Criminal Law and Police Procedure Basics
BNS: structure and the offences you must place
The BNS has 20 chapters and 358 sections; Chapter XX is 'Repeal and Savings' and section 358 repeals the IPC. Do not memorise all sections. Learn the chapter headings and a few anchor sections that the Gazette text confirms.
| Chapter | Heading | Anchor sections |
|---|---|---|
| II | Of Punishments | 4: list of punishments |
| V | Offences against Woman and Child | 63 rape defined; 75 sexual harassment; 77 voyeurism; 80 dowry death; 85 cruelty by husband or his relatives |
| VI | Offences affecting the Human Body | 100 culpable homicide; 101 murder; 103 punishment for murder; 111 organised crime; 113 terrorist act |
| VII | Offences against the State | 152 acts endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India (life imprisonment or up to seven years, and fine) |
| XVII | Offences against Property | 303 theft; 304 snatching; 309 robbery; 310 dacoity |
| XIX | Criminal intimidation, insult, annoyance, defamation | 351 criminal intimidation; 356 defamation |
- Punishments (section 4): death; imprisonment for life; imprisonment (rigorous or simple); forfeiture of property; fine; and community service. Community service is the item to remember as new on this list. Example: for theft, a first-time convict where the stolen property is worth less than five thousand rupees and is returned or its value restored is to be punished with community service.
- Murder (101, 103): culpable homicide is murder in the cases the section lists; punishment is death or imprisonment for life, and fine. When a group of five or more persons acting in concert commits murder on grounds such as race, caste or community, sex, place of birth, language or personal belief, each member is punishable with death or life imprisonment (section 103(2)).
- Organised crime (111) and terrorist act (113): the BNS defines both inside the main code. Organised crime is continuing unlawful activity (such as kidnapping, robbery, extortion, cyber-crime) by a member of an organised crime syndicate, a group of two or more persons. A terrorist act is an act done with intent to threaten the unity, integrity, sovereignty or security of India, or to strike terror, by bombs, firearms or other listed means.
- Property offences: dacoity is robbery attempted or committed conjointly by five or more persons; below five it is robbery. Snatching (304) is theft done by suddenly or quickly seizing property from a person.
BNSS: structure, FIR and zero FIR
The BNSS has 39 chapters and 531 sections; section 531 repeals the CrPC. Chapters worth knowing by name: V 'Arrest of Persons'; XIII 'Information to the Police and their Powers to Investigate'; XXIII 'Plea Bargaining'; XXXV 'Provisions as to Bail and Bonds'. Two vocabulary items drive everything. A cognizable offence is one for which police may arrest without a warrant; a non-cognizable offence is one for which they cannot.
Section 173 deals with information in cognizable cases, the FIR (First Information Report). The steps in the Gazette text are:
- Information about a cognizable offence, irrespective of the area where it was committed, may be given orally or by electronic communication to the officer in charge of a police station. This is what is popularly called a zero FIR.
- Oral information is written down, read over to the informant and signed. Electronic information is taken on record once the informant signs it within three days. The substance is entered in the station book.
- A copy goes free of cost to the informant or victim. If a woman reports certain offences against her listed in the section (such as rape and sexual harassment), the information is recorded by a woman police officer.
- If the station refuses to record the information, the aggrieved person may send its substance in writing and by post to the Superintendent of Police, failing which an application can go to the Magistrate.
For a non-cognizable offence (section 174) the officer enters the substance in a book, refers the informant to the Magistrate, and may not investigate without the Magistrate's order.
Arrest and custody under the BNSS
Chapter V (section 35 onwards) lays down the powers and the safeguards. Police may arrest without a Magistrate's order or a warrant a person who commits a cognizable offence in their presence, and, subject to stated conditions, a person reasonably suspected of a cognizable offence punishable with up to seven years. A private person may arrest someone who commits a non-bailable and cognizable offence in their presence, or a proclaimed offender, and must hand the person over within six hours.
| Safeguard | Rule (BNSS section) |
|---|---|
| Restraint | No more restraint than necessary (46) |
| Grounds | Arresting officer must tell full particulars of the offence or grounds; for a bailable offence, also the right to bail (47) |
| Informing others | Arrest and place of holding to be told to a relative, friend or nominated person and the designated police officer; entry in station book (48) |
| Lawyer | Right to meet an advocate of choice during interrogation, though not throughout (38) |
| Magistrate | Not to be detained more than 24 hours, excluding journey time, without a Magistrate's order (58) |
If investigation cannot finish in 24 hours, section 187 lets the police forward the accused with the case-diary entries to the nearest Magistrate, who may authorise detention. Police custody can be authorised for not more than fifteen days in all, in whole or in parts, within the first forty days (where the overall limit is sixty days) or sixty days (where it is ninety days). The Magistrate may not authorise police custody unless the accused is produced in person.
