Sections 61–69 CrPC vs Sections 63–71 BNSS — Summons: Form, Service and Proof of Service

Section mapping CrPC ↔ BNSS expanded trial procedure summonsservice of summonsSection 64 BNSSSection 62 CrPC
Old provision
Section 61-69 CrPC
Summons — form, service, service on corporations, substituted service, affixation, Government servants, service outside local limits, proof of service, service on witness by post
New provision
Section 63-71 BNSS
Summons — form, service, service on corporate bodies, firms and societies, substituted service, affixation, Government servants, service outside local limits, proof of service, service on witness

Sections 63 to 71 BNSS renumber Sections 61 to 69 CrPC one for one. A summons may now be issued in encrypted or other electronic form bearing the image of the Court's seal or a digital signature (s.63(ii)), served by electronic communication under State rules (s.64(2) proviso) and proved by an attested copy (s.70(3)); a witness summons may be sent by electronic communication (s.71(1)). Substituted service may be on 'some adult member' of the family instead of 'some adult male member' (s.66), and service on a company is on its Director, Manager, Secretary or other officer, with a new route for firms through a partner (s.65(2)). Sections 67 and 68 carry renumbered cross-references; Section 69 is identical to Section 67 CrPC.

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In India, Sections 63 to 71 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) replaced Sections 61 to 69 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) on 1 July 2024. A summons may now be issued and served by electronic communication, left with any adult family member rather than only a male one, and served on a firm through a partner.

At a glance

These are procedural provisions: they create no offence, so neither First Schedule classifies them.

CrPC BNSS Subject Key rule in the BNSS text Change
61 63 Form of summons (i) in writing, in duplicate, signed and sealed; or (ii) in encrypted or other electronic form bearing the image of the Court's seal or a digital signature Expanded
62 64 Summons how served Police officer, or Court officer or other public servant; personally "if practicable"; new register of address, email and phone number; new electronic service under State rules Expanded
63 65 Service on corporate bodies, firms and societies Director, Manager, Secretary or other officer, or registered post; new sub-section (2) for firms through a partner Modified
64 66 Person summoned cannot be found Duplicate left with "some adult member" of the family (was "adult male member") Modified
65 67 Service cannot be effected as before provided Affixation on the house or homestead; Court declares service or orders fresh service Minor edit
66 68 Service on Government servant Sent to the head of office, who serves and returns it Minor edit
67 69 Service outside local limits Sent in duplicate to the local Magistrate Identical
68 70 Proof of service Affidavit before a Magistrate and endorsed duplicate; new sub-section (3) on electronic service Expanded
69 71 Service of summons on witness Copy by electronic communication or registered post; Court "may deem" service Expanded

What changed

The electronic-service changes are summarised here; the step-by-step position for someone who receives a summons by email or phone is on the scenario page Summons by email or WhatsApp — electronic service under BNSS vs CrPC.

  • Expanded — Section 63 (CrPC 61), form: the single rule becomes two alternatives. Clause (i) repeats Section 61 CrPC (writing, duplicate, signature of the presiding officer or an officer the High Court directs by rule, seal of the Court), and clause (ii) adds a summons "in an encrypted or any other form of electronic communication" bearing "the image of the seal of the Court or digital signature". "Code" becomes "Sanhita".
  • Expanded — Section 64(1) (CrPC 62(1)): same words on who serves, plus a new proviso requiring "the police station or the registrar in the Court" to maintain a register of "the address, email address, phone number and such other details as the State Government may, by rules, provide".
  • Expanded — Section 64(2) (CrPC 62(2)): personal service "if practicable" by delivering or tendering a duplicate is unchanged; a new proviso allows a summons "bearing the image of Court's seal" to be served by electronic communication "in such form and in such manner, as the State Government may, by rules, provide".
  • Minor edit — Section 64(3) (CrPC 62(3)): "on whom a summons is so served" becomes "so served personally", so the duty to sign a receipt on the other duplicate is tied to personal service.
  • Modified — Section 65(1) (CrPC 63): the heading adds "firms"; service "on a corporation" becomes "on a company or corporation"; the persons served change from "the secretary, local manager or other principal officer" to "the Director, Manager, Secretary or other officer"; and registered post is addressed to those officers instead of "the chief officer of the corporation in India". The Explanation now defines "company" as "a body corporate" and "corporation" as an incorporated company or other body corporate "registered under the Companies Act, 2013" or a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
  • New — Section 65(2): a summons to "a firm or other association of individuals" may be served on any partner, personally or by registered post, with the same deemed-arrival rule.
  • Modified — Section 66 (CrPC 64): "some adult male member of his family" becomes "some adult member of his family". The Explanation ("A servant is not a member of the family") is unchanged.
  • Minor edit — Sections 67 and 68 (CrPC 65 and 66): cross-references renumbered ("section 62, section 63 or section 64" becomes "section 64, section 65 or section 66"; "section 62" becomes "section 64"). The words are otherwise the same.
  • Identical — Section 69 (CrPC 67): service outside local limits through the local Magistrate, same words and heading.
  • Expanded — Section 70 (CrPC 68): sub-sections (1) and (2) repeat the CrPC with the cross-reference renumbered ("section 62 or section 64" becomes "section 64 or section 66"). New sub-section (3): all summons served through electronic communication under Sections 64 to 71 "shall be considered as duly served", and a copy "shall be attested and kept as a proof of service of summons".
  • Expanded — Section 71 (CrPC 69): the heading drops "by post". In sub-section (1), the Court may direct a copy of a witness summons to be served "by electronic communication or by registered post" (CrPC: registered post only). Sub-section (2) adds a further basis — "proof of delivery of summons under sub-section (3) of section 70 by electronic communication to the satisfaction of the Court" — and the Court "may deem" the summons duly served where the CrPC said it "may declare" it so.

