Criminal Procedure Code · Updated to 1 May 2023 · Part VIII · Special Proceedings
329. Duty of police officer to investigate death
Feedback & supportEvery officer in charge of a police station on receiving information—
that a person has committed suicide;
that a person has been killed by another, or by an animal, or by machinery, or by an accident;
that a person has died under circumstances raising a reasonable suspicion that some other person has committed an offence;
*NOTE—Medical Officers of the Armed Forces to be regarded as Government Medical Officers, for the purpose of inquiries into deaths and evidence under the Criminal Procedure Code—see L.N. 198/1952.
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that the body of a dead person has been found, and it is not known how he came by his death; or
that a person has died a sudden death, shall with the least practical delay transmit such information to the
Officer in charge of the Police District.
On receipt of the information the Officer in charge of the Police
District or some other police officer acting under his directions and being either the officer in charge of a police station or a police officer not below the rank of sergeant shall immediately proceed to the place where the body of the deceased person is and there shall make an investigation and draw up report of the apparent cause of death, describing the wounds, fractures, bruises and other marks of injury as may be found on the body, and such marks, objects and circumstances as, in his opinion, may relate to the cause of death or the person, if any, who caused the death, and stating in what manner or by what weapon or instrument, if any, the marks appear to have been inflicted.
Every police officer making an investigation under this section into the cause of any death, may exercise any or all of the special powers in relation to police investigations in seizable cases conferred on the police officer by Chapter XIII and sections 112, 113 and 114
shall apply to statements made by persons examined in the course of the investigation.
The report shall be signed by the police officer by whom it was drawn up, and where the report was not drawn up by the Officer in charge of the Police District it shall immediately be forwarded to him.
Police District
“Police District” means any area designated as such under the Police Act 1967, and, unless and until an area is so designated, means any area constituted or recognized as a Police District at the commencement of this Code;
The Officer in charge of the Police District shall immediately forward that report to the Magistrate within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the body of the deceased was found.
When the information given under subsection (1) is of such a nature that, though it affords reasonable ground for believing that a death has occurred, it is unlikely that the body of such deceased person can be found owing to its destruction by fire or otherwise or to the fact that the body is lying in a place from which it cannot be recovered, the officer referred to in subsection (2) shall nevertheless make an
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investigation and draw up a report, and forward the report to the nearest
Magistrate who shall proceed in reference to the report as in the case of a report forwarded under subsection (5).