CrPC · Chapter XIV · Conditions requisite for initiation of proceedings

CrPC section 195A in the BNSS

CrPC 195ABNSS 216

CrPC section 195A, “Procedure for witnesses in case of threatening, etc”, is now BNSS section 216 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From CrPC 195A to BNSS 216

Now BNSS section 216, with the same procedure; the offence is now under the BNS.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Section 195A Procedure for witnesses in case of threatening, etc

A witness or any other person may file a complaint in relation to an offence under section 195A of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 216 Procedure for witnesses in case of threatening, etc

A witness or any other person may file a complaint in relation to an offence under section 232 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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The BNSS repealed the CrPC from 1 July 2024 (section 531(1)).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