CrPC · Chapter XXIII · Evidence in inquiries and trials

CrPC section 288 in the BNSS

CrPC 288BNSS 323

CrPC section 288, “Return of commission”, is now BNSS section 323 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From CrPC 288 to BNSS 323

Now BNSS section 323, with the same rule; the reference is to the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Section 288 Return of commission

(1) After any commission issued under section 284 has been duly executed, it shall be returned, together with the deposition of the witness examined thereunder, to the Court or Magistrate issuing the commission; and the commission, the return thereto and the deposition shall be open at all reasonable times to inspection of the parties, and may, subject to all just exceptions, be read in evidence in the case by either party, and shall form part of the record.

(2) Any deposition so taken, if it satisfies the conditions prescribed by section 33 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), may also be received in evidence at any subsequent stage of the case before another Court.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 323 Return of commission

(1) After any commission issued under section 319 has been duly executed, it shall be returned, together with the deposition of the witness examined thereunder, to the Court or Magistrate issuing the commission; and the commission, the return thereto and the deposition shall be open at all reasonable times to inspection of the parties, and may, subject to all just exceptions, be read in evidence in the case by either party, and shall form part of the record.

(2) Any deposition so taken, if it satisfies the conditions specified by section 27 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, may also be received in evidence at any subsequent stage of the case before another 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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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The BNSS repealed the CrPC from 1 July 2024 (section 531(1)).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.