Bail: the structure
Section 2 of the BNSS defines bail as release of a person accused or suspected of an offence from the custody of law on conditions, on execution of a bond or bail bond. A bond is a personal undertaking without surety; a bail bond is an undertaking with surety. A bailable offence is one shown as bailable in the First Schedule or made bailable by another law; every other offence is non-bailable.
| Situation | Rule | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Arrested for a bailable offence | Released on bail when prepared to give it; if indigent, a bond instead; inability to give bail within a week lets the court presume indigence | 478 |
| Fear of arrest for a non-bailable offence | Apply to High Court or Court of Session for a direction to release on bail if arrested (anticipatory bail) | 482 |
| Investigation not finished in time | Release on bail after 90 days (death, life or 10 years or more) or 60 days (other offences), if the accused furnishes bail (default bail) | 187(3) |
| Long undertrial detention | Release on bail after half of the maximum term; a first-time offender on bond after one-third; not for death or life offences | 479 |
Worked example. An accused is charged with an offence carrying a maximum of six years and is not a first-time offender. Half of six is three years; after three years of detention (delay caused by the accused excluded) the section requires release on bail. For a first-time offender the one-third mark is two years, and release is on bond. The Court may still order longer detention, for reasons recorded in writing after hearing the Public Prosecutor, but never beyond the six-year maximum.
BSA and the technology thread
The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam is Act 47 of 2023, with the long title 'to consolidate and to provide for general rules and principles of evidence for fair trial'. It replaces the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and came into force on 1 July 2024. Its subject is not what crime is, but what a court will accept as proof.
Government material (Press Information Bureau releases of 2024) describes the main modernisation: electronic and digital records, including messages and server logs, are brought within the meaning of document, with a certificate procedure to show that an electronic record is authentic.
The same thread runs through the BNSS: it defines audio-video electronic means to include video conferencing and recording of identification, search and seizure; it permits FIRs by electronic communication; and for a disabled complainant in certain offences it requires the FIR recording to be videographed.
Protective laws: POCSO and the Dowry Prohibition Act
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 protects every person below eighteen years. It sets graded punishments by the gravity of the offence and provides for Special Courts. Its section 19 makes it a duty of any person, including a child, who apprehends or knows of an offence to inform the Special Juvenile Police Unit or the local police; the report gets an entry number, is recorded in writing, read over, and for a child recorded in simple language. A person who gives information in good faith incurs no civil or criminal liability.
The 2019 amendment to section 6 of the Act (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) raised the minimum punishment from ten to twenty years, extendable to imprisonment for the remainder of natural life, and added the option of the death penalty. Date this fact: as amended in 2019.
The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 (Act 28 of 1961) is the special law that deals with dowry: it makes giving, taking and demanding dowry offences, and the State Government may appoint Dowry Prohibition Officers. The new criminal code works with it. BNS section 80 on dowry death applies where a woman dies by burns or bodily injury, or otherwise than under normal circumstances, within seven years of marriage, and soon before death she was subjected to cruelty or harassment for dowry. The husband or relative is deemed to have caused the death, and the punishment is not less than seven years, extendable to life. The BNS takes the meaning of dowry from section 2 of the 1961 Act. Section 85 separately punishes cruelty by a husband or his relatives.
The Bihar Police Act, 2007: structure
The Bihar Police Act, 2007 was published in the Gazette on 30 March 2007 and, by the Bihar Police (Amendment) Act, 2014, is deemed in force from that date. Its introduction speaks of respect for human rights, protecting weaker sections, and a police service that is professionally organised, service-oriented, free from outside influence and accountable to the law. It has ten chapters: preliminary; constitution and organisation of the police service; superintendence and administration; role and duties of police; effective investigation using science and technology; training, research and development; regulation, control and discipline; responsibility of police; common offences and punishments; and miscellaneous.
- One police service: the whole police organisation is treated as one Police Service under the Government; superintendence of the force is vested in the State Government.
