CrPC 2 vs BNSS 2: Definitions Changes Explained (2026)

In India, Section 2 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) replaced Section 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) from 1 July 2024. It adds definitions of bail, bail bond, bond, electronic communication and audio-video electronic means, drops the reference to the charge from "victim", and drops metropolitan area and pleader.

At a glance

Section 2 CrPC had 26 clauses, (a) to (y) plus (wa); Section 2 BNSS has 26 clauses in sub-section (1), (a) to (z), and a new sub-section (2).

CrPC	BNSS	Term	Change
—	2(1)(a)	Audio-video electronic means	New
—	2(1)(b)	Bail	New
2(a)	2(1)(c)	Bailable offence / non-bailable offence	Identical
—	2(1)(d)	Bail bond	New
—	2(1)(e)	Bond	New
2(b)	2(1)(f)	Charge	Identical
2(c)	2(1)(g)	Cognizable offence / cognizable case	Identical
2(d)	2(1)(h)	Complaint (with Explanation)	Minor edit ("Code" → "Sanhita")
—	2(1)(i)	Electronic communication	New
2(e)	2(1)(j)	High Court	Identical
2(f)	—	India	Omitted
2(g)	2(1)(k)	Inquiry	Minor edit ("Code" → "Sanhita")
2(h)	2(1)(l)	Investigation	Modified (new Explanation: special Act prevails)
2(i)	2(1)(m)	Judicial proceeding	Identical
2(j)	2(1)(n)	Local jurisdiction	Minor edit
2(k)	—	Metropolitan area	Omitted
2(l)	2(1)(o)	Non-cognizable offence / non-cognizable case	Identical
2(m)	2(1)(p)	Notification	Identical
2(n)	2(1)(q)	Offence	Minor edit (Act name styling)
2(o)	2(1)(r)	Officer in charge of a police station	Identical
2(p)	2(1)(s)	Place	Identical
2(q)	—	Pleader	Omitted
2(r)	2(1)(t)	Police report	Minor edit (s.173(2) → s.193(3))
2(s)	2(1)(u)	Police station	Identical
2(t)	—	Prescribed	Omitted
2(u)	2(1)(v)	Public Prosecutor	Minor edit (s.24 → s.18)
2(v)	2(1)(w)	Sub-division	Identical
2(w)	2(1)(x)	Summons-case	Identical
2(wa)	2(1)(y)	Victim	Modified (charge link dropped)
2(x)	2(1)(z)	Warrant-case	Minor edit (closing punctuation only)
2(y)	2(2)	Words defined elsewhere	Expanded (IPC → IT Act 2000 and BNS)

What changed

Substantive changes first

New — audio-video electronic means, Section 2(1)(a): "shall include use of any communication device for the purposes of video conferencing, recording of processes of identification, search and seizure or evidence, transmission of electronic communication" and such other purposes and means "as the State Government may, by rules provide".
New — electronic communication, Section 2(1)(i): the communication of "any written, verbal, pictorial information or video content" transmitted or transferred person to person, device to device, person to device or device to person, by an electronic device "including a telephone, mobile phone, or other wireless telecommunication device, or a computer, or audio-video player or camera", or any other device or electronic form the Central Government specifies by notification.
New — bail, Section 2(1)(b): "release of a person accused of or suspected of commission of an offence from the custody of law upon certain conditions imposed by an officer or Court on execution by such person of a bond or a bail bond". The CrPC used the word throughout without defining it.
New — bail bond and bond, Sections 2(1)(d) and (e): a bail bond is "an undertaking for release with surety"; a bond is "a personal bond or an undertaking for release without surety".
Modified — investigation, Section 2(1)(l): the definition itself repeats Section 2(h) CrPC ("Code" → "Sanhita"), but a new Explanation reads: "Where any of the provisions of a special Act are inconsistent with the provisions of this Sanhita, the provisions of the special Act shall prevail".
Modified — victim, Section 2(1)(y): "loss or injury caused by reason of the act or omission for which the accused person has been charged" becomes "loss or injury caused by reason of the act or omission of the accused person". "the expression "victim" includes his or her guardian or legal heir" becomes "includes the guardian or legal heir of such victim". On a reading of the text, victim status no longer turns on the charge framed; it turns on loss or injury caused by the accused person's act or omission.
Expanded — words defined elsewhere, Section 2(2): Section 2(y) CrPC gave undefined words the meaning in the Indian Penal Code. Section 2(2) BNSS gives them the meaning in "the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023".
Omitted — four definitions: "India" (Section 2(f): "the territories to which this Code extends"), "metropolitan area" (Section 2(k): the area declared under Section 8), "pleader" (Section 2(q)) and "prescribed" (Section 2(t): "prescribed by rules made under this Code"). Whitespace-normalised searches of the BNSS Gazette text find neither "pleader" nor "metropolitan" anywhere in the Sanhita. On a reading of the text, the loss of "metropolitan area" goes with the removal of Metropolitan Magistrates; see Sections 3–11 CrPC vs BNSS — Criminal Courts.

