How India's New Criminal Laws Work
India's three new criminal codes — the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS, replacing the Indian Penal Code), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS, replacing the Code of Criminal Procedure), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA, replacing the Indian Evidence Act) — came into force on July 1, 2024, representing the most comprehensive reform of India's criminal law architecture since the IPC was enacted in 1860.
All three were passed by Parliament in December 2023; the transition from 160-year-old colonial statutes to the new framework was significant both substantively (adding new offences, modifying procedures, incorporating digital evidence standards) and symbolically (removing colonial terminology and framing the laws in an Indian constitutional context).
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| Representational Visualization: How India's New Criminal Laws Work |
The BNS's most significant changes include: a new organised crime offence (Section 111) covering crime syndicates; a new terrorism definition (Section 113) operating alongside UAPA; the sedition-equivalent Section 152; elimination of Section 377 (consensual same-sex conduct was already decriminalised); and reclassification of some offences.
The BNSS's most
significant procedural changes include: e-FIR availability; mandatory
audio-video recording of search and seizure operations; a 45-day first hearing requirement;
trial completion within 2–3 years; expanded victim rights (including status
updates during investigation); and electronic summons. The BSA recognises
electronic records as primary evidence, not secondary — incorporating digital
evidence as standard rather than exceptional.
Essential Context
- BNS
(Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita): replaces IPC 1860; 358 sections vs IPC's 511;
adds organised crime (Section 111), new terrorism definition (Section
113), sedition-equivalent (Section 152); removes Section 377 (consensual
same-sex); new Section 69 (sexual intercourse by deception — "false
promise of marriage" — replacing older marital deception provisions);
removes adultery as a criminal offence (already struck down by SC in
2018); mandatory minimum sentences for certain offences.
- BNSS
(Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita): replaces CrPC 1973; 531 sections;
e-FIR for all cognisable offences; mandatory audio-video recording of
search/seizure; 45-day first hearing; trial within 2 years for most
offences (extendable to 3); 90-day mandatory charge-framing; victim rights
to case status information; summary trial expansion; BNSS Section 113
terrorism in courts of session; new community service as punishment
option.
- BSA
(Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam): replaces Indian Evidence Act 1872; 170
sections; electronic records as primary evidence (not secondary);
electronic/digital records including email, CCTV, metadata, GPS logs
admissible without special certification; expands admissibility of
"joint statement" confessions made to police in the presence of
a magistrate; new provisions for DNA evidence.
- What
didn't change: Police Act 1861 remains (policing structure unchanged); the
fundamental adversarial trial system; the hierarchy of courts; the bail
regime (including UAPA's special bail provisions); the basic investigative
powers of police; and the relationship between state police forces and
central agencies.
- NCRB
2024: first full year under BNS; total cognisable crimes 58.85 lakh — down
6% from 62.41 lakh in 2023; decline partly attributed to BNS reclassifying
"simple hurt" as a non-cognisable offence (significant
undercount of minor assault cases); cybercrime rose 17% to 1.01 lakh cases
— the biggest concern area.
How It Works in Practice
1. The e-FIR system: BNSS Section 173 requires police
stations to accept e-FIRs (complaints filed online) for cognisable offences;
the e-FIR must be registered within 24 hours; it can be filed without going to
the police station physically; the system is operational through the CCTNS
(Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems) portal and state-specific
apps. For complainants in remote areas, domestic violence victims who fear
police station visits, and persons with disabilities, e-FIR availability is a
significant improvement; implementation quality varies by state.
2. Audio-video recording of searches: BNSS Section
105 requires that search and seizure operations by police be audio-video
recorded on a portable device; the recording must be submitted to the
magistrate along with the charge sheet; this is designed to prevent fabrication
of evidence during searches — a documented problem in India where planted
evidence has been a factor in political prosecutions. For the Bhima Koregaon
type cases where alleged "planted digital evidence" was a contested
issue, mandatory recording of searches would provide documentation of what was
found and where.
