Who is the head of criminal administration of the district in India ?

District administration in India runs on two separate tracks: a judicial track (courts and magistrates who try cases under High Court supervision) and an executive track (revenue and law-and-order officers). Under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) — since 1 July 2024 replaced by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, which carries the same structure — the executive track also carries a distinct "criminal administration" role — maintaining public order, supervising Executive Magistrates, and issuing preventive orders — and this role is headed by one designated officer for the whole district.

1. Section 14 of the BNSS, 2023 (the former Section 20 of the CrPC) empowers the State Government to appoint a District Magistrate for every district; this officer heads the executive magistracy and is responsible for maintaining law and order across the entire district.

2. The District Magistrate supervises every Executive Magistrate posted within the district — including officers who administer only a part of it — and coordinates with the district police on public-order and preventive action.

3. Cross-checking against the offered options: only one of them is an executive-administration office covering the whole district rather than a sub-division, and only executive (not judicial) officers carry this criminal-administration charge under the CrPC.

Comparing each offered option by its actual role:

• Special Munsif Magistrate — a judicial officer of the civil courts who adjudicates civil suits within a prescribed pecuniary limit, functioning under High Court oversight rather than in the district's executive administration.

• Special Judicial Magistrate — appointed under Section 11 of the BNSS, 2023 (the former Section 13 of the CrPC) to try specified categories of criminal cases as part of the judicial system, working under High Court control rather than the district's executive hierarchy.

• District Magistrate — the senior-most executive officer of a district, appointed under Section 14 of the BNSS, 2023 (the former Section 20 of the CrPC), holding charge of the district's overall executive and law-and-order administration.

• Sub Divisional Magistrate — an executive magistrate who administers one sub-division, a part of a district, under the District Magistrate's overall supervision, rather than the district as a whole.

Only the District Magistrate's charge spans the whole district's executive and criminal administration, matching the question.