Law and Legal Awareness Relevant to Policing
From 1 July 2024 the three colonial criminal codes were replaced: the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for the IPC 1860, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) for the CrPC 1973, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) for the Indian Evidence Act 1872. Questions test definitions, procedure, safeguards and human rights, so learn the new section numbers alongside the old ones.
Core provisions
- BNS has 358 sections in 20 chapters (IPC had 511). Murder is section 103(1), culpable homicide section 105, rape is defined in section 63 and punished under section 64, theft section 303, cheating section 318, criminal breach of trust section 316, defamation section 356. Sedition (IPC 124A) was repealed and replaced by section 152 on acts endangering sovereignty.
- BNSS has 531 sections (CrPC had 484). The FIR provision is section 173, with zero FIR and e-FIR permitted. Section 35 restricts the arrest of a woman after sunset and before sunrise. Section 58 requires production before a Magistrate within 24 hours. Section 479 provides bail for a first-time undertrial who has served half the maximum sentence.
- BSA has 170 sections; section 63 governs the admissibility of electronic records, succeeding section 65B of the Evidence Act.
- Human rights: Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution, the D.K. Basu guidelines (1997) on arrest and custodial safety, the NHRC under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, and the Prakash Singh (2006) police-reform directions.
Worked example
A police team wants to arrest a woman at 11 p.m. for a bailable offence, without any magistrate's order. Reasoning: BNSS section 35 bars the arrest of a woman after sunset and before sunrise. The only route is the proviso - prior permission of a Judicial Magistrate First Class, with reasons recorded in writing. Absent that, the arrest is unlawful. Answer: the arrest cannot be made as planned.
Traps that cost marks
- Quoting old IPC or CrPC numbers when the question uses the new Sanhitas.
- Mixing cognizable with non-cognizable, and bailable with non-bailable.
- Forgetting that the 24-hour period excludes journey time.