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CrPC · Chapter XXV · Provisions as to accused persons of unsound mind

CrPC section 337 in the BNSS

CrPC 337BNSS 376

CrPC section 337, “Procedure where lunatic prisoner is reported capable of making his defence”, is now BNSS section 376 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From CrPC 337 to BNSS 376

Now BNSS section 376, with the same procedure. The certificate of fitness comes from the Mental Health Review Board under the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 (CrPC: the visitors of a lunatic asylum).

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Section 337 Procedure where lunatic prisoner is reported capable of making his defence

If such person is detained under the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 330, and in the case of a person detained in a jail, the Inspector-General of Prisons, or, in the case of a person detained a lunatic asylum, the visitors of such asylum, or any two of them shall certify that, in his or their opinion, such person is capable of making his defence, he shall be taken before the Magistrate or Court, as the case may be, at such time as the Magistrate or Court appoints, and the Magistrate or Court shall deal with such person under the provisions of section 332; and the certificate of such Inspector-General or visitors as aforesaid shall be receivable as evidence.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 376 Procedure where prisoner of unsound mind is reported capable of making his defence

If a person is detained under the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 369, and in the case of a person detained in a jail, the Inspector-General of Prisons, or, in the case of a person detained in a public mental health establishment, the Mental Health Review Board constituted under the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 (10 of 2017), shall certify that, in his or their opinion, such person is capable of making his defence, he shall be taken before the Magistrate or Court, as the case may be, at such time as the Magistrate or Court appoints, and the Magistrate or Court shall deal with such person under the provisions of section 371; and the certificate of such Inspector-General or visitors as aforesaid shall be receivable as evidence.

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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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.

Sources

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