Question

Special Summons under Section.206 of the Criminal Procedure Code can be issued by

• A. A Magistrate only
• B. A Magistrate as well as the Court of Sessions
• C. The Court of Sessions
• D. The High Court

Hint:

In CrPC, always pay attention to which court or authority is empowered to perform a specific function. Powers are distinctly allocated among Magistrates, Courts of Session, and High Courts. Section 206 is a specific power of the Magistrate for petty offences.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

The key to this question is recognising that Section 206 is designed to speed up the summary trial of petty offences, and summary trials in the CrPC scheme are conducted at the Magisterial level.

1. A Magistrate only: Since summary trials of petty offences are the Magistrate's function under the Code, and Section 206 specifically empowers the Magistrate taking cognizance to issue the special summons, this option matches the statutory scheme.
2. A Magistrate as well as the Court of Sessions: The Sessions Court's jurisdiction under the CrPC is generally reserved for more serious offences and appeals, not for petty offences disposed of summarily, so extending this power to it does not fit the Code's structure.
3. The Court of Sessions: Handling petty offences at first instance falls outside the ordinary role of the Sessions Court entirely.
4. The High Court: The High Court exercises appellate, revisional, and supervisory jurisdiction, not first-instance issuance of summons for petty offences.

Since petty-offence procedure under Section 206 is a Magisterial function by design, the correct answer is A Magistrate only.

Answer 2

Another way to confirm this is to look at what the special summons actually allows the accused to do, plead guilty by post and pay a fine without appearing, and ask which court's ordinary procedure this fits.

1. A Magistrate only: This postal plea-and-fine mechanism is a simplified feature of summary trials before a Magistrate for petty offences, and Section 206 is drafted specifically around the Magistrate's power to issue such a summons.
2. A Magistrate as well as the Court of Sessions: Extending this simplified summary mechanism to the Sessions Court is inconsistent with that court's function of trying more serious matters that are not disposed of through postal fines.
3. The Court of Sessions: This mechanism does not fit the Sessions Court's role at all, since it is tailored to petty offences.
4. The High Court: The High Court does not conduct first-instance summary trials of petty offences, so it does not issue this kind of summons.

Since the postal-plea summary procedure under Section 206 is exclusively a Magisterial mechanism, the correct answer is A Magistrate only.