by Public Prosecutors — reflecting the state's central role in prosecuting serious offences triable exclusively by the Sessions Court.
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Question 31 of 55
Under Section 263, in a summarily-tried case where no appeal lies, the record kept is:
ExplanationSection 263 permits an abbreviated record in non-appealable summary cases, reflecting the streamlined nature of summary trial procedure as a whole.
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Question 32 of 55
Pakistani case law confirms that while sanction for one charge against a public servant is awaited, the Magistrate:
ExplanationCourts have taken a practical approach: sanction requirements for one specific charge do not have to freeze an entire prosecution — charges not requiring sanction may proceed in parallel while sanction for the sanction-requiring charge is awaited.
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Question 33 of 55
Under Section 185, where there is doubt as to which of several courts having jurisdiction should inquire into or try a case, the matter is decided by the:
ExplanationSection 185 resolves jurisdictional disputes between courts by placing the final decision with the High Court, ensuring a uniform, judicially-supervised resolution rather than leaving it to the parties or police.
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Question 34 of 55
Pakistani legal commentary distinguishes sanction under Section 195(1)(b) from sanction under Sections 196/197 by noting that the former is granted by:
ExplanationThis distinction matters practically: Section 195(1)(b) sanction comes from the Court's own judicial assessment of proceedings before it, whereas Sections 196 and 197 sanctions are executive decisions made by the Government — different decision-makers operating in fundamentally different capacities.
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Question 35 of 55
Under Section 222, a charge must contain particulars as to the:
ExplanationSection 222 requires the charge to specify when, where, and against whom (if applicable) the offence was allegedly committed — giving the accused a fair opportunity to prepare a defence.
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Question 36 of 55
Pakistani case law has clarified that the protection of Section 197 (prior sanction for prosecuting public servants) applies to acts that:
ExplanationCourts have clarified that Section 197's protection is not about whether the specific act was 'authorised' (an offence is never authorised) but whether it is reasonably connected to the discharge of official duties — a nuanced test that has, for instance, required sanction for an assault but not for a related wrongful confinement in the same incident.
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Question 37 of 55
Under Section 221, a charge must state the offence with which the accused is charged, and:
ExplanationSection 221 requires the offence to be described by its specific legal name where the law provides one; if there is no specific name, the definition must be stated so as to give the accused notice of the matter charged.
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Question 38 of 55
Under Section 195(1)(c), prosecution for forgery-related offences under Sections 463, 471, 475, or 476 PPC, committed by a party in relation to a document produced or given in evidence in a proceeding, requires a complaint in writing from:
ExplanationSection 195(1)(c) channels forgery prosecutions tied to court proceedings through that specific Court's own complaint — preventing private parties from freely launching forgery prosecutions over documents used in litigation without the court's own initiative.
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Question 39 of 55
Unlike Section 234's strict cap of three offences within one year, Section 235 (offences arising from the same transaction) imposes:
ExplanationSection 235's same-transaction joinder is not bound by Section 234's numeric/time restrictions — the operative test is instead whether the offences are genuinely and directly connected as part of one transaction.
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Question 40 of 55
Under Section 193, a Court of Session cannot take cognizance of an offence as a court of original jurisdiction unless the case has been:
ExplanationSection 193 embodies the committal principle: a Sessions Court's original jurisdiction is triggered only through a Magistrate's committal, not by direct complaint or police report to the Sessions Court itself.
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Question 41 of 55
Pakistani case law has clarified that offences of criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts (different offences, not committed in the same transaction) cannot be joined together under:
ExplanationThe Supreme Court (Shah Nawaz, 1992 SCMR 1583) held that breach of trust and falsification of accounts are not the 'same kind' of offence for Section 234 purposes, and absent a genuine same-transaction link under Section 235, joining them in one trial is illegal.
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Question 42 of 55
Pakistani case law has clarified that once a Magistrate has personally examined the complainant under Section 200 and recorded witness evidence under Section 202, he:
ExplanationOnce a Magistrate has already personally taken the complainant's sworn statement and witness evidence, Pakistani courts have held he should carry the matter through to trial himself rather than belatedly outsourcing it to a police investigation at that stage.
