The law behind the numbers

Which law applies to which case

The President gave assent to the BNS and the BNSS on 25 December 2023 (Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Nos. 53 and 54). The Central Government brought all three laws into force from 1 July 2024, by notifications dated 23 February 2024 (S.O. 848(E), 849(E) and 850(E)). One provision did not start that day, BNS s.106(2) on hit-and-run deaths.

An appeal, application, trial, inquiry or investigation pending on 1 July 2024 continues under the CrPC "as if this Sanhita had not come into force" (BNSS s.531(2)(a)). Liability for an offence committed under the IPC is preserved by BNS s.358(2).

An offence committed before 1 July 2024 is therefore booked under the IPC, and one committed on or after that date under the BNS. NCRB's 2024 report counts both, and this site adds them together so the years can be compared.

Each crime, old section and new

Most rapes of girls under eighteen are booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, sections 4 and 6, which neither code replaced. This site shows the POCSO figures beside the rape figures for that reason.

When a woman goes to the police

• Information about a cognizable offence may be given at any police station, "irrespective of the area where the offence is committed", orally or by electronic communication. Information sent electronically is taken on record once the person signs it within three days (BNSS s.173(1)). The CrPC (s.154) had no such words.
• A copy of the information as recorded is given free of cost to "the informant or the victim" (s.173(2)). The CrPC said the informant only.
• When a woman reports an offence under BNS 64 to 79 or 124, a woman police officer or any woman officer records the information (s.173(1), first proviso). This continues CrPC s.154(1).
• If the person reporting has a temporary or permanent mental or physical disability, a police officer records the information at her home or a place she chooses, with an interpreter or a special educator present, and the recording is videographed (s.173(1), second proviso). This applies to any person, and the officer need not be a woman.
• A public servant who fails to record information about an offence under BNS 64 to 68, 70, 71, 74, 76, 77, 79, 124, 143 or 144 is punishable with six months to two years' rigorous imprisonment (BNS s.199(c)). The list leaves out section 69, section 75 (sexual harassment) and section 78 (stalking). The gap is older than the BNS. IPC s.166A(c) listed 354 and 354B and left out 354A, 354C and 354D, and the BNS added voyeurism (s.77) and did not add harassment, stalking or the new section 69.

The fourteen-day preliminary enquiry

For an offence "made punishable for three years or more but less than seven years", the officer in charge may, with the prior permission of an officer of at least the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police, hold a preliminary enquiry of up to fourteen days to see whether there is a prima facie case, or go straight to investigation (BNSS s.173(3)). The CrPC had no such provision.

Read by the longest term each section allows, this covers assault to outrage modesty (s.74, up to five years), sexual harassment under s.75(2) (up to three years), voyeurism on a first conviction (s.77, up to three years), stalking (s.78), insult to modesty (s.79) and cruelty by a husband or his relatives (s.85, up to three years). It does not cover sexually coloured remarks under s.75(3), which carry up to one year, assault with intent to disrobe (s.76), which carries up to seven years, or rape and the other offences under sections 64 to 71. Cruelty, with 1,20,227 cases in 2024, and assault to outrage modesty, with 83,908, are two of the three largest headings NCRB counts. The first proviso to s.173(1), which requires a woman officer to record the information, still applies.

In Imran Pratapgadhi v State of Gujarat (Criminal Appeal 1545 of 2025, decided 28 March 2025, 2025 INSC 410), the Supreme Court held that s.173(3) "is an exception to sub-Section (1) of Section 173" (para 23). Where it applies, the police may enquire whether there is a prima facie case even when the information discloses a cognizable offence. Under the CrPC they could enquire only to find out whether the information disclosed a cognizable offence at all. The Court added that where the offence alleged rests on spoken or written words, it is "always appropriate" to hold the enquiry (para 29). Under the CrPC, Lalita Kumari v Government of Uttar Pradesh ((2014) 2 SCC 1, decided 12 November 2013) made registration mandatory where the information discloses a cognizable offence, and listed "Matrimonial disputes/family disputes" first among the cases where a preliminary inquiry may be made (para 120.6, as the Supreme Court reproduced it in 2025). This site has found no ruling on how s.173(3) applies to the offences listed above.

