The Criminal Procedure Act

A person charged with burglary or a similar offence may be convicted of a kindred offence.

This section is titled “Alternative verdicts in charges of stealing and kindred offences.”

This section concerns alternative verdicts for charges about possessing property suspected of being corruptly acquired.

A person charged with a warrant offence is not to be acquitted if a non-warrant offence is proved.

An accused person has a right to be defended.

This section concerns giving a copy of the judgment, etc. to an accused person or interested party on application.

This section gives power to reserve decisions on questions raised at trial.

Section title: Power to reserve questions arising in course of trial.

This section concerns evidence used to arrive at a proper sentence.

Section 340 is titled “Taking other offences into consideration” and refers to “Sentence of Death.”

The accused must be informed of the right of appeal.

A report and record must be sent to the President.

Section 345 is titled “Conditional discharge” and includes references to “Other Sentences” and “Execution of Sentences.”

Section heading: warrant in case of sentence of imprisonment.

This section concerns suspension of execution of a sentence of imprisonment in default of a fine.

This section is titled “Commitment for warrant of distress.”

This section concerns limiting imprisonment after commitment.

This provision gives a power to release a person on probation instead of sentencing them to punishment.

This section is about what happens if an offender fails to observe the conditions of their recognisance.

This section is titled “Conditions as to abode of offender.”

This section concerns the release of an offender on community service.

This section is headed as making sections 356, 357 and 358 not apply in certain circumstances.

This provision gives a power to subject something to police supervision.

Section 362 is titled “Requirements from person subject to police supervision.”

This provision is titled “Failure to comply with requirements under section 362.”

Section heading on errors and omissions in orders and warrants.

This section is about compensation in cases of frivolous or vexatious charge.

This provision gives a power to order an accused person to pay compensation.

This section is titled “Compensation in case of sexual offences.”

This section says costs and compensation must be specified in the order, including how they can be recovered.

This provision concerns courts' power to award expenses or compensation out of a fine.

This section gives power to order forfeiture of property.

Section heading on warrants of search for forfeited or confiscated articles.

This section concerns the disposal of obscene or defamatory publications and noxious or adulterated food, etc.

A person who has been dispossessed of property may have the property restored.

A public officer connected with the sale of property must not buy or bid for that property.

Section title only: Property stolen, under Part X Appeals, Appeals Generally.

This section is titled “Appeal to High Court” and states that there is no appeal on a plea of guilty.

This section concerns notice of the time and place of a hearing.

This section concerns the High Court’s powers on appeal and the appellant’s right to appear.

This provision is titled “Order of High Court to be certified to lower court.”

Section 389 concerns suspension of sentences and admission to bail while an appeal is pending.

This section concerns the number of judges on appeal by an appellant.

This section is titled “Abatement of appeal on death of appellant” and mentions revision.

The High Court has power to call for records.

This section concerns the High Court’s discretion about hearing parties.

This section is about a High Court order being certified to a lower court, with a note on appeals by the Director of Public Prosecutions and interpretation.

This section is titled “Appeals by Director of Public Prosecutions.”

Section 401 is titled “Limitation” in the Criminal Procedure Act.

This section concerns notice of the time and place of a hearing.

The Director of Public Prosecutions may address the court.

This section is about the number of judges that hear an appeal when the Director of Public Prosecutions is involved.

This section concerns withdrawal of an appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Section title: Abatement of appeal on death of respondent.

This provision concerns when a finding or sentence may be reversed because of an error or omission in the charge or other proceedings.

This provision is headed as stating that distress is not illegal, and a distrainer is not a trespasser, for a defect or want of form in proceedings; it also mentions directions in the nature of habeas corpus and writs.

This section is titled “Power to issue directions of nature of habeas corpus.”

Section 414 concerns the High Court’s power to issue writs.

This section concerns the persons before whom affidavits may be sworn.

The Minister has power to make regulations.

This section is titled “Repeal.”

This section says the Act may be cited as the Criminal Procedure Act.

This section defines key terms used in the Act, including who counts as an adult, child, police officer, court, prosecutor, and several criminal procedure terms.

This section says the Act generally does not apply to primary courts, primary court magistrates, the High Court, district courts, or resident magistrates in specified judicial functions, but it keeps certain listed provisions and powers applying.

