CrPC · Chapter XX · Trial of summons-cases by Magistrates
CrPC section 251, “Substance of accusation to be stated”, is now BNSS section 274 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.
Now BNSS section 274. New proviso: if the Magistrate considers the accusation groundless, he must release the accused for recorded reasons, and the release has the effect of a discharge.
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
When in a summons-case the accused appears or is brought before the Magistrate, the particulars of the offence of which he is accused shall be stated to him, and he shall be asked whether he pleads guilty or has any defence to make, but it shall not be necessary to frame a formal charge.
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
When in a summons-case the accused appears or is brought before the Magistrate, the particulars of the offence of which he is accused shall be stated to him, and he shall be asked whether he pleads guilty or has any defence to make, but it shall not be necessary to frame a formal charge:
Provided that if the Magistrate considers the accusation as groundless, he shall, after recording reasons in writing, release the accused and such release shall have the effect of discharge.
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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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.
The BNSS repealed the CrPC from 1 July 2024 (section 531(1)).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.