State amendment not carried over: the CrPC text records an Andaman and Nicobar Islands amendment (U.T. Act 6 of 1977) allowing the substance of a witness summons under Section 69 CrPC to be sent by wireless message. Section 71 BNSS carries no such local text; its electronic-communication route applies generally.

Statutory text (relevant extract)

Extract, Section 64 CrPC (repealed from 1 July 2024):

Where the person summoned cannot, by the exercise of due diligence, be found, the summons may be served by leaving one of the duplicates for him with some adult male member of his family residing with him …

Extract, Section 63 BNSS, clause (ii):

(ii) in an encrypted or any other form of electronic communication and shall bear the image of the seal of the Court or digital signature.

Extract, Section 64(2) BNSS, proviso:

Provided that summons bearing the image of Court's seal may also be served by electronic communication in such form and in such manner, as the State Government may, by rules, provide.

Extract, Section 70(3) BNSS:

(3) All summons served through electronic communication under sections 64 to 71 (both inclusive) shall be considered as duly served and a copy of such summons shall be attested and kept as a proof of service of summons.

How it works — the steps

  1. Issue (Section 63). The Court issues the summons either in writing, in duplicate, signed and sealed, or in electronic form bearing the image of its seal or a digital signature. In Satender Kumar Antil (below), the Supreme Court read Sections 63 and 64 together to mean that either kind must carry the Court's seal or its image when served (para 36).
  2. Who serves (Section 64(1)). A police officer, or, subject to State rules, an officer of the issuing Court or another public servant. The police station or the Court registrar keeps the register of addresses, email addresses and phone numbers that the proviso requires.
  3. Personal service (Section 64(2)–(3)). If practicable, a duplicate is delivered or tendered to the person summoned, who signs a receipt on the other duplicate if the serving officer asks. Electronic service is an additional route under the proviso, in the form and manner fixed by State rules.
  4. Special addressees. A company or corporation — its Director, Manager, Secretary or other officer, or registered post to them (Section 65(1)); a firm or association — any partner (Section 65(2)); a Government servant — through the head of office, whose signature on the return is "evidence of due service" (Section 68).
  5. Substituted service (Section 66). If the person cannot be found by due diligence, a duplicate may be left with an adult member of the family residing with him, who signs a receipt if asked. A servant does not count.
  6. Affixation (Section 67). If none of Sections 64 to 66 works, a duplicate is affixed to a conspicuous part of the house or homestead where the person ordinarily resides. Service is not complete on affixation alone: the Court, "after making such inquiries as it thinks fit", either declares the summons duly served or orders fresh service.
  7. Outside the Court's jurisdiction (Sections 69–70). The summons is ordinarily sent in duplicate to the Magistrate where the person resides or is. Proof comes by an affidavit made before a Magistrate plus the endorsed duplicate, presumed correct "unless and until the contrary is proved" (Section 70(1)).
  8. Witnesses (Section 71). Alongside the ordinary summons, the Court may direct a copy to be sent by electronic communication or registered post to the place where the witness "ordinarily resides or carries on business or personally works for gain". A signed acknowledgement, a postal endorsement of refusal, or proof of electronic delivery to the Court's satisfaction lets the Court deem service complete.

"Electronic communication" is defined in Section 2(1)(i) BNSS to include information transmitted by "a telephone, mobile phone, or other wireless telecommunication device, or a computer". Section 530(i) separately allows the "issuance, service and execution of summons and warrant" to be held in electronic mode.

