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Informative

Supreme Court on Cognizance under Section 195A IPC — Threat to Give False Evidence and Procedure under CrPC.

Update / Judgement Date

28 Oct 2025

Source

WCP News Bulletin

Author

Sakshi Bhardwaj — WCP Legal Desk

Reading Time

2 min read

Criminal LawOther Legal Matters
Supreme Court on Cognizance under Section 195A IPC — Threat to Give False Evidence and Procedure under CrPC.
WCP News Bulletin
Headnote:

The Supreme Court clarified that when an offence under Section 195A IPC (threatening a person to give false evidence) is alleged, the Magistrate can take cognizance on a police report under Section 173(2) CrPC. The bar under Section 195(1)(b)(i) CrPC applies only after a proceeding has commenced in a court, not to threats issued before such proceedings begin. Thus, in this case, cognizance by the Magistrate on a police report was held valid.


Background:
  1. The accused, Suni @ Sunil, was charged under Section 195A IPC for allegedly threatening witnesses to give false evidence in a pending criminal case.
  2. The trial court took cognizance based on a police charge sheet under Section 173(2) CrPC.
  3. The Kerala High Court quashed the proceedings, holding that cognizance of such an offence can only be taken upon a complaint by the court under Section 195(1)(b)(i) CrPC.
  4. The State of Kerala appealed to the Supreme Court, contending that the bar under Section 195 CrPC was not attracted since the threats occurred before the witnesses gave evidence in court.


Court’s Observations:
  1. The Court noted that Section 195A IPC criminalizes the act of threatening or inducing any person to give false evidence.
  2. The procedural bar in Section 195(1)(b)(i) CrPC applies only when the offence is committed in relation to a proceeding already pending before a court.
  3. Since the threats in this case were issued before any witness had deposed in court, the offence stood independent of any judicial proceeding.
  4. Therefore, the police were competent to investigate and the Magistrate was justified in taking cognizance on the basis of a police report.
  5. The High Court’s quashing of the proceedings was incorrect and was accordingly set aside.


Legal Provisions Discussed:
  1. Section 195A, Indian Penal Code (IPC): Threatening any person to give false evidence.
  2. Section 195(1)(b)(i), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC): Cognizance of offences relating to giving or fabricating false evidence only upon complaint by the concerned court.
  3. Section 173(2), CrPC: Submission of police report after investigation.
  4. Section 190, CrPC: Cognizance of offences by Magistrates.

Citation: 2025 INSC 1260

Case: State of Kerala v. Suni @ Sunil

Court: Supreme Court of India

Coram: Justice Sanjay Kumar

Criminal Appeal No.: 1605 of 2011