CrPC · Chapter III · Power of courts

CrPC section 28 in the BNSS

CrPC 28BNSS 22

CrPC section 28, “Sentences which High Courts and Sessions Judges may pass”, is now BNSS section 22 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From CrPC 28 to BNSS 22

Now BNSS section 22, with the same powers for High Courts and Sessions Judges. The sub-section on Assistant Sessions Judges is dropped, as that post is abolished.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Section 28 Sentences which High Courts and Sessions Judges may pass

(1) A High Court may pass any sentence authorised by law.

(2) A Sessions Judge or Additional Sessions Judge may pass any sentence authorised by law; but any sentence of death passed by any such Judge shall be subject to confirmation by the High Court.

(3) An Assistant Sessions Judge may pass any sentence authorised by law except a sentence of death or of imprisonment for life or of imprisonment for a term exceeding ten years.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 22 Sentences which High Courts and Sessions Judges may pass

(1) A High Court may pass any sentence authorised by law.

(2) A Sessions Judge or Additional Sessions Judge may pass any sentence authorised by law; but any sentence of death passed by any such Judge shall be subject to confirmation by the High Court.

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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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The BNSS repealed the CrPC from 1 July 2024 (section 531(1)).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