CrPC · Chapter XXIII · Evidence in inquiries and trials

CrPC section 285 in the BNSS

CrPC 285BNSS 320

CrPC section 285, “Commission to whom to be issued”, is now BNSS section 320 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From CrPC 285 to BNSS 320

Now BNSS section 320, with the same rules; references to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate are dropped.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Section 285 Commission to whom to be issued

(1) If the witness is within the territories to which this Code extends, the commission shall be directed to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate or the Chief Judicial Magistrate, as the case may be, within whose local jurisdiction the witness is to be found.

(2) If the witness is in India, but in a State or an area to which this Code does not extend, the commission shall be directed to such Court or officer as the Central Government may, by notification, specify in this behalf.

(3) If the witness is in a country or place outside India and arrangements have been made by the Central Government with the Government of such country or place for taking the evidence of witnesses in relation to criminal matters, the commission shall be issued in such form, directed to such Court or officer, and sent to such authority for transmission as the Central Government may, by notification, prescribe in this behalf.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 320 Commission to whom to be issued

(1) If the witness is within the territories to which this Sanhita extends, the commission shall be directed to the Chief Judicial Magistrate within whose local jurisdiction the witness is to be found.

(2) If the witness is in India, but in a State or an area to which this Sanhita does not extend, the commission shall be directed to such Court or officer as the Central Government may, by notification, specify in this behalf.

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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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The BNSS repealed the CrPC from 1 July 2024 (section 531(1)).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