- State Police Board: in the Act's text as published, chaired by the Chief Secretary, with the Director General of Police as member and the Home Department's in-charge secretary as member-secretary; it frames policy guidelines and performance indicators.
- District Accountability Authority: headed by the District Magistrate, with the Superintendent of Police as member; it monitors departmental action on complaints of misbehaviour against officers below the rank of Assistant or Deputy Superintendent of Police.
Key takeaways
- BNS (Act 45), BNSS (Act 46) and BSA (Act 47) of 2023 replaced the IPC, CrPC 1973 and Evidence Act 1872; assent 25 December 2023, in force 1 July 2024.
- BNS has 20 chapters and 358 sections and adds community service to the list of punishments; dacoity needs five or more persons; organised crime (111) and terrorist act (113) sit inside the code.
- FIR under BNSS 173: cognizable offence, any station irrespective of area (zero FIR), oral or electronic with signature within three days, free copy, woman officer for listed offences against women.
- Arrest clocks: Magistrate within 24 hours (58); police custody at most 15 days within a 60 or 90 day limit (187), after which default bail arises.
- Bail routes: bailable offence (478), anticipatory bail from High Court or Court of Session (482), default bail (187), undertrial release at half or, for first-timers, one-third of the maximum term (479).
- POCSO 2012 protects persons below 18 (death penalty option added in 2019); Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 prohibits giving, taking, demanding; BNS 80 punishes dowry death; Bihar Police Act 2007 makes one police service with a State Police Board and District Accountability Authority.
Practice questions (18)
Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.
Which new code replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, from 1 July 2024?
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Answer: B — Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
The BNSS, Act 46 of 2023, repeals the CrPC and governs procedure. The BNS is the tempting wrong answer because it is the best-known name, but it replaces the Indian Penal Code, the list of offences. The BSA replaces the Evidence Act. The last name is invented.The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam began to operate on which date?
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Answer: D — 1 July 2024
They came into force on 1 July 2024. 25 December 2023 was the date of the President's assent, which is the most tempting wrong option, and 23 February 2024 is the date of the notification that fixed 1 July 2024 for the BSA, not the date of commencement.Match the old law with its replacement: P Indian Penal Code, Q Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, R Indian Evidence Act 1872. Replacements: 1 Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2 Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 3 Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Which pairing is correct?
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Answer: D — P-3, Q-2, R-1
Offences and punishments (IPC) went to the BNS, procedure (CrPC) to the BNSS, and evidence to the BSA, so P-3, Q-2, R-1. Pairing the CrPC with the BSA is the common slip because both names start with Bharatiya and end in different words; remember Nyaya is crime, Nagarik Suraksha is procedure, Sakshya is evidence.As enacted and published in the Gazette on 25 December 2023, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has how many sections?
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Answer: B — 358
The BNS has 358 sections in 20 chapters; section 358 repeals the IPC. The figure 531 is the number of sections in the BNSS, the likeliest wrong choice, and 20 is the number of chapters of the BNS, not of sections.Statements about an FIR for a cognizable offence under the BNSS. P: it may be given orally or by electronic communication. Q: electronic information is taken on record when the informant signs it within three days. R: a copy is given free of cost to the informant or victim. S: it can be registered only at the police station in whose area the offence occurred. Which are correct?
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Answer: C — P, Q and R only
P, Q and R are as in section 173. S is wrong because information may be given irrespective of the area where the offence was committed, the idea behind zero FIR. The all-four option is tempting because three statements are exact and S sounds like the old territorial habit.Under the BNSS, a person arrested without warrant must not be detained in custody for more than how long, excluding journey time to the Magistrate, in the absence of a special order of a Magistrate?
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Answer: B — 24 hours
Section 58 sets the limit at twenty-four hours exclusive of journey time. Fifteen days is the ceiling on police custody that a Magistrate may authorise under section 187, a different clock; 48 hours has no basis in the section.An accused is held in custody and the investigation is into an offence punishable with imprisonment for life. After how many days of detention, at the latest, must the accused be released on bail if prepared to furnish it and the investigation is still pending (BNSS, default bail provision)?
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Answer: B — 90 days
Where the offence is punishable with death, life imprisonment or ten years or more, the limit is ninety days; for other offences it is sixty. Sixty is the tempting wrong answer because it applies to lesser offences, which this stem excludes.A first-time offender is an undertrial accused of an offence with a maximum punishment of 6 years' imprisonment, which is not punishable with death or life imprisonment. Ignoring delay caused by the accused, at what length of detention does the main undertrial-release rule of BNSS section 479 first require release on bond?
