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CrPC · Chapter XXVI · Provisions as to offences affecting the administration of justice

CrPC section 345 in the BNSS

CrPC 345BNSS 384

CrPC section 345, “Procedure in certain cases of contempt”, is now BNSS section 384 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From CrPC 345 to BNSS 384

Now BNSS section 384. The maximum fine for certain contempts committed in view of the Court rises from ₹200 to ₹1,000.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Section 345 Procedure in certain cases of contempt

(1) When any such offence as is described in section 175, section 178, section 179, section 180 or section 228 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) is committed in the view or presence of any Civil, Criminal, or Revenue Court, the Court may cause the offender to be detained in custody, and may, at any time before the rising of the Court or the same day, take cognizance of the offence and, after giving the offender a reasonable opportunity of showing cause why he should not be punished under this section, sentence the offender to fine not exceeding two hundred rupees, and, in default of payment of fine, to simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month, unless such fine be sooner paid.

(2) In every such case the Court shall record the fact constituting the offence, with the statement (if any) made by the offender, as well as the finding and sentence.

(3) If the offence is under section 228 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), the record shall show the nature and stage of the judicial proceeding in which the Court interrupted or insulted was sitting, and the nature of the interruption or insult.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 384 Procedure in certain cases of contempt

(1) When any such offence as is described in section 210, section 213, section 214, section 215 or section 267 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) is committed in the view or presence of any Civil, Criminal, or Revenue Court, the Court may cause the offender to be detained in custody, and may, at any time before the rising of the Court on the same day, take cognizance of the offence and, after giving the offender a reasonable opportunity of showing cause why he should not be punished under this section, sentence the offender to fine not exceeding one thousand rupees, and, in default of payment of fine, to simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month, unless such fine be sooner paid.

(2) In every such case the Court shall record the fact constituting the offence, with the statement (if any) made by the offender, as well as the finding and sentence.

(3) If the offence is under section 267 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023), the record shall show the nature and stage of the judicial proceeding in which the Court interrupted or insulted was sitting, and the nature of the interruption or insult.

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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