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Question 43 of 55
Under Section 190(1), a Magistrate may take cognizance of an offence in three ways: upon a complaint, upon a police report, or:
ExplanationSection 190(1) lists three independent routes to cognizance: (a) complaint, (b) police report, (c) other information or the Magistrate's own knowledge/suspicion — a foundational provision for judicial exams.
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Question 44 of 55
Under Section 239, persons who may be charged and tried together at one trial include those accused of the same offence committed in the course of the same transaction, and:
ExplanationSection 239 lists specific categories of persons who may be jointly tried, including principal offenders together with abettors or those who attempted the same offence — preventing arbitrary joinder beyond these defined categories.
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Question 45 of 55
Under Section 249-A, a Magistrate has the power to acquit an accused at any stage of a case if, for reasons to be recorded, he considers the charge to be:
ExplanationSection 249-A gives a Magistrate an efficiency-oriented early-exit power — acquitting at any stage upon finding the charge groundless or conviction improbable — rather than mandating that every trial run its full course.
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Question 46 of 55
Section 260 empowers certain Magistrates to try specified offences summarily, meaning:
ExplanationSection 260 authorises summary trial — a streamlined procedure — for specified categories of relatively minor or straightforward offences, reducing the time and formality of an ordinary trial.
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Question 47 of 55
Under Section 203, a Magistrate may dismiss a complaint if, after considering the complainant's statement and any Section 202 inquiry result, he finds:
ExplanationSection 203 empowers dismissal where, having weighed the statements and any inquiry/investigation, the Magistrate concludes there is insufficient ground to proceed — but he must record his reasons briefly.
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Question 48 of 55
Section 197 requires prior sanction before prosecuting which category of persons for acts done in the discharge of official duties?
ExplanationSection 197 protects Judges and certain public servants from prosecution for official-duty acts unless the appropriate government first sanctions the prosecution — a safeguard against harassment litigation targeting officials.
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Question 49 of 55
Under Section 265-K, the Court has the power to acquit the accused at any stage of a case if, for reasons to be recorded, it considers there is:
ExplanationSection 265-K mirrors Section 249-A's Magistrate-level power at the Sessions/High Court level — allowing an efficiency-oriented early acquittal where continuing the trial would serve no purpose.
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Question 50 of 55
What is the status of the CrPC's original Chapter XVIII (Sections 206 to 220), which once governed inquiry into cases triable by the Court of Session or High Court?
ExplanationChapter XVIII, Sections 206-220, has been entirely omitted from Pakistan's CrPC — a useful distinguishing fact from the Indian CrPC 1973 (a different, separately-evolved code), which retains an active committal chapter using overlapping section numbers. Candidates who study Indian CrPC material by mistake often get this wrong.
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Question 51 of 55
Under Section 196, no Court may take cognizance of certain offences against the State (e.g., waging war, sedition) except with the previous sanction of:
ExplanationSection 196 requires prior governmental sanction before prosecuting offences against the State — a significant check on privately or locally initiated prosecutions for such serious matters.
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Question 52 of 55
Under Section 188, an offence committed by a Pakistani citizen outside Pakistan may be dealt with as though it had been committed:
ExplanationSection 188 gives Pakistani courts extraterritorial jurisdiction over offences committed abroad by Pakistani citizens, treating the offence as if committed wherever the offender is subsequently found (or as the Federal Government directs).
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Question 53 of 55
Under Section 241-A, the accused in a case triable by a Magistrate is entitled, before the framing of a charge, to be supplied with copies of:
ExplanationSection 241-A guarantees pre-charge disclosure — copies of the statements and documents the prosecution intends to use — giving the accused a genuine opportunity to prepare a defence before the charge is even framed.
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Question 54 of 55
Under Section 195, a Court cannot take cognizance of certain offences against public justice or contempt of public servants' lawful authority except on the complaint of:
ExplanationSection 195 restricts prosecution for these specific offence categories to complaints from the public servant concerned (or their administrative superior) — preventing private parties from freely prosecuting offences against the administration of justice.
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Question 55 of 55
Under Section 265-D, the trial court's function at the pre-charge stage is to form an opinion, based on the police report and accompanying material, as to whether:
ExplanationSection 265-D requires a genuine judicial screening function — assessing whether sufficient grounds exist to proceed to trial — rather than a rubber-stamp acceptance of whatever the police have submitted in the challan.
0 / 55 answered
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