A cognizable offence is one in which a police officer may arrest without a warrant and investigate without the court's prior permission. Defined in Section 2(d) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS, 2023) — substantially carrying forward the Section 2(c) definition from the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — cognizable offences are the typically more serious category of criminal wrongs.
The First Schedule to the BNSS classifies each offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and other statutes as cognizable or non-cognizable. Generally, offences carrying punishments of more than 3 years' imprisonment are cognizable; those below 3 years are often non-cognizable (though there are many exceptions — the Schedule is authoritative).
Practical consequences of cognizable classification: — Police can register FIR upon information of the offence (and must, under the Supreme Court's Lalita Kumari judgment, where the information discloses a cognizable offence) — Investigation can proceed without prior magisterial sanction — Arrest without warrant is permissible (subject to the Arnesh Kumar safeguards for offences below 7 years' punishment) — Search warrants may be issued more readily
For non-cognizable offences: police cannot investigate without magistrate's permission, cannot arrest without a warrant, and an FIR-style complaint has to be routed differently (typically via a private complaint to the magistrate under Section 175 BNSS / Section 156(3) CrPC).
Misclassification — treating a non-cognizable matter as cognizable — is a common defence ground in FIR-quashing petitions.