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Answer: A — 2 years
A first-time offender is released on bond after one-third of the maximum, and one-third of six years is two years. Three years is half of six, which applies to an offender who is not a first-timer and is released on bail. Six years is the maximum itself.A person who fears arrest on an accusation of a non-bailable offence wants a direction that he be released on bail if arrested. Under BNSS section 482 to which courts may he apply?
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Answer: A — The High Court or the Court of Session
Section 482 lets a person apprehending arrest apply to the High Court or the Court of Session, the anticipatory bail route. A police station officer grants bail only after arrest in a bailable case under section 478, and the Supreme Court is not the sole forum.The Act of 2012 that protects every person below eighteen years from sexual offences and provides for Special Courts is the
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Answer: C — Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act
The POCSO Act, 2012 is the child-protection law. The Dowry Prohibition Act dates from 1961 and the BNS from 2023; the domestic violence Act protects women, not children as a class, and was not an Act of 2012.As amended in 2019, which punishment option was added for aggravated penetrative sexual assault under section 6 of the POCSO Act?
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Answer: B — The death penalty
The 2019 amendment added the death penalty option and raised the minimum punishment to twenty years. Community service is a BNS punishment for particular minor offences, not for this one, and whipping is not a recognised punishment in these codes.Statements on dowry death under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. P: the woman's death occurs within seven years of marriage. Q: soon before death she was subjected to cruelty or harassment for dowry. R: the husband or relative is deemed to have caused her death. S: the minimum punishment is ten years. Which are correct?
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Answer: A — P, Q and R only
Section 80 has all three elements P, Q and R. The minimum punishment is seven years, extendable to life imprisonment, so S is wrong. The all-four option is tempting for those who confuse seven years with ten.For the meaning of 'dowry' in the dowry death provision, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita refers to the Dowry Prohibition Act of which year?
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Answer: C — 1961
The Explanation to section 80 says dowry has the meaning given in section 2 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 (Act 28 of 1961). 1986 is the year of an amendment, so it is the tempting wrong choice; 1973 is the CrPC and 2005 the domestic violence Act.Which of the following is NOT a punishment listed in section 4 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita?
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Answer: D — Whipping
Section 4 lists death, imprisonment for life, imprisonment, forfeiture of property, fine and community service. Whipping is not in the list. Community service is the usual distractor, since it looks unfamiliar, but it is in the list.A group of five persons acting in concert commits murder on the ground of the victim's caste. Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, what is each member of the group liable to?
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Answer: C — Death or imprisonment for life, and fine
Section 103(2) makes each member of a group of five or more acting in concert liable to death or imprisonment for life, and fine, where the murder is on a ground such as race, caste or community. The five-to-ten-year range belongs to a different offence, culpable homicide not amounting to murder.Arrange in order of time: P the Ministry of Home Affairs notification fixing 1 July 2024 for the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, Q the President's assent to the three Acts, R the codes beginning to operate.
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Answer: D — Q, P, R
Assent came on 25 December 2023, the notification followed on 23 February 2024 and the commencement was on 1 July 2024, so Q, P, R. Placing the notification first is the slip of those who think the notification created the Act.Statements on the Bihar Police Act, 2007 and its amendment of 2014. P: the Act was published in the Gazette on 30 March 2007. Q: the Bihar Police (Amendment) Act, 2014 provides that the Act is deemed in force from 30 March 2007. R: the whole police organisation is treated as one Police Service. S: superintendence of the state police force is vested in the Director General of Police. Which are correct?
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Answer: D — P, Q and R only
P, Q and R match the Act and the 2014 amending Act, which recites publication on 30 March 2007 and deems the Act in force from that date. S is wrong: section 22 vests superintendence of the state police force in the State Government, not in the Director General. The all-four option is tempting because the Director General heads the force and seems the natural superior.A first-time convict of theft is found to have stolen property worth Rs 4,800, and the property is returned. Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, what is the prescribed punishment in this situation?
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Answer: A — Community service
The proviso in the theft section prescribes community service where the value is less than five thousand rupees, the conviction is the first, and the property or its value is returned. The one-to-five-year term is the punishment for second or subsequent convictions, which is the closest trap.