CrPC · Chapter XXIII · Evidence in inquiries and trials

CrPC section 287 in the BNSS

CrPC 287BNSS 322

CrPC section 287, “Parties may examine witnesses”, is now BNSS section 322 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From CrPC 287 to BNSS 322

Now BNSS section 322, with the same right of the parties; “pleader” becomes “advocate”.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Section 287 Parties may examine witnesses

(1) The parties to any proceeding under this Code in which a commission is issued may respectively forward any interrogatories in writing which the Court or Magistrate directing the commission may think relevant to the issue, and it shall be lawful for the Magistrate, Court or officer to whom the commission, is directed, or to whom the duty of executing it is delegated, to examine the witness upon such interrogatories.

(2) Any such party may appear before such magistrate, Court or Officer by pleader, or if not in custody, in person, and may examine, cross-examine and re-examine (as the case may be) the said witness.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 322 Parties may examine witnesses

(1) The parties to any proceeding under this Sanhita in which a commission is issued may respectively forward any interrogatories in writing which the Court or Magistrate directing the commission may think relevant to the issue, and it shall be lawful for the Magistrate, Court or officer to whom the commission, is directed, or to whom the duty of executing it is delegated, to examine the witness upon such interrogatories.

(2) Any such party may appear before such Magistrate, Court or Officer by an advocate, or if not in custody, in person, and may examine, cross-examine and re-examine the said witness.

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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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The BNSS repealed the CrPC from 1 July 2024 (section 531(1)).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