CrPC · Chapter XIV · Conditions requisite for initiation of proceedings

CrPC section 198A in the BNSS

CrPC 198ABNSS 220

CrPC section 198A, “Prosecution of offences under section 498A of the Indian Penal Code”, is now BNSS section 220 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From CrPC 198A to BNSS 220

Now BNSS section 220, for offences under BNS section 85 (formerly IPC 498A). Same rule.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Section 198A Prosecution of offences under section 498A of the Indian Penal Code

No Court shall take cognizance of an offence punishable under section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) except upon a police report of facts which constitute such offence or upon a complaint made by the person aggrieved by the offence or by her father, mother, brother, sister or by her father’s or mother’s brother or sister or, with the leave of the Court, by any other person related to her by blood, marriage or adoption.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 220 Prosecution of offences under section 85 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

No Court shall take cognizance of an offence punishable under section 85 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 except upon a police report of facts which constitute such offence or upon a complaint made by the person aggrieved by the offence or by her father, mother, brother, sister or by her father’s or mother’s brother or sister or, with the leave of the Court, by any other person related to her by blood, marriage or adoption.

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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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The BNSS repealed the CrPC from 1 July 2024 (section 531(1)).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