BNS, BNSS, BSA: A Practical Transition Guide for 2026

April 18, 2026 — CasePilot Team

On 1 July 2024, three new criminal-law statutes came into force in India: the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA). These replaced, respectively, the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 — three of the most-used statutes in Indian legal practice.

Two years on, the profession is still catching up. Pending cases filed before the commencement date continue under the old regime; new filings move to the new regime; and practitioners routinely juggle both, often within the same brief. This guide is a working reference: what replaced what, which sections moved where, how the "pending cases" rule actually plays out in court, and the drafting considerations that follow.

This post carries an expanded disclaimer. Statutory interpretation evolves quickly; consult the current statutory text and a qualified advocate before relying on anything here for a specific matter.

What Replaced What

The three statutes form a triad, each replacing one piece of the pre-2024 criminal-law framework:

| Old statute | New statute | Full name | |---|---|---| | Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) | BNS | Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 | | Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) | BNSS | Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 | | Indian Evidence Act, 1872 | BSA | Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 |

The commencement date for all three was 1 July 2024, notified under the respective statutes.

The Core Rule for Pending Cases

The most-asked question post-transition is: which statute applies to my matter?

The governing rule, laid down in the repeal-and-savings clauses of each of the three statutes (notably Section 531 BNSS), is straightforward in principle:

• Offences committed before 1 July 2024 continue to be tried under the IPC, CrPC, and Evidence Act — the statutes that were in force at the time of the offence.
• Offences committed on or after 1 July 2024 are tried under the BNS, BNSS, and BSA.

The determining factor is the date of the offence, not the date of filing or the date of cognizance.

In practice, this means:

• A FIR registered on 15 July 2024 for an offence committed on 20 June 2024 → tried under IPC / CrPC / Evidence Act (the old regime).
• A FIR registered on 30 June 2024 for an offence committed on 30 June 2024 → tried under IPC / CrPC / Evidence Act.
• A FIR registered on 2 July 2024 for an offence committed on 2 July 2024 → tried under BNS / BNSS / BSA (the new regime).

Continuing offences (those that straddle 1 July 2024) and certain multi-offence cases require careful analysis — the test is whether each offence, viewed individually, occurred before or after the commencement date.

Section-Mapping: IPC to BNS

The BNS largely retains the structure of the IPC but renumbers many sections. Some widely-used sections:

| IPC (old) | BNS (new) | Offence | |---|---|---| | Section 302 | Section 103 | Murder | | Section 304A | Section 106 | Death by negligence | | Section 307 | Section 109 | Attempt to murder | | Section 323 | Section 115 | Voluntarily causing hurt | | Section 376 | Section 64 | Rape | | Section 379 | Section 303 | Theft | | Section 420 | Section 318 | Cheating | | Section 498A | Section 85 | Cruelty by husband / relatives | | Section 506 | Section 351 | Criminal intimidation |

This is a partial list; the BNS introduces some new offences (notably relating to organized crime, terrorism, and mob lynching) and reshapes others. A full section-mapping table is available in the BNS itself and in most published commentaries.

Practical drafting note: if you are drafting a fresh pleading in a post-1-July-2024 matter, use BNS section references. If you are drafting in a pre-transition matter, stick with IPC references. Mixing the two in a single pleading is a routine error that draws judicial impatience.

Section-Mapping: CrPC to BNSS

The BNSS is structurally closer to the CrPC, but several key provisions have been renumbered and some have been substantively amended:

| CrPC (old) | BNSS (new) | Provision | |---|---|---| | Section 154 | Section 173 | FIR registration | | Section 161 | Section 180 | Statement to police | | Section 164 | Section 183 | Magistrate's statement | | Section 167 | Section 187 | Maximum police custody / judicial custody | | Section 173 | Section 193 | Police report | | Section 313 | Section 351 | Accused examination | | Section 438 | Section 482 | Anticipatory bail | | Section 482 | Section 528 | Inherent powers of HC |

Two substantive changes that matter in daily practice:

• Section 187 BNSS (old Section 167 CrPC) changes the police custody regime. Under the old regime, police custody was limited to 15 days from the date of first remand. Under the new regime, the 15-day period can be distributed across the first 40 or 60 days (depending on the offence) — giving investigating agencies more flexibility at the cost of some defence protections.
• Section 528 BNSS (old Section 482 CrPC) preserves the inherent powers of the High Court substantially unchanged. Practitioners drafting quashing petitions should update the section reference but the substantive test remains as settled by the Supreme Court.

