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CrPC · Chapter XXI · Summary trials

CrPC section 260 in the BNSS

CrPC 260BNSS 283

CrPC section 260, “Power to try summarily”, is now BNSS section 283 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From CrPC 260 to BNSS 283

Now BNSS section 283, and summary trials are wider. Chief Judicial Magistrates and first-class Magistrates “shall” (CrPC: may) try the listed offences summarily, with the property limit for theft and stolen-property offences raised from ₹2,000 to ₹20,000. A Magistrate may also try summarily any offence punishable with up to three years after hearing the accused, and no appeal lies against that decision. Metropolitan Magistrates are dropped.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Section 260 Power to try summarily

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Code—

(a) any Chief Judicial Magistrate;

(b) any Metropolitan Magistrate;

(c) any Magistrate of the first class specially empowered in this behalf by the High Court, may, if he thinks fit, try in a summary way all or any of the following offences:—

(i) offences not punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term exceeding two years;

(ii) theft, under section 379, section 380 or section 381 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), where the value of the property stolen does not exceed two thousand rupees;

(iii) receiving or retaining stolen property, under section 411 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), where the value of the property does not exceed two thousand rupees;

(iv) assisting in the concealment or disposal of stolen property, under section 414 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), where the value of such property does not exceed two thousand rupees;

(v) offences under sections 454 and 456 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860);

(vi) insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace, under section 504, and criminal intimidation punishable with imprisionment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both, under section 506 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860);

(vii) abetment of any of the foregoing offences;

(viii) an attempt to commit any of the foregoing offences, when such attempt is an offence;

(ix) any offence constituted by an act in respect of which a complaint may be made under section 20 of the Cattle-trespass Act, 1871 (1 of 1871).

(2) When, in the course of a summary trial it appears to the Magistrate that the nature of the case is such that it is undesirable to try it summarily, the Magistrate shall recall any witnesses who may have been examined and proceed to re-hear the case in the manner provided by this Code.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 283 Power to try summarily

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Sanhita—

(a) any Chief Judicial Magistrate;

(b) Magistrate of the first class, shall try in a summary way all or any of the following offences:—

(i) theft, under sub-section (2) of section 303, section 305 or section 306 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 where the value of the property stolen does not exceed twenty thousand rupees;

(ii) receiving or retaining stolen property, under sub-section (2) of section 317 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, where the value of the property does not exceed twenty thousand rupees;

(iii) assisting in the concealment or disposal of stolen property under sub-section (5) of section 317 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, where the value of such property does not exceed twenty thousand rupees;

(iv) offences under sub-sections (2) and (3) of section 331 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023;

(v) insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace, under section 352, and criminal intimidation, under sub-sections (2) and (3) of section 351 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023;

(vi) abetment of any of the foregoing offences;

(vii) an attempt to commit any of the foregoing offences, when such attempt is an offence;

(viii) any offence constituted by an act in respect of which a complaint may be made under section 20 of the Cattle-trespass Act, 1871 (1 of 1871).

(2) The Magistrate may, after giving the accused a reasonable opportunity of being heard, for reasons to be recorded in writing, try in a summary way all or any of the offences not punishable with death or imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term exceeding three years:

Provided that no appeal shall lie against the decision of a Magistrate to try a case in a summary way under this sub-section.

(3) When, in the course of a summary trial it appears to the Magistrate that the nature of the case is such that it is undesirable to try it summarily, the Magistrate shall recall any witnesses who may have been examined and proceed to re-hear the case in the manner provided by this Sanhita.

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.

Sources

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