Drafting changes

Minor edit — complaint, inquiry, local jurisdiction: "this Code" → "this Sanhita". In "local jurisdiction", the words "and such local area may comprise the whole of the State, or any part of the State, as the State Government may, by notification, specify", which Act 45 of 1978 inserted into Section 2(j) CrPC with effect from 18 December 1978, are now part of the enacted text.
Minor edit — offence, Section 2(1)(q): "Cattle-trespass Act, 1871 (1 of 1871)" → "Cattle Trespass Act, 1871" (Act number moved to the margin); substance unchanged.
Minor edit — renumbered cross-references: "police report" now refers to a report "under sub-section (3) of section 193" (CrPC: "sub-section (2) of section 173"); "Public Prosecutor" means a person appointed "under section 18" (CrPC: "section 24").
Minor edit — warrant-case, Section 2(1)(z): same words ("an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term exceeding two years"); only the closing semicolon becomes a full stop because it is now the last clause.
Identical — twelve definitions: bailable offence, charge, cognizable offence, High Court, judicial proceeding, non-cognizable offence, notification, officer in charge of a police station, place, police station, sub-division and summons-case match the CrPC word for word.

Statutory text (relevant extract)

Extract, Section 2(wa) CrPC (inserted by Act 5 of 2009 with effect from 31 December 2009; repealed from 1 July 2024):

"victim" means a person who has suffered any loss or injury caused by reason of the act or omission for which the accused person has been charged and the expression "victim" includes his or her guardian or legal heir;

Extract, Section 2(1) BNSS, clauses (b), (d), (e) and (y):

(b) "bail" means release of a person accused of or suspected of commission of an offence from the custody of law upon certain conditions imposed by an officer or Court on execution by such person of a bond or a bail bond;

(d) "bail bond" means an undertaking for release with surety;

(e) "bond" means a personal bond or an undertaking for release without surety;

(y) "victim" means a person who has suffered any loss or injury caused by reason of the act or omission of the accused person and includes the guardian or legal heir of such victim;

How it works — reading the definitions

Every definition is subject to context. Section 2(1) opens "unless the context otherwise requires", as Section 2 CrPC did. A defined word takes its defined meaning unless the provision where it appears points elsewhere.

Classification comes from the First Schedule. "Bailable offence" (Section 2(1)(c)) and "cognizable offence" (Section 2(1)(g)) point to the First Schedule or "any other law for the time being in force". A "warrant-case" (Section 2(1)(z)) turns on punishment; every other case is a "summons-case" (Section 2(1)(x)).

Complaint and police report are mutually exclusive. A "complaint" (Section 2(1)(h)) is an allegation to a Magistrate "orally or in writing" and "does not include a police report". The Explanation keeps the CrPC rule that a police report disclosing, after investigation, only a non-cognizable offence is deemed a complaint, with the police officer as complainant.

Bail, bond and bail bond work together. The three new definitions give fixed meanings to words used across the bail chapter. Section 193(3)(i)(f) BNSS, for example, requires the police report to state "whether the accused has been released on his bond or bail bond"; the proviso to Section 478(1) BNSS allows, and for an indigent person unable to furnish surety requires, release on a bond "instead of taking bail bond".

