Vidhi Codex

section 9

Inquest by jury

The Coroners Act, 1871
General187148 sections
Read full ActSections
Statutory text
  1. (1) If it appears to the Coroner either before or in the course of an inquiry under section 8 that there is reason to suspect—
    • (a) that the deceased came by his death by homicide, suicide or infanticide ;
    • (b) that the death was caused by an accident, or poison or machinery ;
    • (c) that the death was caused by an occurrence arising out of the use of a vehicle in a street, public road or in a private place ;
    • (d) that the death occurred in a prison in which the deceased was a prisoner or that it occurred whilst the deceased was in the custody of the police ;
    • (dd) that the death occurred—
      • (i) in a leper asylum appointed under the Lepers Act, 1898 ;
      • (ii) in an asylum or mental hospital established or licensed under the Indian Lunacy Act, 1912 ;
      • (iii) in a Borstal school established under the Bombay Borstal Schools Act, 1929 ;
      • (iv) in a Receiving Centre or Certified Institution provided and maintained under the Bombay Beggars Act, 1945 ;
      • (v) in any certified school, Remand Home or fit person institution or approved place, established, maintained, declared or recognised, as the case may be, under the Bombay Children Act, 1948 ; in which the deceased was received, detained, committed to, confined or kept, as the case may be, under the orders of any authority competent to pass such orders under the said Acts ; or
    • (e) that the death occurred in circumstances the continuance or possible recurrence of which is prejudicial to the health or safety of the public or any section of the public ; and in any other case, if it appears to the Coroner either before or in the course of the preliminary inquiry that there is reason for holding an inquest by jury, he shall proceed to hold such inquest, whether or not the cause of death arose within his jurisdiction : Provided that such inquest shall not be held in the case of death arising out of an offence triable under the Bombay Public Security Measures Act, 1947.
  2. (2) Such inquest shall ordinarily be held in the Coroner's Court-house.
  3. (3) The Coroner may hold one inquest on the bodies of several persons provided that they all are believed to have come by their deaths, in or in consequence of one and the same incident.
  4. (4) Every such inquest shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning of section 193 of the Indian Penal Code and for the purpose of any such inquest the Coroner shall have and may exercise all the powers of a criminal court under section 476 and section 480 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.
  5. (5) The Coroner may hold an inquest by jury simultaneously with the preliminary inquiry.

Study data processing for this section.

PDF: pending for this language.