Offences under the Penal Code and other laws are to be dealt with under this Act, and civil or administrative remedies must be exhausted before criminal process is used in relevant matters.

The Act’s objective is to support fair, prompt, proportionate, and affordable determination of matters under the Act, and the court must try to give effect to that objective when using its powers or interpreting the Act.

This section defines when a person is “under restraint” or “in lawful custody” for this Act, and excludes certain roadside motor-vehicle investigations from being treated as restraint.

A police officer must follow this Part when exercising police powers or performing police duties.

If you learn of certain offences or suspicious deaths, you must report the information to police or a local authority right away.

Inquiries into sudden deaths and other deaths reported under section 8 must be carried out by people authorised under the Inquests Act, and in the manner that Act provides.

People may give information about an offence orally or in writing to a police officer or other local authority, and that information must be recorded. If court proceedings start and the informant is a witness, the magistrate must promptly provide the accused with a copy. The information may also be used as evidence under the law on evidence procedure.

Police officers may investigate suspected offences or breaches of the peace and can require attendance, documents, and statements during an investigation.

An arresting officer or other person must physically touch or confine the arrested person’s body unless the person submits by word or action.

A person arrested must not be restrained more than is necessary to prevent escape.

A magistrate, Ward Secretary, or Village Council Secretary may issue a warrant or summons after sworn information alleges an offence, but a warrant needs the section’s extra grounds.

A police officer may arrest certain people without a warrant, including where specific suspicious or obstructive circumstances exist.

A police station officer who orders a subordinate to arrest someone without a warrant must give a written order naming the person and the reason for the arrest.

A private person may arrest someone committing certain offences in their presence, and an owner, the owner’s servants, or an authorised person may arrest without a warrant for an offence involving injury to property.

A magistrate may arrest someone or issue a warrant for arrest when he reasonably believes the person committed an offence within his local jurisdiction.

A magistrate who sees an offence committed in his presence may arrest the offender, order someone else to arrest the offender, and may commit the offender to custody, subject to bail rules in the Act.

A police officer or person acting under an arrest warrant must ask for entry before searching a house, and the occupant must allow entry and reasonable help with the search.

A police officer or authorised arresting person may break out of a place to free themself or another person detained inside after lawfully entering to make an arrest.

During an arrest, a police officer or other person must not use more force or cause greater indignity than is necessary; a police officer must also not do anything likely to cause death unless reasonably believed necessary to protect life or prevent serious injury.

An arrest made without a warrant, in the section 17 circumstances, is not unlawful just because the arrested person later turns out not to have committed the offence.

A person making an arrest must tell the arrested person the offence at the time of arrest, but may satisfy this by stating the substance of the offence in non-technical language.

Police officers may search an arrested person and take into safe custody any articles found on them, except necessary clothing, in specified bail-related situations.

Police officers may stop, search, and detain vessels, vehicles, aircraft, boats, or persons in specified suspicion-based circumstances; if interview-time extension is not sought or is refused, the person or thing must be released, and a magistrate may order continued detention when the interview time is extended and detention is necessary.

If a woman needs to be searched, another woman must do the search, and it must be done decently.

An arresting police officer or other arresting person may take any offensive weapons from the arrested person and must deliver the person and the weapons to the required court or officer.

A police station officer may arrest or have arrested certain people in the station area, including those hiding to avoid detection, those without an apparent means of subsistence or a satisfactory account, and those reputed to be habitual robbers, thieves, receivers of stolen property, or extortionists.

A police officer may arrest a person in these circumstances, and the person may have to give their name and residence, execute a bond, and, in some cases, be taken to court.

A police officer who arrests someone without a warrant must take or send that person to a court with jurisdiction in the area of the police station without unnecessary delay, subject to bail rules.

A private person who arrests someone without a warrant must hand the person over without unnecessary delay to a police officer, a police station, or, if neither is available, local village or ward officials.

Police officers must bring certain arrested or detained people before a court quickly, and may release some on bond or where evidence is insufficient.

The officer in charge of a police station must report certain warrantless arrests to the nearest magistrate within 24 hours or as soon as practicable.

If someone in lawful custody escapes or is rescued, the person who had custody may immediately pursue and arrest that person anywhere in the United Republic.

