Section 11 CrPC: Courts of Judicial Magistrates
Section 11 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 dealt with the establishment of Courts of Judicial Magistrates in districts outside metropolitan areas, appointment of their presiding officers and the High Court's power to confer magisterial powers on eligible judicial officers.
Meaning and scope of Section 11 CrPC
The provision formed part of Chapter II of the CrPC, which dealt with the constitution of criminal courts and offices. Its principal purpose was to provide the statutory framework for ordinary Judicial Magistrate courts in every non-metropolitan district.
For this provision, a Judicial Magistrate of the first class or second class is a judicial officer exercising criminal jurisdiction under the CrPC within the powers conferred by law. A Special Court of Judicial Magistrates is a court established for a specified local area to try a particular case or a particular class of cases. The expression High Court refers to the High Court having jurisdiction in relation to the State or territory concerned as understood under the Code.
Text and explanation of Section 11
Section 11(1): Establishment of Magistrate courts
In every district that was not a metropolitan area, the State Government was required to establish such number of Courts of Judicial Magistrates of the first class and second class, and at such places, as it specified by notification after consultation with the High Court.
The proviso also permitted the State Government, after consultation with the High Court, to establish one or more Special Courts of Judicial Magistrates of the first or second class for a local area to try a particular case or class of cases. Once such a Special Court was established for those cases, another Magistrate court in that local area could not exercise jurisdiction over the cases assigned to the Special Court.
Section 11(2): Appointment of presiding officers
The presiding officers of the Courts established under Section 11 were to be appointed by the High Court. The provision therefore separated the governmental act of establishing the courts from the judicial function of appointing their presiding officers.
Section 11(3): Conferment of magisterial powers
Where the High Court considered it expedient or necessary, it could confer the powers of a Judicial Magistrate of the first class or second class upon a member of the State Judicial Service functioning as a Judge in a Civil Court.
Special Courts under the proviso to Section 11(1)
The proviso, inserted by Act 45 of 1978 with effect from 18 December 1978, enabled creation of Special Courts of Judicial Magistrates for identified cases or classes of cases. The jurisdictional consequence was important: where a Special Court was validly established for specified cases in a local area, other Magistrate courts in that area were excluded from trying those assigned cases.
State and Union Territory amendments
The central text of the CrPC carried local amendments affecting Section 11. The uploaded page records an amendment for the Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep, substituting in sub-section (3) the expression concerning a member of the State Judicial Service functioning as a Civil Court Judge with a reference to a person discharging the functions of a Civil Court. State amendments must be checked for the jurisdiction and period relevant to a particular proceeding.
CrPC and the commencement of BNSS
The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 replaced the CrPC as the principal central criminal procedure legislation with effect from 1 July 2024, subject to its statutory saving and transitional provisions. Accordingly, Section 11 CrPC remains important when examining the pre-BNSS legal framework and proceedings to which the former Code continues to apply.
Related CrPC provisions
Section 11 should be read with Section 6 on classes of criminal courts, Section 7 on territorial divisions, Section 12 on Chief Judicial Magistrates, Section 13 on Special Judicial Magistrates, and Section 14 on local jurisdiction of Judicial Magistrates.
This page is intended as a legal information resource. For a pending matter, the applicable statutory text, local amendments, notifications and saving provisions should be verified for the relevant date and jurisdiction.