Electronic means feed the electronic-mode provisions. Section 530 BNSS lets all trials, inquiries and proceedings be held "in electronic mode, by use of electronic communication or use of audio-video electronic means" — the terms defined in Sections 2(1)(i) and 2(1)(a).

What this means in practice

For the victim and the victim's advocate

Under the proviso to Section 413 BNSS (formerly the proviso to Section 372 CrPC), "the victim shall have a right to prefer an appeal" against an acquittal, a conviction for a lesser offence or inadequate compensation. Who is a "victim" is decided by Section 2(1)(y). The Supreme Court judgments below, on the CrPC definition, hold that a victim need not be the complainant or informant, and that a company and a cheque-dishonour complainant can each be a victim.
On a reading of the text, dropping "for which the accused person has been charged" removes the link between victim status and the charge framed. No judgment on the new wording was found.

For the accused and the defence advocate

Check which instrument the release order uses. A "bail bond" carries a surety; a "bond" does not (Sections 2(1)(d) and (e)). For an indigent accused in a bailable case, the proviso to Section 478(1) requires discharge on a bond.
In proceedings under a special Act, the Explanation to Section 2(1)(l) makes the special Act's inconsistent provisions prevail. On a reading of the text, the Explanation sits within the definition of "investigation", and Section 5 BNSS separately saves special and local laws "in the absence of a specific provision to the contrary".

For the investigating officer

A "police report" is now the report forwarded under Section 193(3) BNSS, which may be forwarded "including through electronic communication".

Judgments that still matter

Jagjeet Singh & Ors. v. Ashish Mishra @ Monu & Anr., [2022] 4 S.C.R. 536 (2022 INSC 427) — 18 April 2022. A Bench of N.V. Ramana CJI, Surya Kant and Hima Kohli JJ. heard an appeal by relatives of persons killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident against a High Court order granting bail. The Court said the legislature had given "a wide and expansive meaning" to "victim" in Section 2(wa) (para 21), and held that a victim "has unbridled participatory rights from the stage of investigation till the culmination of the proceedings in an appeal or revision" and that "'victim' and 'complainant/informant' are two distinct connotations" (para 24). It set aside the bail order and remitted the bail application to the High Court for fresh decision after hearing the victims (paras 44, 46). Section 2(1)(y) BNSS keeps the core of the definition the Court construed.

M/s Celestium Financial v. A. Gnanasekaran Etc., [2025] 4 S.C.R. 2612 (2025 INSC 804) — 8 April 2025. B.V. Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma JJ. held that a complainant under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 "also qualifies as a victim within the meaning of Section 2(wa) of the CrPC" (para 7.7), and that a victim may appeal under the proviso to Section 372 "irrespective of whether he is a complainant or not" without seeking special leave under Section 378(4) (para 10). The Court set aside the High Court's order of 12 June 2024 and gave the appellant liberty to file appeals under the proviso within four months (para 11). The judgment construed the CrPC.

Asian Paints Limited v. Ram Babu & Another, [2025] 7 S.C.R. 573 (2025 INSC 828) — 14 July 2025. Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Prashant Kumar Mishra JJ. held that Section 2(wa) "has thoughtfully accorded an expansive understanding to the term 'victim'" (para 36), and that the company in whose name counterfeit products were sold was the victim, since it suffered the financial and reputational loss, although the written complaint had been lodged by another person (paras 37, 42, 44). It added that a victim need not also be the complainant or informant (para 44). It held that the proviso to Section 372 is "a stand-alone" provision not controlled by Section 378 (para 43). The High Court's order holding the appeal not maintainable was set aside and the appeal restored to the High Court for hearing on merits (paras 51–52).

Bansal Milk Chilling Centre v. Rana Milk Food Private Ltd. & Anr., [2025] 7 S.C.R. 1631 (2025 INSC 899) — 25 July 2025. B.V. Nagarathna and K.V. Viswanathan JJ., considering an amendment to a cheque-dishonour complaint after cognizance, set out the definition of "complaint" in Section 2(d) CrPC, identifying Section 2(1)(h) BNSS as its counterpart, and observed that "as would be seen ordinarily, a complaint could even be oral" — while noting that Section 142 of the Negotiable Instruments Act requires a written complaint for a Section 138 offence — so any question about amending a written complaint should be considered "by giving the widest latitude", subject to no prejudice to the accused (para 14). The appeal was allowed and the trial court's order allowing the amendment restored (para 20).

