How a criminal trial runs in the Ghaziabad District Court: from charge to judgment

Where

District and Sessions Court, Raj Nagar District Centre (RDC), Ghaziabad. Magistrates' courts and Sessions courts sit in the same complex.

Who tries what

Magistrates (CJM, ACJMs) try the lighter offences; the Court of Session tries murder, rape, dacoity and the other grave ones after committal.

The turning points

Charge sheet, cognizance, framing of charge, close of prosecution evidence, judgment.

Chamber

Chamber 817, District Court Complex, Raj Nagar District Centre (RDC), Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh 201002. Monday to Saturday, 9 am to 9 pm.

A criminal case in Ghaziabad is not one event but a chain of stages, each with its own court, its own papers and its own chance to end the case. Families usually meet the system at the first stage, the FIR and the question of bail, and then lose track of what comes next. This page sets out the chain as it runs at RDC, from the day the police register the case to the day a judge pronounces the result. The criminal cases page covers the defence at each stage; this one is the map.

The FIR and the investigation

The case begins when a police station in Ghaziabad district registers an FIR for a cognizable offence. The investigating officer records statements, collects documents and, in most cases, decides whether to arrest. For offences punishable with up to seven years the officer is bound by Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar, (2014) 8 SCC 273, and by Section 35(3) BNSS: a notice to appear comes first, and arrest needs recorded reasons. If arrest is feared, anticipatory bail under Section 482 BNSS is sought from the Sessions Court; if arrest has happened, regular bail is sought under Sections 480 and 483 BNSS. The bail page explains that side, and the bail route finder works out which application goes to which court.

The investigation ends in one of two reports. A charge sheet names the accused and the offences the police say are made out. A final report says no case is made out, and the complainant can object to it before the Magistrate. If the charge sheet is not filed within the statutory period after arrest, sixty or ninety days depending on the offence, the accused in custody is entitled to default bail under Section 187(3) BNSS.

Cognizance, summons and the supply of copies

The charge sheet goes to the Magistrate having jurisdiction over the police station, at Ghaziabad one of the CJM or ACJM courts at RDC. The Magistrate reads it and takes cognizance, which is the formal act of deciding to proceed, and issues process: summons or a warrant to the accused who is not already before the court. The accused then appears and is given copies of the charge sheet, the FIR, the statements of witnesses and the documents the prosecution relies on. The copies matter. The defence is built from them, and a trial cannot lawfully start until they have been supplied.

For an offence triable only by the Court of Session, the Magistrate does not try the case. After supplying copies the Magistrate commits the case to the Sessions Judge, who assigns it to an Additional Sessions Judge. From then on the file lives in a Sessions court in the same complex.

Framing of charge, and discharge

Before evidence is taken the court decides whether there is ground to proceed at all. Both sides are heard on the charge sheet and documents. If the material, taken at its highest, does not disclose the offence, the accused is discharged and the case ends. If it does, the court frames a charge: a short written statement of each offence, read out to the accused, who pleads guilty or claims trial. A plea of not guilty is the normal course, and the trial is fixed.

The charge hearing is the first real contest in the case and is often underused. A discharge argument built on the prosecution's own papers can finish a weak case months or years before a judgment would. It sits alongside the High Court route: an FIR or charge sheet that discloses no offence can also be quashed at Allahabad under Section 528 BNSS, which the quashing page explains.

Prosecution evidence

The prosecution calls its witnesses one by one: the complainant, the eye witnesses, the doctor, the investigating officer, the forensic and bank witnesses where the case has them. Each witness is examined by the prosecutor, cross-examined by the defence and, if needed, re-examined. Documents are proved through the witness who made or received them. This is the longest stage. Witnesses are summoned by the court, and dates are lost when the police do not produce them; the court can issue warrants against witnesses who ignore summons, and the defence can press for the evidence to be closed when the prosecution has had its chances.

Cross-examination is where most Ghaziabad trials are won or lost. It is prepared from the case diary statements supplied at the copies stage: every contradiction between what a witness said to the police and what he says in court is put to him and recorded. The accused's presence is required when evidence is recorded.

The accused's statement

When the prosecution closes its evidence the court questions the accused on every circumstance that appears against him in the evidence. This is not evidence on oath and no lawyer answers for the accused. Each incriminating point is put as a question and the answer is recorded; the accused can deny, explain, or decline to answer. The statement is prepared with counsel beforehand, because an explanation offered here, say that the money was a loan repaid, or that the accused was elsewhere, frames the defence evidence that follows and is read by the judge when writing the judgment.

Defence evidence

The accused may call witnesses and prove documents, and may also give evidence himself, though he cannot be compelled to. Defence evidence is optional and is sometimes wisely kept short: a trial can be won on the weakness of the prosecution alone, and every defence witness is exposed to cross-examination. Where there is an alibi, a document that shows the dispute was civil, or a witness to the real event, it is led here. The court can also be asked to summon a record from a bank, a hospital or a government office.

Arguments and judgment

Both sides address the court on the evidence, usually with written arguments on the record as well. The judge then pronounces judgment in open court, with the accused present. An acquittal is announced and the bail bonds are discharged. On a conviction the court hears the accused on the sentence, often on the same day or the next, and then sentences. A convicted accused who intends to appeal applies for suspension of sentence and bail, so that he does not go to jail while the appeal is pending.

Appeal

A judgment of a Magistrate at Ghaziabad is appealed to the Sessions Court at RDC. A judgment of a Sessions court is appealed to the Allahabad High Court at Prayagraj. The time limit is short, counted from the judgment, so the certified copy is applied for on the day of the judgment. The State can appeal an acquittal, and a complainant can seek leave to appeal one. The Ghaziabad District Court guide shows where each of these courts sits and how to check a case's status online.

What the accused has to do through all this

• Keep bail in good standing: attend dates, or have exemption applied for, and inform counsel of any change of address.
• Hand over every document that bears on the case as soon as it is found, not on the date it is needed. The documents checklist lists what a criminal case needs.
• Say nothing about the case to the complainant's side, and nothing to the police without counsel.
• Read the charge and the statement questions with counsel before the date; both are recorded in the accused's own words.

None of this is fast, and some of it is dull. But each stage is a door the case can leave through: a bail order, a discharge, a quashing, a witness who does not hold up, a judgment. A defence that knows the chain uses every one of them, and that is the work described on the criminal cases page.

Read next

• Choosing a criminal lawyer in Ghaziabad: questions to ask and red flags
• Anticipatory bail under Section 482 BNSS in the Ghaziabad Sessions Court
• Urgent bail hearing tomorrow morning: how same-day listing works at RDC

Questions people ask