CrPC · Chapter I · Preliminary

CrPC section 1 in the BNSS

CrPC 1BNSS 1

CrPC section 1, “Short title, extent and commencement”, is now BNSS section 1 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From CrPC 1 to BNSS 1

Now BNSS section 1. The commencement date is no longer fixed in the Act (the CrPC named 1 April 1974); the Central Government appoints it by notification. The exclusion of Nagaland and the tribal areas from most chapters stays, with the chapter numbers updated.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Section 1 Short title, extent and commencement

(1) This Act may be called the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

(2) It extends to the whole of India:

Provided that the provisions of this Code, other than those relating to Chapters VIII, X and XI thereof, shall not apply—

(a) to the State of Nagaland,

(b) to the tribal areas, but the concerned State Government may, by notification, apply such provisions or any of them to the whole or part of the State of Nagaland or such tribal areas, as the case may be, with such supplemental, incidental or consequential modifications, as may be specified in the notification.

Explanation.—In this section, “tribal areas” means the territories which immediately before the 21st day of January, 1972, were included in the tribal areas of Assam, as referred to in paragraph 20 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution, other than those within the local limits of the municipality of Shillong.

(3) It shall come into force on the 1st day of April, 1974.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 1 Short title, extent and commencement

(1) This Act may be called the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

(2) The provisions of this Sanhita, other than those relating to Chapters IX, XI and XII thereof, shall not apply—

(a) to the State of Nagaland;

(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

The texts are India Code’s. The amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown. The PDFs linked below carry the full history.

Old law or new?

Which one applies to a case

The BNSS repealed the CrPC from 1 July 2024 (section 531(1)). Any appeal, application, trial, inquiry or investigation pending immediately before that date is disposed of under the CrPC as it then stood, as if the BNSS had not come into force (section 531(2)(a)). Anything not pending on that date follows the BNSS.