CrPC · Chapter XIII · Jurisdiction of the criminal courts in inquiries and trials

CrPC section 189 in the BNSS

CrPC 189BNSS 209

CrPC section 189, “Receipt of evidence relating to offences committed outside India”, is now BNSS section 209 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From CrPC 189 to BNSS 209

Now BNSS section 209. Evidence relating to offences committed outside India may be received “either in physical form or in electronic form”.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Section 189 Receipt of evidence relating to offences committed outside India

When any offence alleged to have been committed in a territory outside India is being inquired into or tried under the provisions of section 188, the Central Government may, if it thinks fit, direct that copies of depositions made or exhibits produced before a Judicial officer in or for that territory or before a diplomatic or consular representative of India in or for that territory shall be received as evidence by the Court holding such inquiry or trial in any case in which such Court might issue a commission for taking evidence as to the matters to which such depositions or exhibits relate.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 209 Receipt of evidence relating to offences committed outside India

When any offence alleged to have been committed in a territory outside India is being inquired into or tried under the provisions of section 208, the Central Government may, if it thinks fit, direct that copies of depositions made or exhibits produced, either in physical form or in electronic form, before a judicial officer, in or for that territory or before a diplomatic or consular representative of India in or for that territory shall be received as evidence by the Court holding such inquiry or trial in any case in which such Court might issue a commission for taking evidence as to the matters to which such depositions or exhibits relate.

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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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The BNSS repealed the CrPC from 1 July 2024 (section 531(1)).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.