Sections 20 and 21 apply to arrests under section 35, even if the arresting person is not acting under a warrant and is not a police officer with authority to arrest.

Every person must reasonably assist a magistrate or police officer who asks for help.

People injured or killed while helping police, a magistrate, or another law officer stop an offence or arrest a suspect are entitled to compensation; if they die, their dependants or legal representative may receive it instead.

A police officer in charge of a station may search, or authorize a subordinate to search, certain places when there are reasonable grounds and delay would risk removal, destruction, or danger. If an authority is issued, the officer must report it to a magistrate, and if something is seized a receipt must be issued. Vexatious searches without reasonable grounds are an offence, with prosecution requiring written consent from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

For this Part, certain things are treated as connected with an offence if they relate to an offence, may provide evidence of an offence, or are intended for use in committing an offence.

A search warrant may be issued and executed on any day, including Sunday, but is normally executable only between sunrise and sunset unless the court allows execution at any hour.

A police officer may search a person or their immediate property and may seize things relating to an offence, but only in the stated circumstances.

A police officer may search a suspected person and, in urgent circumstances, enter land, premises, vessels, or vehicles and seize items connected with an offence.

People in charge of a closed place searched under warrant must let the officer in and out and help the search.

A court may keep a seized article, order it kept longer for an appeal or trial, or return it to the person it was taken from.

Search warrants issued under section 39 are subject to specified related provisions, and each warrant must be returned to court with details of when, how, and what was done under it.

A police officer may ask a person for their name and address in the specified circumstances, and the person must answer honestly and may ask for the officer’s name, rank, and duty address.

A police officer may intervene, and must use the best of his ability to prevent a breach of the peace or an arrestable offence.

A police officer may question or otherwise investigate a person under restraint only during a period available for interviewing them, and not outside that period.

A police officer must not take a person under restraint again for the same offence unless one of the stated exceptions applies.

A person under restraint may be interviewed for a basic period of four hours starting when restraint begins, with certain time excluded from that calculation.

Police officers may extend an interview for up to eight hours or ask a magistrate for more time, but they must not do so frivolously or vexatiously.

Police officers must warn a suspect that they may refuse to answer questions before questioning them, and must take an acknowledgement of that warning. If sufficient evidence later exists to charge the person, the officer must charge and caution them and warn about possible adverse inferences.

A police officer must not question or direct a person under restraint for an investigation unless the officer first identifies himself and gives the required warning.

A police officer must provide reasonable facilities for a person under restraint to communicate with a lawyer, relative, or friend on request, unless refusal is justified under the stated conditions.

People under restraint must be treated humanely and not subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment; police officers must promptly arrange needed medical help, advice, or assistance when requested or apparently needed.

A police officer investigating an offence involving a restrained child must promptly tell the child’s parent or guardian that the child is under restraint and what offence it concerns.

Police interviews about suspected offences must generally be recorded, and confessions require a written record with specific details. If audio or video recording is used, the person must be told and given a copy immediately after the interview.

Police officers must help a person under restraint write, review, correct, and certify a statement, and must handle the statement and certificate in the steps set out here.

Police officers may take identifying measurements, prints, recordings, photographs, and handwriting samples from charged or uncharged people in specified circumstances, and refusal can be an offence.

Police officers may hold or require identification parades, and a person required to attend must not refuse without just cause.

A person convicted on mistaken identification may be entitled to reasonable compensation, or their legal representative if the person has died.

The Minister must make regulations about identification parades and the taking of fingerprints and photographs of suspect or accused persons.

A magistrate can let a medical officer examine a person in lawful custody or take and analyse a specimen, and medical officers must report the results to court.

Police officers must tell arrested persons they can get bail, and must release them immediately in specified cases.

This section lists the matters a police officer should consider when deciding whether to grant bail to a person charged with an offence.

A person charged is entitled to police bail if one of several written undertakings, acknowledgments, agreements, or deposits is made.

A police officer who refuses bail must write down the reasons. A person in custody waiting to be taken before a magistrate may ask for help to apply for bail, and the police officer must bring that person before a magistrate within the stated time.

A police officer in charge of a police station may revoke bail if the released person is absconding or is failing, or likely to fail, to comply with a release undertaking; after revocation, a police officer may arrest the person.