Her statement

• In a rape case, the police record her statement at her home or a place she chooses, as far as practicable through a woman police officer, in the presence of a parent, guardian, near relative or local social worker (BNSS s.176(1), second proviso). The place is mandatory. The statement may also be recorded on video, including by mobile phone, and that part is new. The rest continues CrPC s.157(1).
• No woman is required to go anywhere other than where she lives to be questioned as a witness (s.179(1), proviso). The same protection covers a boy under fifteen, a man over sixty (sixty-five under CrPC s.160), a person with a disability and a person with acute illness, and anyone among them who wishes to go to the police station may do so.
• In these offences a Magistrate records her statement as soon as the police learn of the offence (s.183(6)(a)). As far as practicable a woman Magistrate records it, and in her absence a male Magistrate in the presence of a woman. The provision for a woman Magistrate is new.

Medical examination and treatment

• She is sent to a registered medical practitioner within twenty-four hours of the information reaching the police (BNSS s.184(1)). The CrPC (s.164A) had the same rule.
• The doctor forwards the report to the investigating officer within seven days (s.184(6)). This is new. The CrPC said "without delay".
• Every hospital, public or private, must immediately give first aid or medical treatment free of cost to a victim of an offence under BNS 64 to 68, 70, 71 or 124(1), or under POCSO sections 4, 6, 8 or 10, and must inform the police (s.397). The rule does not cover sections 69 or 74 to 79. A person in charge of a hospital who breaks it is punishable under BNS s.200.

Investigation and trial

• Investigation of an offence under BNS 64 to 68, 70 or 71, or under POCSO sections 4, 6, 8 or 10, is to be completed within two months of the information being recorded (BNSS s.193(2)). The CrPC's two-month rule (s.173(1A)) did not include POCSO.
• The police must tell the informant or the victim how the investigation is progressing within ninety days, by any means including electronic communication (s.193(3)(ii)). This is new.
• Within fourteen days of the accused's production or appearance, the Magistrate gives the accused, and the victim if she is represented by an advocate, free copies of the police report, the FIR and the other documents (s.230). The fourteen-day limit is new.
• An inquiry or trial for an offence under BNS 64 to 68, 70 or 71 is to be completed within two months of the filing of the chargesheet (s.346(1), proviso). The proviso does not mention POCSO, whose trials follow POCSO s.35.
• The inquiry into and trial of rape, of offences under BNS 64 to 68, 70 and 71, and of offences under POCSO sections 4, 6, 8 and 10 are held in camera, and as far as practicable a woman Judge or Magistrate presides (s.366(2)).
• Every State Government, in coordination with the Central Government, must run a scheme that pays compensation to victims who need rehabilitation (s.396, which repeats CrPC s.357A).

None of these timelines is in section 69, so a case of sexual intercourse by deceitful means has no two-month limit for investigation or trial and no right to free treatment under s.397.

Under the POCSO Act

• Anyone who knows of an offence under the Act, or fears one will be committed, must report it to the Special Juvenile Police Unit or the local police (s.19(1)). Failing to report is punishable with up to six months or a fine (s.21(1)).
• The Special Court records the child's evidence within thirty days of taking cognizance, and completes the trial within one year of taking cognizance as far as possible (s.35).

Her name is never published

• Printing or publishing the name of a victim of an offence under BNS 64 to 71, or anything that may make her identity known, is punishable with up to two years (BNS s.72). The IPC (s.228A) covered 376 to 376E, and the BNS adds section 69. Publishing anything about the court proceedings in such a case without the court's permission is also punishable (s.73), and judgments of the High Courts and the Supreme Court are excluded from that.
• No media report may disclose a child's identity, including the child's name, address, photograph, family details, school or neighbourhood (POCSO s.23(2)).
• This site publishes counts only and names no survivor.

Sources

• The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (No. 45 of 2023), Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II Section 1, No. 53, 25 December 2023, copy on mha.gov.in.
• The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (No. 46 of 2023), Gazette of India, Extraordinary, No. 54, 25 December 2023, copy on mha.gov.in.
• Ministry of Home Affairs notification S.O. 850(E), 23 February 2024, copy on mha.gov.in.
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, as consolidated on Indian Kanoon and Indian Kanoon.
• Independent Thought v Union of India, W.P.(C) 382 of 2013, 11 October 2017, text on Indian Kanoon. Lalita Kumari v Government of Uttar Pradesh, 12 November 2013, text on Indian Kanoon. Imran Pratapgadhi v State of Gujarat, 2025 INSC 410, text on Indian Kanoon.

Last checked 9 October 2026. To report an error on this page, write to info@pinpointventures.in.