Plain-English guides to the sections people actually deal with — what changed on 1 July 2024, what a section really requires, what happens at the police station and in a Delhi court, and what it costs you to get it wrong. Every page is researched from source and says so where a point could not be verified.
Type the new section, the old IPC or CrPC section, or just describe it in your own words — English or Hinglish both work. Anything that is not on this page will still be found — any other page on the website will appear below.
Replaced the Indian Penal Code on 1 July 2024. These are the offence sections.
Sections 74 to 79 changed no punishment at all — but sexual harassment became non-bailable and Sessions-triable, most of these offences are time-barred after three …
The section that replaced IPC 304B. The four ingredients, the mandatory presumption under Section 118 BSA, the SDM inquest in Delhi, bail and trial.
The section that replaced IPC 494 and 495. Punishment, why an FIR usually cannot be filed, who may complain under Section 219 BNSS, the essential-ceremonies defence…
The section that replaced IPC 498A. Punishment, what counts as cruelty, how a case is filed in Delhi, and how it is defended.
Where murder and the lynching provision actually sit in the BNS, the new five-year minimum for culpable homicide, the two-year limb for registered doctors, and why …
The section that replaced IPC 306. Why harassment alone is not the offence, the three ingredients the courts insist on, and why the presumption for a married woman …
Two numbering traps that catch everyone, why the injury proves nothing in either direction, and the entirely different pre-trial regime that applies to Section 110.
The fifteen-day threshold that replaced twenty days, the two brand-new sub-sections of Section 117, why hurt by a dangerous weapon is now non-bailable and non-compo…
Community service for a first petty theft, a minimum sentence on a second conviction, snatching as a brand-new offence that is non-bailable at any value, and vehicl…
The section that replaced IPC 383 to 389 and raised the punishment from three years to seven. All seven sub-sections, why some need delivery of property and some do…
The section that replaced IPC 405 to 409, with the general punishment raised from three years to five. What entrustment means, why an unpaid debt is not this offenc…
The section that replaced IPC 415, 417, 418 and 420, with three punishments raised. All four sub-sections, why a broken contract is not cheating, filing in Delhi, a…
The section that replaced IPC 503, 506 and 507. All four sub-sections, why abusive language is not a threat, and the security proceedings that work faster than a cr…
Replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure. These are the process sections — bail, quashing, maintenance.
The section that replaced CrPC 125 — and dropped one word. Who can claim, why 25% is not a rule, the affidavit the Supreme Court made compulsory, and the one-year l…
The section that replaced CrPC 438 — and which is not the old Section 482, now BNSS 528. What the new text dropped, how long protection lasts, the Section 35(3) not…
The old CrPC 482 — the High Court's inherent powers. The Bhajan Lal grounds, how a settled matrimonial case is ended even though Section 85 cannot be compounded, an…
Replaced the Indian Evidence Act. What a court will and will not accept as proof.
How things actually work on the ground in Delhi, as opposed to what a section says.
Provisions outside the three new criminal codes that come up constantly in practice.
The two motions, the eighteen-month limit, the four conditions for waiving the wait, what only the Supreme Court can do, and why a pending cruelty case cannot simpl…
The three deadlines that decide whether you have a case, why a cheque is valid for three months and not six, where to file in Delhi, interim compensation and the de…
A civil remedy, not a criminal case. Protection, residence and maintenance orders, why the in-laws' house can be a shared household, stridhan, and how to file in De…
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Yes — that is exactly what the search box on this page is built for. Type 498A, 420, 307, 323, 354, 125, 65B or any other old number and the matching page will come up. You can also search in plain words — "cheque bounce", "marpeet", "dahej", "chhedchhad", "anticipatory bail".
On 1 July 2024 three new codes replaced the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act. Most of the law was carried over, but almost every section number moved — and in several places the same number now means something completely different. Each page sets out the old-to-new mapping for its own area.
Very much. An offence committed before 1 July 2024 continues under the old codes, and cases from that period are still moving through the courts and will be for years. Several of these pages flag exactly where the changeover date changes the answer.
No. They are general information, written carefully and with sources. Every case turns on its own facts, and nothing here is a substitute for an advocate who has read your papers. Where we could not verify something, we say so on the page rather than filling the gap.
For a cognizable offence, the police can register an FIR and arrest without a warrant, and must investigate. For a non-cognizable offence, the police record the information but need a magistrate’s order before investigating. The schedule to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita says which offences fall in which category.
For a cognizable offence, the officer in charge of a police station must register the information, and it can be given at any police station, which then transfers it — the “zero FIR” — or given electronically. For some offences with lower punishments the police may first make a preliminary enquiry, within a limited time. If the police refuse, you can send the complaint to the Superintendent of Police, and then apply to the magistrate for a direction to investigate.
No longer than twenty-four hours, excluding travel time to the court. The Constitution and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita both require it. Detention beyond that needs a magistrate’s order. An arrested person must be told the grounds of arrest and has the right to have a relative or friend informed.
Yes. The Constitution guarantees the right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of one’s choice, and the BNSS allows an arrested person to meet an advocate during interrogation, though not throughout it. A person who cannot afford an advocate is entitled to free legal aid through the legal services authorities. You can also find an advocate through our directory.
A chargesheet is the police report filed in court at the end of an investigation, setting out the evidence against the accused. If an accused is in custody and the investigation is not completed within sixty or ninety days, depending on the seriousness of the offence, the accused becomes entitled to bail, often called default bail. The period runs from the first remand.
Some offences are compoundable: the victim can settle with the accused, in some cases with the court’s permission, and the case ends. Others are not, and settlement alone does not end the case. For those, the High Court can quash proceedings in appropriate cases, particularly where the dispute is essentially private and has been genuinely settled. Our guide on quashing an FIR explains when.
Bail is release from custody after arrest, on conditions. Anticipatory bail is a direction, obtained before arrest from a Sessions Court or High Court, that if the person is arrested they will be released on bail. It is sought when a person fears arrest in a non-bailable offence. Our anticipatory bail guide explains the conditions courts impose.
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