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

CrPC section 315 in the BNSS

CrPC 315BNSS 353

CrPC section 315, “Accused person to be competent witness”, is now BNSS section 353 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From CrPC 315 to BNSS 353

Now BNSS section 353, with the same rule.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Section 315 Accused person to be competent witness

(1) Any person accused of an offence before a Criminal Court shall be a competent witness for the defence and may give evidence on oath in disproof of the charges made against him or any person charged together with him at the same trial:

Provided that—

(a) he shall not be called as a witness except on his own request in writing;

(b) his failure to give evidence shall not be made the subject of any comment by any of the parties or the Court or give rise to any presumption against himself or any person charged together with him that the same trial.

(2) Any person against whom proceedings are instituted in any Criminal Court under section 98, or section 107 or section 108, or section 109, or section 110, or under Chapter IX or under Part B, Part C or Part D of Chapter X, may offer himself as a witness in such proceedings:

Provided that in proceedings under section 108, section 109, or section 110, the failure of such person to give evidence shall not be made the subject of any comment by any of the parties or the Court or give rise to any presumption against him or any other person proceeded against together with him at the same inquiry.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 353 Accused person to be competent witness

Provided that—

(a) he shall not be called as a witness except on his own request in writing;

(2) Any person against whom proceedings are instituted in any Criminal Court under section 101, or section 126, or section 127, or section 128, or section 129, or under Chapter X or under Part B, Part C or Part D of Chapter XI, may offer himself as a witness in such proceedings:

Provided that in proceedings under section 127, section 128, or section 129, the failure of such person to give evidence shall not be made the subject of any comment by any of the parties or the Court or give rise to any presumption against him or any other person proceeded against together with him at the same inquiry.

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.