CrPC · Chapter XXIV · General provisions as to inquiries and trials

CrPC section 303 in the BNSS

CrPC 303BNSS 340

CrPC section 303, “Right of person against whom proceedings are instituted to be defended”, is now BNSS section 340 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From CrPC 303 to BNSS 340

Now BNSS section 340, with the same right to be defended by an advocate.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Section 303 Right of person against whom proceedings are instituted to be defended

Any person accused of an offence before a Criminal Court, or against whom proceedings are instituted under this Code, may of right be defended by a pleader of his choice.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 340 Right of person against whom proceedings are instituted to be defended

Any person accused of an offence before a Criminal Court, or against whom proceedings are instituted under this Sanhita, may of right be defended by an advocate of his choice.

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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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The BNSS repealed the CrPC from 1 July 2024 (section 531(1)).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