On 1 July 2024 three new criminal laws came into force. The Indian Penal Code, 1860 was replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023; the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023; and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 by the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.
For most people the substance of what is an offence has not changed dramatically. What has changed is every section number they might have looked up — and a great deal of the advice circulating online, including complaint templates and explanatory posts, still uses the old ones.
Both sets of laws are still in use
This is the point that causes the most confusion. The new codes apply to matters arising on or after 1 July 2024. Matters already pending when they commenced continue under the old Code. So a case registered in 2023 is still a CrPC case, and one registered last month is a BNSS case, and both are running in the same courts at the same time.
If you are reading a document about your own matter, the section numbers in it tell you which regime it belongs to.
The provisions ordinary people actually encounter
| What it is | Old | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Registration of an FIR | Section 154 CrPC | Section 173 BNSS |
| Arrest, and when it should not be made | Section 41 CrPC | Section 35 BNSS |
| Notice requiring attendance at a police station | Section 41A CrPC | Section 35(3) BNSS |
| Anticipatory bail | Section 438 CrPC | Section 482 BNSS |
| Bail by a Magistrate | Section 437 CrPC | Section 480 BNSS |
| Bail by Sessions or High Court | Section 439 CrPC | Section 483 BNSS |
| Maintenance of wife, children and parents | Section 125 CrPC | Section 144 BNSS |
| Inherent powers of the High Court (quashing) | Section 482 CrPC | Section 528 BNSS |
| Cruelty by husband or his relatives | Section 498A IPC | Section 85 BNS (cruelty defined in Section 86) |
Two of those are worth pausing on, because they trip people up. Section 482 used to mean the High Court’s inherent powers and now means anticipatory bail — the same number, an entirely different provision. And Section 144, which most people associate with prohibitory orders on assembly, is now the maintenance provision.
What this means in practice
- Check which code your matter is under before relying on anything you read. The date the matter arose decides it.
- A notice under Section 35(3) is not an arrest. Where the offence alleged carries less than seven years, the police are ordinarily expected to issue a notice rather than arrest, and a person who attends and cooperates should not be arrested unless reasons are recorded. See anticipatory bail.
- Maintenance claims continue as before in substance, under the new numbering. See matters concerning women.
- Old orders and old judgments remain good law where the provision has been carried forward. The renumbering does not erase what courts have decided about the substance.
Why the numbering matters beyond pedantry
An application citing the wrong provision is not automatically fatal — courts look at substance — but it wastes time, invites objection, and in a matter where timing decides the outcome, time is the thing you have least of. It also tells you something about whoever drafted it.
If you are looking at material online about a criminal matter of your own, check its date. A great deal of otherwise sound explanation written before mid-2024 is now describing a code that does not apply to your case.
This note sets out general information about procedure. It is not legal advice, and the position in any particular matter depends on its own facts and on the law as it stands at the time. Statutory references should be checked against the current text.
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