CrPC · Chapter XXXII · Execution, suspension, remission and commutation of sentences

CrPC section 416 in the BNSS

CrPC 416BNSS 456

CrPC section 416, “Postponement of capital sentence on pregnant woman”, is now BNSS section 456 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From CrPC 416 to BNSS 456

The words are the same as in the CrPC, apart from “Sanhita” for the Act’s own name and the new numbers of the sections it refers to.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Section 416 Postponement of capital sentence on pregnant woman

If a woman sentenced to death is found to be pregnant, the High Court shall ****, commute the sentence to imprisonment for life.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 456 Commutation of sentence of death on pregnant woman

If a woman sentenced to death is found to be pregnant, the High Court shall commute the sentence to imprisonment for life.

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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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The BNSS repealed the CrPC from 1 July 2024 (section 531(1)).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