CrPC ↔ BNSS quick map

How to use this card. Everyone in the field — police included — still speaks the old numbers; you must write the new ones. When a police calendar or a senior says a CrPC number, find it in the middle column and draft with the right-hand one. The notes column carries the working detail you most often need at the moment of drafting: the clock, the forum, or the trap. In force since 1 July 2024; anything drafted with a CrPC number after that date is defective on its face.

Subject	CrPC 1973	BNSS 2023	Notes / traps
Executive Magistrates — appointment; DM, ADM, SDM; EM powers on Commissioner of Police	20	14	RDO = SDM under s.14(4); in commissionerate cities the CP exercises EM powers, displacing the RDO for those functions
Special Executive Magistrates	21	15	Commonly conferred on police officers for defined areas/functions
Local jurisdiction of EMs	22	16	—
Subordination of EMs	23	17	All EMs (except ADM) under the DM; within a sub-division, under the SDM
Arrest by or in presence of a Magistrate	44	41	—
Search for persons wrongfully confined	97	100	DM/SDM/JMFC issues the search warrant
Restoration of abducted females	98	101	—
Magistrate may direct search in his presence	103	108	—
Security for keeping the peace (bind-over)	107	126	Bond up to 1 year; the workhorse before elections and festivals
Security — persons disseminating certain matters	108	127	“Seditious” reworded to “certain” matters; bond up to 3 years
Security — suspected persons	109	128	Bond up to 3 years
Security — habitual offenders	110	129	Rowdy-sheeter section; bond up to 3 years
Show-cause order to be made	111	130	Must state substance of information, bond amount, term, sureties — the order most often quashed for vagueness
Procedure — person present / not present	112, 113	131, 132	—
Copy of order with summons/warrant; dispensing with attendance	114, 115	133, 134	—
Inquiry as to truth of information	116	135	6-month limit or proceedings lapse; interim bond possible
Order to give security	117	136	—
Discharge	118	137	—
Bond commencement, contents, rejecting sureties	119–121	138–140	—
Imprisonment in default; release; unexpired bond	122–124	141–143	DM confirmation needed beyond limits
Dispersal of assembly by civil force	129	148	Any EM or SHO; minimum force, warning first, your presence on record
Use of armed forces to disperse	130	149	Only the highest-ranking EM present may requisition
Armed-force officers’ power to disperse	131	150	Only when no EM can be contacted
Protection for dispersal acts	132	151	No prosecution without government sanction
Public nuisance — conditional order	133	152	Encroachments on public ways, dangerous structures, harmful trades
Service of order	134	153	—
Obey or show cause; penalty	135, 136	154, 155	—
Public right denied	137	156	Stay for civil court unless denial frivolous
Show-cause procedure; local investigation/expert	138–140	157–159	—
Order made absolute; disobedience	141	160	No appeal; revision under 438 only
Injunction pending inquiry	142	161	Interim relief inside nuisance proceedings
Prohibiting repetition of nuisance	143	162	—
Urgent orders — apprehended danger (“144”)	144	163	Written order stating material facts; ex parte allowed; 2 months’ life, State may extend to 6; expressly covers electronic communication
Land/water dispute likely to breach peace	145	164	Decide possession on date of preliminary order only — never title; forcible dispossession within prior 2 months counts as possession
Attachment; receiver	146	165	Emergency, or no party in possession
Right-of-user disputes	147	166	Easements, irrigation turns
Local inquiry (land disputes)	148	167	—
Police preventive arrest	151	170	Feeds your s.126 bind-over docket during bandobast
Police inquest	174	194	Report to DM/SDM within 24 hours; post-mortem mandatory for a woman’s suicide/suspicious death within 7 years of marriage
Summoning inquest witnesses	175	195	—
Magisterial inquiry into cause of death; exhumation; custodial death	176	196	196(2): mandatory inquiry for death/disappearance/rape in custody; 196(4): exhumation; 196(6): body to civil surgeon within 24 hours unless reasons recorded
Appeal from security orders	373	414	To the Sessions Judge — the only regular appeal from EM orders
Revision	397	438	The general challenge route for EM orders
Making over / withdrawal of EM cases	411	451	—

Traps

1. CrPC 144A is gone. The specific power to prohibit carrying arms in processions and mass drills has no BNSS equivalent — reach that mischief through the general s.163 power and the Arms Act.
2. BNSS 144 is not “144”. BNSS 144 is maintenance of wives, children and parents (old CrPC 125). The curfew/prohibitory power is BNSS 163. Never let the old habit put “144” in an order.
3. CrPC 153 is gone. Police inspection of weights and measures was omitted — that field is purely Legal Metrology now.
4. Custodial-death inquiries: CrPC 176(1A) named the Judicial Magistrate; BNSS 196(2) says only “the Magistrate”. Prevailing practice and NHRC guidance still route these to the Judicial Magistrate — follow practice unless the State instructs otherwise, and flag the nuance rather than assuming the file is yours.
5. The clocks are the quashing grounds: 6 months on the 135 inquiry, 2 months on a 163 order, 24 hours on the 194 report. Diary them the day proceedings open.