Charge sheet

Charge sheet refers to a formal police record showing the names of each person brought into custody, the nature of the accusations, and the identity of the accusers. It is also known as four-part charging instrument containing:

Information about the accused and the witnesses;

The charges and specifications;

The preferring of charges and their referral to a summary;

For the trial record.

A charge sheet is distinct from the First Information Report (FIR), which is the core document that describes a crime that has been committed. It usually refers to one or more FIRs and charges an individual or organization for (some or all of) the crimes specified in those FIR(s). Once the charge sheet has been submitted to a court of law, prosecution proceedings against the accused begin in the judicial system.

Under Section 173 of CrPC, the police officer is obligated to file a report after the completion of the necessary investigation of an offence. The report is to consist of the materials regarding the investigation which are collected under Chapter XII of CrPC along with an assemblage of evidence and submission as envisaged under Section 173 of CrPC. This report is called the Charge Sheet in common parlance. In simpler words, a charge sheet is the final investigation report submitted by the investigating agencies to the magistrate for proving an offence in the criminal court of law. The charge sheet also acts as a report that informs the magistrate that on investigating the offence, sufficient evidence was found for the court to go further in the case and inquire into the offence.