A person released on bail by a police officer must comply with the undertaking given as a condition of release; wilful and unreasonable non-compliance is an offence.

A magistrate may require a person to show why they should not have to execute a bond to keep the peace, for up to one year.

A magistrate may require a person to show cause and can order a bond for good behaviour, for up to one year, if informed on oath that the person is disseminating certain seditious or libellous matter.

If a magistrate is sworn that someone is hiding to avoid being found and may be preparing to commit an offence, the magistrate may require that person to explain why they should not have to execute a bond with sureties for good behaviour.

A magistrate may require a person meeting certain habitual-offender or dangerousness criteria to show cause why a bond with sureties for good behaviour should not be ordered.

If a magistrate under sections 71 to 74 decides it is necessary to require a person to show cause, the magistrate must issue a written order stating the information received, the bond amount, the bond term, and any sureties required.

If the person affected by the order is in court, the order must be read to them, or explained if they want that.

A magistrate must issue a summons, or a warrant if the person is in custody, when the person is not in court; in certain urgent breach-of-peace cases, the magistrate may issue an arrest warrant.

A summons or warrant under section 77 must include a copy of the section 75 order, and the serving or executing officer must give that copy to the person served or arrested.

A non-primary-court magistrate may, if there is sufficient cause, excuse a person's personal attendance and allow appearance by an advocate.

A magistrate must inquire into the truth of the information and may take further evidence when certain section 75/76/77 conditions are met.

A magistrate must order a bond, with or without sureties, when an inquiry shows it is necessary to keep the peace or maintain good behavior. The person ordered may appeal to the High Court or District Court.

If an inquiry under section 80 does not prove a bond is necessary, the magistrate must record that and release or discharge the person depending on custody status.

This section says when the security period starts: if the person is already serving a prison sentence when the order is made, it starts when that sentence ends; otherwise it starts on the date of the order unless a magistrate sets a later date for sufficient reason.

A bond executed by a person requires keeping the peace or good behavior; for good behavior bonds, certain involvement in an imprisonable offence is a breach.

A magistrate may refuse to accept surety if the surety is considered unfit, and the magistrate must record the reasons.

If a person ordered to give security fails to do so on time, they may be committed to prison or kept in prison until the period ends or security is given, with a special procedure where the security period exceeds one year.

A district magistrate must immediately report to the High Court when he thinks a person jailed for failing to give security can be released safely; the High Court may then order the person discharged.

The High Court may cancel a bond for keeping the peace or good behavior if it records sufficient reasons in writing.

A surety may apply to a magistrate to cancel a bond, and the magistrate must summon or warrant the bound person, cancel the bond, and order fresh security.

This section is repealed.

This section was repealed.

The Director of Public Prosecutions may stop a criminal case by entering a nolle prosequi before verdict or judgment.

The Director of Public Prosecutions may delegate certain powers in writing to specified officers, and may also revoke such an order in writing.

The Director of Public Prosecutions may file information in the High Court only with the President’s prior sanction, and the High Court may make rules to give effect to this section.

A court may not start trial proceedings for a non-citizen’s offence on the open sea within 200 nautical miles of Tanzania’s coast unless the Director of Public Prosecutions gives leave and certifies it is expedient.

This section is repealed.

This section has been repealed.

A public prosecutor may appear and plead in court without written authority, and may take over a prosecution in certain cases.

A public prosecutor may withdraw a prosecution in a subordinate court case before judgment, if the court consents or the Director of Public Prosecutions निर्देशs it.

A magistrate may allow any person to conduct a prosecution, but others generally need that permission unless they are a public prosecutor or a President-authorised officer.

This provision says a summons issued by a court must be written, in duplicate, signed and sealed, and it must tell the person to appear at the stated time and place and briefly state the offence charged.

A summons must be served by specified officers or someone the court directs, and if practicable it must be served personally by delivering or tendering a duplicate. The person served may have to sign a receipt if the serving officer requires it.

If the person summoned cannot be found despite due diligence, the summons may be left with an adult family member, adult servant, or the person’s employer. If the serving officer asks, the recipient must sign a receipt.

If service under sections 102 or 103 cannot be done with due diligence, the serving officer must affix a duplicate of the summons at the person’s usual house or homestead, and the summons is then treated as duly served.