3. Trial timeline enforcement: BNSS Sections 346–346A
mandate: first hearing within 45 days of charge framing; trial within 2 years
extendable to 3. These timelines, if enforced, would transform India's criminal
justice system — the average trial currently takes significantly longer.
Whether courts with 50 million pending cases can enforce these timelines is the
critical implementation question; mandatory timelines may be treated as
aspirational rather than mandatory by overloaded courts.
4. Section 69 BNS and the "false promise of
marriage" provision: The new Section 69 criminalises sexual
intercourse "by deceitful means" including "false promise of
marriage" — a provision that aims to address cases where men promise
marriage to obtain sexual consent and then renege. Civil liberties advocates
have raised concerns that this provision could be misused: to criminalise
consensual relationships that ended; to target interfaith relationships where
family members subsequently claim the relationship was initiated through
"deception"; or to police personal relationships. The provision's
application will be tested through early BNS Section 69 prosecutions.
5. Community service as punishment: The BNS
introduces community service as a new punishment option — the first time
India's criminal law has included it. It is available for minor offences (like
first-time theft of small amounts); the BNS lists it alongside fines and
imprisonment as a sentencing option. Community service is common in Western
criminal justice as an alternative to incarceration for non-serious offenders;
its implementation in India will require court-community service coordinator
infrastructure that doesn't yet exist in most jurisdictions.
What People Often Misunderstand
- The
new criminal codes are not comprehensively "decolonising" Indian
law: The codes remove colonial terminology and add Indian
constitutional context; but most substantive criminal law is unchanged —
the same offences, the same basic procedure, and the same evidentiary
standards; the "decolonisation" framing is partly symbolic and
partly genuine but requires qualification.
- Section
152 BNS (sedition equivalent) is broader than IPC 124A: As detailed in
Label 9, Section 152 BNS's "encourages feelings of separatist
activities" standard is likely more constitutionally vulnerable than
the IPC's sedition standard; despite the government claiming to have
removed sedition, the replacement provision may be equally restrictive.
- The
NCRB 2024 decline in reported crimes partly reflects BNS reclassification:
The 6% reported crime decline includes a significant component from BNS
reclassifying "simple hurt" (minor assault) as non-cognisable —
so these cases are no longer reported in the NCRB database; the actual
crime level didn't fall by 6%.
- Implementation
quality will determine whether the reforms produce outcomes: E-FIR
availability, audio-video recording of searches, and trial timelines are
only as effective as the institutions implementing them; police stations
with unreliable electricity and no recording devices cannot implement
audio-video recording requirements regardless of what BNSS Section 105
says.
- The
new codes' digital evidence provisions are significant for cybercrime
prosecution: The BSA's recognition of electronic records as primary
evidence and its specific provisions for metadata, CCTV logs, and email
evidence will improve prosecution of digital crimes — the category showing
the most growth (17% increase in 2024); this is the area where the BSA's
modernisation has the most practical effect.
What Changes Over Time
The NCRB 2025 report (covering the first full BNS year
without the comparison distortion) will provide the first meaningful data on
the new codes' impact on crime registration and prosecution patterns. The
Supreme Court's jurisprudence on BNSS trial timelines — which will inevitably
be tested by prosecutions where 2-year trial limits are missed — will determine
whether the timelines are mandatory or aspirational.
Sources and Further Reading
- Lawgical
Search — BNS, BNSS, BSA explained: https://lawgicalsearch.com/indias-new-criminal-laws-2023-bns-bnss-bsa-explained-replacing-ipc-crpc-evidence-act-from-1-july-2024/
- Drishti
IAS — NCRB Crime in India 2024: https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/ncrbs-crime-in-india-2024-report
- Drishti
IAS — Crime in India 2023: https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/crime-in-india-2023-report
- TheLaw.Institute — Police structure: https://thelaw.institute/introduction-to-law/organizational-structure-indian-police/
- PRS Legislative Research — Police reforms: https://prsindia.org/policy/analytical-reports/police-reforms-india