People arrive at the first date expecting a contest and leave feeling nothing happened. Nothing was supposed to happen. The first hearing is an administrative gate, and its only real function is to put the case on a footing where the real arguments can be made.
How the case reached the court
On completion of the investigation the officer forwards a report to the Magistrate under Section 193, which since 2024 may be forwarded through electronic communication. The Magistrate takes cognizance under Section 210(1)(b), which is cognizance of the offence and not of the offender. Under Section 227(1) he then issues summons in a summons case, or a warrant or a summons in a warrant case, and Section 227(2) says no summons or warrant shall be issued until a list of the prosecution witnesses has been filed.
The five things that happen on the day
- Appearance is recorded. You are identified, your presence is marked, and if you appeared on summons rather than in custody, that is noted.
- Bail formalities are completed. Even where you were never arrested, the court takes a bond and usually a surety. This surprises people who thought no arrest meant no bail.
- Copies are ordered or handed over. Under Section 230 the Magistrate shall, without delay and in no case beyond fourteen days from the date of your production or appearance, furnish free of cost a copy of the police report, the FIR recorded under Section 173, the statements recorded under Section 180(3) of every witness the prosecution proposes to examine, any confession or statement recorded under Section 183, and any other document forwarded with the police report. Those copies go to the victim as well, where the victim is represented by an advocate.
- The court fixes the next step. Either the matter stays with the Magistrate as a warrant case on a police report, or, where the offence is exclusively triable by the Court of Session, it is committed under Section 232.
- A date is given. That date, not this one, is when the case actually begins to move.
Two provisos to Section 230 are worth knowing. Where the Magistrate is satisfied that a document is voluminous, he may furnish copies through electronic means or direct that you inspect it personally or through an advocate in court instead. And supply of documents in electronic form is expressly deemed duly furnished. So a pen drive or a link is compliance, and the fourteen day period is not extended because the file is large.
The clocks that start now
This is the part that has changed most, and it is where a client's money is either well spent or wasted.
| Step | Provision | Period | Runs from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supply of copies | Section 230 BNSS | Fourteen days | Production or appearance of the accused |
| Committal to the Court of Session | Proviso to Section 232 BNSS | Ninety days, extendable to one hundred and eighty days for reasons recorded | Taking of cognizance |
| Discharge, warrant case before a Magistrate | Section 262(1) BNSS | Sixty days | Supply of copies under Section 230 |
| Discharge, case committed to the Court of Session | Section 250(1) BNSS | Sixty days | Date of commitment |
| Framing of charge | Sections 251(1)(b) and 263(1) BNSS | Sixty days | First hearing on charge |
What to do with the papers when you get them
The chargesheet is the prosecution's whole case stated in advance, and the defence is built by reading it against itself rather than by denying it. On the discharge application the court considers whether there is sufficient ground for proceeding, or, before a Magistrate, whether the charge is groundless. That is a documents exercise, and it is won or lost on what the file actually contains.
- Every section invoked, and whether the ingredients of each are alleged anywhere in the statements at all
- The dates in the FIR against the dates in the statements, because the sequence often does not survive comparison
- Whether a statement under Section 183 exists, and whether the Magistrate recorded the mandatory warnings
- Which witnesses are named in the list filed under Section 227(2), and which of them said nothing about you
- Whether the forensic, medical or bank reports relied on are actually annexed or merely referred to
- Whether the sequence of custody of any electronic device is stated, since Section 193(3) requires the report to state it
- Whether any co-accused named in the FIR has been dropped, and on what stated reasoning
If you cannot attend every date
Section 355(1) allows the Judge or Magistrate, at any stage of an inquiry or trial and for reasons to be recorded, to dispense with the personal attendance of an accused who is represented by an advocate, where he is satisfied that personal attendance is not necessary in the interests of justice. The Explanation adds that personal attendance includes attendance through audio-video electronic means. That is the correct application to make where travel or work makes attendance impossible. It is not a substitute for turning up when the court has not dispensed with attendance, and the consequences of simply not appearing are set out in our answer on what happens if you do not appear when summoned.
What I tell clients about this date
Do not judge your lawyer by the first hearing. There is nothing to argue and any attempt to argue merits is refused, correctly. Judge the next six weeks instead, which is when the chargesheet has to be read line by line, the discharge application either drafted or consciously abandoned, and the choice made between fighting at the charge stage and fighting at trial. Those two are not the same and the difference matters, which is why our guide on the difference between discharge and acquittal is worth reading before you decide. The other realistic caution is about delay. The sixty and ninety day periods now written into the Sanhita are directions to the court and they are not always kept, but they give you something to press for, and a case that is allowed to drift at this stage tends to drift for years, as our note on why criminal trials take decades in India illustrates.