If a summoned person is serving in a government department or public corporation, the court usually sends the summons to the department head, who must serve it and return it signed to the court.

A summons for an incorporated company may be served on certain company officers at the registered office, or by registered letter to the chief executive officer.

If a corporation’s representative does not appear or does not enter a plea, the court must enter a plea of not guilty and continue the trial as if that plea had been entered.

If a court wants a summons to be served outside its local area, it must send the summons in duplicate to the appropriate magistrate.

If the serving officer is absent, or a summons was served outside the court’s local limits, certain proof documents may be used in evidence and their statements are treated as correct unless disproved.

A corporation must appear in court through an advocate or one of its officers.

A warrant may be issued before or after the summons time for the accused’s appearance, but only if a complaint has been made on oath, by a police officer, or by an authorised local government officer.

The court may issue a warrant if an accused person does not appear as summoned, but only if the complaint was made on oath or by a police officer or authorised local government officer.

A warrant of arrest must be signed by the issuing judge or magistrate, bear the court seal, name or describe the accused, and direct the recipient to arrest and bring the person before the proper court.

A court may endorse an arrest warrant so the person can be released on bond with sufficient sureties, except in murder or treason cases.

A court may direct a warrant of arrest to police officers, an authorised local government officer, or other persons, and those directed must execute it forthwith.

A district or resident magistrate may direct a warrant to certain landholders, managers, or farmers, and those recipients must acknowledge it in writing and execute it if the person is on their land. After arrest, the person must be handed to the nearest police officer, who must take them before a magistrate unless security is taken under section 114.

A warrant directed to a police officer may also be executed by another police officer if that officer’s name is endorsed on the warrant.

The person executing a warrant of arrest must tell the arrested person what the warrant says, and must show the warrant if asked.

A police officer or other person executing an arrest warrant must promptly bring the arrested person before the required court and return the warrant with details of when and how it was executed.

A warrant of arrest may be executed anywhere within the United Republic.

If a warrant of arrest must be executed outside the court’s local jurisdiction, the court may send it by post or otherwise to a magistrate, who must endorse it and, if practicable, arrange for execution within the magistrate’s jurisdiction.

A police officer executing a warrant outside the issuing court’s local area must take it to a magistrate for endorsement, unless delay would stop execution.

If a warrant is executed outside the court’s local limits, the arrested person must generally be brought before the local magistrate, unless one of the stated exceptions applies.

Errors in a warrant of arrest or inconsistencies with the complaint or prosecution evidence do not invalidate the proceedings, unless the court thinks the accused was deceived or misled.

If a person whose appearance or arrest is covered by the officer is present in court, the officer may require that person to give a bond, with or without sureties, for appearance in court.

If a person bound by a bond to appear in court fails to appear, the presiding officer may issue a warrant for arrest and production before the court.

A court may order the prison officer to bring a prisoner before the court, and the officer must comply and keep the prisoner safely in custody during the absence from prison.

Rules for summons and warrants in this Part also apply, as far as practicable, to summons and warrants of arrest under this Act or issued by a justice of the peace.

This section says complaints can be made to a magistrate, and sets out what the magistrate, complainant, and public prosecutor must do when a complaint or arrested person is brought forward.

If the magistrate thinks a complaint or formal charge under section 129 does not disclose an offence, the magistrate must refuse to admit it and record reasons.

This text says Section 131 was repealed.

A magistrate may, after receiving a complaint and signing the charge under section 129, issue a summons or warrant to bring the accused before the appropriate subordinate court.

After charging a suspect with an offence, a police officer must caution the person in writing and, if practicable, orally, in the prescribed manner.

A charge must not be filed in court before investigation is complete, except for serious offences and offences triable by the High Court.

A charge or information must state the specific offence or offences and include enough particulars to give reasonable notice of the nature of the offence.

The court may order separate trials for counts in a charge or information if joining offences would prejudice the accused or for other good reasons.

Certain accused persons may be joined in one charge or information and tried together.

This section says how charges and informations must be drafted, including the statement of offence, particulars, numbering counts, and how to describe property, persons, documents, places, and prior convictions.

When two or more people are charged together with a crime, the charge does not need to state each alternative way they may have committed it.