CrPC § 174 — Police to inquire and report on suicide, etc

Statutory text (English)

(1) The officer in charge of a police-station or
some other police-officer specially empowered by the 1[Provincial Government] in that behalf, on receiving
information that a person—
(a) has committed suicide, or
(b) has been killed by another, or by an animal, or by machinery, or by an accident, or
(c) has died under circumstances raising a reasonable suspicion that some other person has
committed an offence,
shall immediately give intimation thereof to the nearest Magistrate empowered to hold inquests, and,
unless otherwise directed by any rule prescribed by the 1[Provincial Government],4[***] shall proceed to
the place where the body of such deceased person is, and there, in the presence of two or more respectable
inhabitants of the neighbourhood, shall make an investigation, and draw up a report of the apparent cause of
death, describing such wounds, fractures, bruises and other marks of injury as may be found on the body
and stating in what manner, or by what weapon or instrument (if any), such marks appear to have been
inflicted.

(2) The report shall be signed by such police-officer and other persons, or by so many of them as concur
therein, and shall be forthwith forwarded to the 4[concerned] Magistrate.

(3) When there is any doubt regarding the cause of death, or when for any other reason the police-
officer considers it expedient so to do, he shall, subject to such rules as the
[Provincial Government] may
prescribe in this behalf, forward the body, with a view to its being examined, to the nearest Civil Surgeon, or
other qualified medical man appointed in this behalf by the 1[Provincial Government], if the state of the
weather and the distance admit of its being so forwarded without risk of such putrefaction on the road as
would render such examination useless.
* * * * *
3["
(5) [The Magistrates of the first class are empowered to hold inquests."]

Source and verification

Source citation: CrPC (Act V of 1898) s.174: Pakistan Code portal consolidated official PDF 'THE CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE' (Act No. V of 1898, last amended 2017-02-16), p. 88, 89, ingested 2026-09-15. Automated transcription from official source (pypdf extraction, audited artifact repair); human admin re-check required before production.

Verification status: verified · Text status: auto_transcribed_verified_source

The record cites an official source, but its transcription is automated or only partly checked; a human re-check is pending.

Official Urdu text status: pending_official_urdu_text. Where official Urdu wording has not been sourced, Qanoon does not substitute an unverified translation for the statutory text.

Historical text notes

1 historical record is linked to this section. Historical wording may be incomplete or pending verification; it is not presented as current law.

• Date not confirmed: Consolidated current text as published in the official Pakistan Code PDF (p. 88, 89) — reflects all amendments recorded in the official footnotes up to ingest date 2026-09-15. Automated transcription; per-amendment…

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