IPC or BNS: which criminal law applies to your case

On 1 July 2024 the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) replaced the Indian Penal Code, 1860; the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA) replaced the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Each new code repeals the old one and, in the same section, saves part of it.

Section 358 of the BNS repeals the IPC, and section 358(2) provides that the repeal shall not affect:

“(c) any penalty, or punishment incurred in respect of any offences committed against the Code so repealed; or (d) any investigation or remedy in respect of any such penalty, or punishment”

So an offence committed before 1 July 2024 is still charged and punished under the IPC section that applied when it was committed, even if the FIR is registered later. An offence committed on or after that date falls under the BNS.

Section 531(2)(a) of the BNSS provides:

“if, immediately before the date on which this Sanhita comes into force, there is any appeal, application, trial, inquiry or investigation pending, then, such appeal, application, trial, inquiry or investigation shall be disposed of, continued, held or made, as the case may be, in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, as in force immediately before such commencement”

Here the test is what was pending on that date; when the offence happened does not decide it. In Parvinder Singh v. Directorate of Enforcement, 2026 INSC 519, the Supreme Court held that a proceeding initiated under the CrPC must reach its conclusion under the CrPC, and that an inquiry begins only when the court takes cognizance.

Section 170(2) of the BSA provides:

“Notwithstanding such repeal, if, immediately before the date on which this Adhiniyam comes into force, there is any application, trial, inquiry, investigation, proceeding or appeal pending, then, such application, trial, inquiry, investigation, proceeding or appeal shall be dealt with under the provisions of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, as in force immediately before such commencement”

• Offence in November 2023, FIR and investigation in 2023, trial running on 1 July 2024: the IPC for the offence, and the CrPC and the Evidence Act for the trial, because it was pending on that date.
• Offence in November 2023, FIR registered in August 2024: the IPC for the offence under BNS section 358. No investigation was pending on 1 July 2024, so section 531(2)(a) does not keep the procedure under the CrPC. Check the judgments on this point for your court before you rely on it.
• Offence in September 2024: the BNS, the BNSS and the BSA throughout.

Once you know which code applies, find the section in the other one. Every section of the IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act is mapped to its counterpart on the old and new laws pages, with the official text of both, what changed in the wording, and the Supreme Court judgments that cite it: for example IPC 302, IPC 420 and CrPC 438.

In Vakilat you give the dates and stage of your matter, and the answer opens with the applicable law, worked out by fixed rules from these sections and quoted from the official text. Where a fact is missing, it shows what each possibility would mean. Watch it on film or try it on your matter.

• Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, BNS section 358
• Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, BNSS section 531
• Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, BSA section 170
• Parvinder Singh v. Directorate of Enforcement, 2026 INSC 519, 19 May 2026

This guide is general information about the statutes and is not legal advice.