Section-Mapping: Evidence Act to BSA

The BSA is the least-changed of the three in structural terms — it retains most of the Indian Evidence Act's rules on relevancy, admissibility, and burden of proof, with some renumbering and a few substantive updates (notably on electronic evidence).

Core changes:

• Electronic evidence is treated more systematically under the BSA, consolidating provisions that were scattered across IT Act and Evidence Act interpretations.
• The burden-of-proof sections renumber (old Section 101 → new Section 104; old Section 106 → new Section 109 — note: verify against current text).
• Secondary evidence admissibility under BSA Section 58 (old IEA Section 65) has some updated provisos.

For most daily evidentiary work, the substantive law is unchanged — but the section references are different, and judges notice when advocates cite the wrong numbers.

Drafting Considerations

A short checklist for drafting post-transition:

1. Check the date of the offence first. Every drafting decision flows from this. If the offence is pre-1-July-2024, draft under IPC / CrPC / Evidence Act and note "continuing under the Acts repealed by Section [X] of [BNS / BNSS / BSA]" for clarity.
2. Use consistent references within the document. Mixing IPC and BNS section numbers in one pleading invites confusion and potential challenges.
3. Anticipate the repeal-and-savings challenge. If the date of offence is ambiguous, the prosecution and defence may disagree on which regime applies; plead the correct one affirmatively.
4. Template library drift. Most pre-2024 pleading templates cite IPC / CrPC section numbers. Regenerate your boilerplate; do not just copy-paste from a 2023 draft. For an automated path, CasePilot's document templates auto-select the correct regime based on the filing-date you record.
5. Citations to pre-2024 case law remain valid. Supreme Court and HC judgments interpreting the IPC / CrPC / Evidence Act retain their precedential value to the extent the substantive provisions are preserved in the new regime. Signal in the citation: "as interpreted under the then-applicable Section 482 CrPC, now Section 528 BNSS".

Common Traps

From the first two years of transition practice, the recurring errors:

• Wrong regime pleaded. Draftsperson defaults to IPC out of habit; matter is actually post-transition. Opposing counsel flags, court directs amendment.
• Section number looked up in the wrong source. Early commentaries on the BNS had section-mapping errors; always cross-check against the official statutory text.
• Pending case filed with new-regime section numbers. Pre-1-July-2024 offences should be tried under IPC; filing under BNS for an offence that pre-dates the commencement invites rejection.
• Quashing petitions under the wrong section. Section 482 CrPC is now Section 528 BNSS. Use the correct section for the regime applicable to the matter; quashing an IPC-era proceeding is still technically under Section 482 CrPC.

Internal Cross-References

Relevant reading for the full picture:

• Writ Petition Drafting Under Article 226 — writ jurisdiction covering criminal-law matters.
• Drafting a Plaint Under Order VII of the CPC — civil-law procedural pleading, unaffected by the 2024 transition.
• AI Legal Research — CasePilot's AI assistant has section-mapping baked in and surfaces the correct regime for any matter based on the filing date.

Next Up: Stop Tracking Both Regimes Manually

CasePilot's document templates auto-select BNS vs IPC references based on the offence date you record on the matter. CasePilot's AI assistant cites the correct regime for every question. You do not have to hold the full mapping in your head.

30-day free trial, no credit card. Start here.

Expanded Disclaimer: This post discusses the statutory transition from IPC / CrPC / Evidence Act to BNS / BNSS / BSA in effect from 1 July 2024. Section-mapping tables and interpretive points above are simplifications; the full text of each statute, accompanied by ongoing judicial interpretation, governs. Pending-case applicability rules are nuanced and depend on case-specific facts. This is not legal advice. Consult a qualified advocate and the current statutory text before relying on anything here for a specific matter. Content reviewed April 2026.