What this means in practice

For a person who receives a summons

  • A summons delivered through a family member is valid only if that member is an adult residing with the person summoned (Section 66). On a reading of the text, service on a domestic worker is not service under Section 66.
  • A summons affixed to the door is not service until the Court declares it so under Section 67. Check the order sheet for that declaration before treating a date as missed.
  • An electronic summons must carry the image of the Court's seal or a digital signature (Sections 63(ii) and 64(2) proviso); see the scenario page linked above for how to verify one.

For companies, firms and their officers

  • Registered-post service is deemed effected "when the letter would arrive in ordinary course of post" (Section 65(1) and (2)). Keep a current officer address on record; a letter addressed to a Director, Manager, Secretary or other officer in India suffices.
  • For a firm, service on any one partner is service on the firm under Section 65(2) — a route Section 63 CrPC did not provide in terms.

For the complainant and prosecution

  • Supply current addresses, email addresses and phone numbers of the accused and witnesses; the Section 64(1) register exists to hold them.
  • For witnesses, ask the Court for a Section 71(1) direction at the time the summons issues, so that electronic or postal service runs "simultaneously" with ordinary service.

For courts and serving officers

  • Keep the attested copy required by Section 70(3) for every electronic service; it is the proof the section contemplates.
  • Electronic service under the Section 64(2) proviso depends on the form and manner "as the State Government may, by rules, provide". Whether a particular State has notified such rules must be checked locally; this page does not record it.

Judgments that still matter

Satender Kumar Antil v. Central Bureau of Investigation, [2025] 7 S.C.R. 1858 (2025 INSC 909) — 16 July 2025. M.M. Sundresh and N. Kotiswar Singh JJ. dismissed an application by the State of Haryana to modify an earlier order that barred service of police notices under Section 41A CrPC / Section 35 BNSS by WhatsApp or other electronic means (paras 1-3, 44). Reading Sections 63 and 64 BNSS, the Court held that "irrespective of the summons being issued under Section 63(i) or Section 63(ii)", it must bear the Court's seal or its image when served (para 36). A summons under Section 71 has "no immediate bearing on the liberty of an individual" if not complied with, unlike a Section 35 notice (para 38), and "A summons issued by a Court is a judicial act, whereas a notice issued by the Investigating Agency is an executive act" (para 39). It concluded that electronic communication is not a valid mode of serving a Section 35 notice (para 43). The judgment reads Sections 63, 64 and 71 BNSS directly; it also confines their electronic route to Court summons.

Indian Bank Association v. Union of India, [2014] 5 S.C.R. 386 — 21 April 2014. K.S. Radhakrishnan and Vikramajit Sen JJ., hearing a writ petition on delay in cheque-dishonour cases, issued directions to criminal courts dealing with Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. Direction (2) in para 21 states that summons "must be properly addressed and sent by post as well as by e-mail address got from the complainant", that the Court may take the help of the police or a nearby Court, and that if the summons returns unserved "immediate follow up action be taken"; para 22 directs all criminal courts dealing with Section 138 cases to follow these procedures. The directions were confined to Section 138 cases under the CrPC. On a reading of Sections 64(2) and 71(1) BNSS, electronic service now has a statutory basis in every case, subject to State rules for the Section 64(2) route.

In Re: Expeditious Trial of Cases Under Section 138 of N.I. Act 1881, [2021] 4 S.C.R. 257 — 16 April 2021. A Bench of S.A. Bobde C.J. and L. Nageswara Rao, B.R. Gavai, A.S. Bopanna and S. Ravindra Bhat JJ., in a suo motu writ petition, recorded that "Undue delay in service of summons is the main cause" of the accumulation of Section 138 complaints and requested the High Courts to issue practice directions treating service of summons in one complaint forming part of a transaction as deemed service in all complaints before the same court relating to cheques issued in that transaction (para 16; conclusion 5 in para 24). The Court referred the other service-of-summons suggestions, including electronic service, to a committee (the paragraph opening "State Governments and Union Territories, several suggestions"). This is a request to High Courts in Section 138 cases, not a general rule on Sections 64 to 71 BNSS.

On a reading of the text, judgments construing Sections 65 to 68 CrPC remain relevant to Sections 67 to 70 BNSS, whose operative words repeat them apart from renumbered cross-references and the new Section 70(3).

Which law applies to your case

Section 531(2)(a) BNSS provides that any appeal, application, trial, inquiry or investigation pending immediately before the BNSS came into force is to be disposed of, continued, held or made in accordance with the CrPC "as if this Sanhita had not come into force". On a reading of that provision, summons issued in such a pending matter follow Sections 61 to 69 CrPC, including the "adult male member" rule and service on a witness by registered post only; proceedings begun on or after 1 July 2024 follow Sections 63 to 71 BNSS. See which law applies to an offence before 1 July 2024.

