SN4 SHORT NOTE 5M ★ High-yield

Describe the criminal courts in India with their powers of punishment.

Forensic Medicine · 2nd Professional — Para-Clinical

Structure and Powers

Court	Sentencing power
Supreme court	Any sentence authorised by law. The highest court of appeal, with jurisdiction over the whole country; its decisions bind all other courts
High court	Any sentence authorised by law, including death. Also confirms death sentences passed by Sessions Courts, and hears appeals
Sessions court (Court of Session)	Any sentence authorised by law, but a death sentence must be confirmed by the High Court. Tries the gravest offences — murder, culpable homicide, rape, dowry death
Additional Sessions Judge	Same powers as the Sessions Judge
Assistant Sessions Judge	Up to 10 years and fine; not death or life imprisonment
Chief judicial magistrate (and Chief Metropolitan Magistrate)	Up to 7 years and fine
Judicial magistrate first class (and Metropolitan Magistrate)	Up to 3 years and fine up to Rs 50,000
Judicial magistrate second class	Up to 1 year and fine up to Rs 10,000
Executive magistrate	NO power to try offences or to pass sentence — purely executive functions

A magistrate may award imprisonment in default of payment of a fine, in addition to the substantive sentence, but not exceeding one-fourth of the term the magistrate is competent to impose
The hierarchy matters medicolegally because it determines which court the doctor will attend, and because a summons from a superior court takes precedence

CLINICAL PEARL

The executive magistrate is the one a forensic doctor meets most and the one with no power to convict anybody. They hold the magistrate’s inquest, record dying declarations, and are the only authority that can order an exhumation. The judicial magistrate and the Sessions Judge, by contrast, try the case and hear the doctor’s evidence. Confusing the two is among the commonest errors in written answers, and it also causes real reports to be addressed to the wrong authority.

Functions of the Executive Magistrate

Holds the magistrate'S inquest (BNSS 196; formerly CrPC 176) in custodial deaths, deaths in prison and psychiatric institutions, dowry deaths and deaths of women within seven years of marriage, and deaths from police firing
Orders exhumation — a power possessed by no other authority in India; neither the police nor the family may order a body disinterred
Records dying declarations, which carries the greatest evidential weight of any method of recording
May examine witnesses on oath during an inquest, which the police may not
Other functions — issuing orders under public nuisance and preventive provisions, granting certain licences, and maintaining public order

CIVIL and Other Courts, and Some Legal Terms

Civil courts deal with disputes over rights and obligations between persons — contract, property, damages for negligence — and award compensation rather than punishment. A doctor sued for negligence in damages appears before a civil court or a consumer forum
Consumer courts under the Consumer Protection Act 2019 — District Commission, State Commission and National Commission — hear complaints of deficiency in service. Since Indian Medical Association v V P Shantha (1995) medical services rendered for payment fall within the Act, which made this the principal forum for medical negligence claims in India: it is faster and cheaper than a civil suit
Standard of proof differs fundamentally — in a criminal case the offence must be proved beyond reasonable doubt; in a civil case it is decided on the balance OF probabilities. The same facts may therefore lose a civil case and fail to sustain a criminal one, and this explains outcomes that otherwise appear inconsistent

Term	Meaning
Res ipsa loquitur	"The thing speaks for itself" — negligence so evident it need not be proved, as with a swab left in the abdomen
Vicarious liability	Liability of an employer for an employee’s negligence in the course of employment — the basis on which hospitals are sued
Sub judice / contempt	A matter before a court; public comment on it may be punishable as contempt

Applied Aspects

Address the report to the correct authority; a postmortem report meant for an executive magistrate holding a custodial inquest is not sent to the police, and sending it wrongly delays the proceedings
Understand that acquittal in a criminal court does not defeat a civil claim, because the standards of proof differ; a doctor may be acquitted of criminal negligence and still be liable in damages
Do not comment publicly on a case that is sub judice; contempt proceedings against doctors who have spoken to the press about pending cases are not rare
Only a magistrate can order exhumation, and a doctor asked to attend one should confirm that the order exists before participating
A summons from a criminal court overrides other engagements, including a summons from a civil court, and clinical duties do not excuse non-attendance unless the court is asked in advance
Consumer forums are now the commonest venue for medical negligence in India, and the practical implications — documentation, consent, and communication with the patient — matter far more to a practising doctor than the criminal law does

All questions in Introduction, Legal Procedures & the Courts

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