On a reading of the text, Sections 2(1)(h) and 2(1)(y) BNSS repeat the words these judgments construed (subject to the change to "victim"), so their reasoning remains relevant.

Which law applies to your case

Under Section 531(2)(a) BNSS, any appeal, application, trial, inquiry or investigation pending immediately before 1 July 2024 is "disposed of, continued, held or made" under the CrPC "as if this Sanhita had not come into force", so the CrPC definitions govern those matters. Proceedings begun on or after that date use Section 2 BNSS. Whether a pending-case victim may rely on the wider Section 2(1)(y) is not answered by the text; on a reading of Section 531(2)(a), the CrPC definition governs a pending matter. See which law applies to an offence before 1 July 2024.

Frequently asked questions

What is the BNSS equivalent of Section 2 CrPC? Section 2 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 replaces Section 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 from 1 July 2024. Section 2(1) has 26 definitions, clauses (a) to (z), and Section 2(2) imports meanings from the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Most CrPC definitions are carried over with new clause letters.

Which definitions are new in Section 2 BNSS? Five: audio-video electronic means (Section 2(1)(a)), bail (Section 2(1)(b)), bail bond (Section 2(1)(d)), bond (Section 2(1)(e)) and electronic communication (Section 2(1)(i)). The CrPC defined none of these terms. An Explanation to the definition of investigation (Section 2(1)(l)) is also new.

How does the BNSS define bail? Section 2(1)(b) BNSS defines bail as release of a person accused of or suspected of commission of an offence from the custody of law upon conditions imposed by an officer or Court, on execution by that person of a bond or a bail bond. Section 2(1)(d) defines a bail bond as an undertaking for release with surety, and Section 2(1)(e) defines a bond as a personal bond or an undertaking for release without surety.

Has the definition of victim changed under the BNSS? Yes. Section 2(wa) CrPC covered loss or injury caused by the act or omission for which the accused person has been charged. Section 2(1)(y) BNSS covers loss or injury caused by reason of the act or omission of the accused person, without the words about the charge. Both include the guardian or legal heir.

Which CrPC definitions were dropped from the BNSS? Four CrPC definitions have no counterpart in Section 2 BNSS: India (Section 2(f)), metropolitan area (Section 2(k)), pleader (Section 2(q)) and prescribed (Section 2(t)). The words pleader and metropolitan do not appear anywhere in the BNSS Gazette text.

Does a special law override the BNSS? The Explanation to Section 2(1)(l) BNSS, the definition of investigation, says that where any provision of a special Act is inconsistent with the Sanhita, the special Act prevails. The CrPC definition of investigation in Section 2(h) had no such Explanation. Section 5 BNSS separately saves special and local laws.

Is a complaint still defined the same way? Yes. Section 2(1)(h) BNSS repeats Section 2(d) CrPC, with Sanhita for Code: any allegation made orally or in writing to a Magistrate, with a view to his taking action, that some person has committed an offence, excluding a police report. In Bansal Milk Chilling Centre (2025 INSC 899), the Supreme Court noted that a complaint could ordinarily even be oral.

Sources

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (Gazette text): Sections 2(1)(a)–(z) and 2(2), 3(1), 5, 193(3), 413, 478(1), 485, 530 and 531(2)(a).
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (India Code text): Section 2(a)–(y), including (wa), with the amendment footnotes for clauses (j) and (wa).
Judgments read in full text: Jagjeet Singh v. Ashish Mishra (2022_4_536_555_EN.md); M/s Celestium Financial v. A. Gnanasekaran (2025_4_2612_2649_EN.md); Asian Paints Limited v. Ram Babu (2025_7_573_592_EN.md); Bansal Milk Chilling Centre v. Rana Milk Food Private Ltd. (2025_7_1631_1641_EN.md).

This page explains the statutory text and the judgments cited as they stand. It is not legal advice; for a specific case, consult an advocate.

Section 2 CrPC vs Section 2 BNSS — Definitions