CrPC · Chapter VI · Processes to compel appearance

CrPC section 68 in the BNSS

CrPC 68BNSS 70

CrPC section 68, “Proof of service in such cases and when serving officer not present”, is now BNSS section 70 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From CrPC 68 to BNSS 70

Now BNSS section 70. New sub-section (3): a summons served by electronic communication under sections 64 to 71 is treated as duly served, with an attested copy kept as proof.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Section 68 Proof of service in such cases and when serving officer not present

(1) When a summons issued by a Court is served outside its local jurisdiction, and in any case where the officer who has served a summons is not present at the hearing of the case, an affidavit, purporting to be made before a Magistrate, that such summons has been served, and a duplicate of the summons purporting to be endorsed (in the manner provided by section 62 or section 64) by the person to whom it was delivered or tendered or with whom it was left, shall be admissible in evidence, and the statements made therein shall be deemed to be correct unless and until the contrary is proved.

(2) The affidavit mentioned in this section may be attached to the duplicate of the summons and returned to the Court.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 70 Proof of service in such cases and when serving officer not present

(1) When a summons issued by a Court is served outside its local jurisdiction, and in any case where the officer who has served a summons is not present at the hearing of the case, an affidavit, purporting to be made before a Magistrate, that such summons has been served, and a duplicate of the summons purporting to be endorsed (in the manner provided by section 64 or section 66) by the person to whom it was delivered or tendered or with whom it was left, shall be admissible in evidence, and the statements made therein shall be deemed to be correct unless and until the contrary is proved.

(2) The affidavit mentioned in this section may be attached to the duplicate of the summons and returned to the Court.

(3) All summons served through electronic communication under sections 64 to 71 (both inclusive) shall be considered as duly served and a copy of such summons shall be attested and kept as a proof of service of summons.

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.