Frequently asked questions

What is the BNSS equivalent of Sections 61 to 69 CrPC? Sections 63 to 71 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 replace Sections 61 to 69 CrPC one for one: form of summons (63), how served (64), corporate bodies, firms and societies (65), person not found (66), affixation (67), Government servant (68), outside local limits (69), proof of service (70) and witness summons (71). They form Part A of Chapter VI, 'Processes to compel appearance'.

Can a court summons now be served electronically? Yes, within limits. Section 63(ii) BNSS allows a summons in an encrypted or other form of electronic communication bearing the image of the Court's seal or a digital signature, and the proviso to Section 64(2) allows a summons bearing the image of the Court's seal to be served by electronic communication in the form and manner the State Government provides by rules. Section 70(3) treats a summons served electronically under Sections 64 to 71 as duly served, with an attested copy kept as proof.

Can a summons be left with a woman of the family under the BNSS? Yes. Section 66 BNSS allows a summons to be left with 'some adult member' of the family of the person summoned who resides with him, where that person cannot be found by the exercise of due diligence. Section 64 CrPC required 'some adult male member'. A servant is still not a member of the family for this purpose.

How is a summons served on a company or a partnership firm? Under Section 65(1) BNSS, a summons to a company or corporation may be served on its Director, Manager, Secretary or other officer, or sent by registered post addressed to one of them in India. Section 65(2) BNSS, which has no CrPC counterpart, allows service on a firm or other association of individuals through any partner, personally or by registered post. Postal service is deemed effected when the letter would arrive in the ordinary course of post.

What if the summons cannot be served personally or on a family member? Section 67 BNSS, like Section 65 CrPC, lets the serving officer affix a duplicate of the summons to a conspicuous part of the house or homestead where the person ordinarily resides. The Court may then, after such inquiries as it thinks fit, declare the summons duly served or order fresh service in such manner as it considers proper.

How is service of a summons proved when the serving officer is not in court? Under Section 70(1) BNSS, an affidavit purporting to be made before a Magistrate that the summons was served, with the endorsed duplicate, is admissible and presumed correct until the contrary is proved. Section 70(3) adds that summons served through electronic communication under Sections 64 to 71 are considered duly served, and a copy is to be attested and kept as proof.

Can the police serve a Section 35 BNSS notice by WhatsApp because summons can be sent electronically? No. In Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI ([2025] 7 S.C.R. 1858), the Supreme Court held that electronic communication is not a valid mode of serving a notice under Section 35 BNSS. It distinguished a summons under Sections 63 and 71, which is a judicial act, from a police notice, which is an executive act (para 39).

Which law governs service of summons in a case pending before 1 July 2024? Section 531(2)(a) BNSS provides that an appeal, application, trial, inquiry or investigation pending immediately before the BNSS came into force is to be disposed of, continued, held or made in accordance with the CrPC as if the BNSS had not come into force. On a reading of that provision, summons in such a pending matter are governed by Sections 61 to 69 CrPC.

Sources

  • Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (Gazette text): Sections 2(1)(i), 63 to 71, 530 and 531(2)(a).
  • Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (India Code text): Sections 61 to 69, with the Andaman and Nicobar Islands amendment to Section 69.
  • Judgments read in full text: Satender Kumar Antil v. Central Bureau of Investigation (2025_7_1858_1878_EN.md); Indian Bank Association v. Union of India (2014_5_386_410_EN.md); In Re: Expeditious Trial of Cases Under Section 138 of N.I. Act 1881 (2021_4_257_273_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.

Landmark cases referenced

  • • Indian Bank Association v. Union of India, [2014] 5 S.C.R. 386
  • • In Re: Expeditious Trial of Cases Under Section 138 of N.I. Act 1881, [2021] 4 S.C.R. 257

Post-2024 rulings under the new code

  • Satender Kumar Antil v. Central Bureau of Investigation, [2025] 7 S.C.R. 1858 (2025 INSC 909)
    Supreme Court · 2025-07-16
    Dismissed the State of Haryana's application to allow police notices under Section 35 BNSS to be served electronically. Read Sections 63, 64 and 71 BNSS: whether issued under Section 63(i) or 63(ii), a summons must bear the Court's seal or its image when served (para 36); a summons is a judicial act and a Section 35 notice an executive act, so the electronic route for summons cannot be read into Section 35 (paras 38-39, 43).

Related sections

In the old code
  • • Section 70 CrPC — Form of warrant of arrest and duration
  • • Section 91 CrPC — Summons to produce document or other thing
  • • Section 204 CrPC — Issue of process
In the new code
  • • Section 2(1)(i) BNSS — Electronic communication
  • • Section 72 BNSS — Form of warrant of arrest and duration
  • • Section 94 BNSS — Summons to produce document or other thing
  • • Section 530 BNSS — Trial and proceedings to be held in electronic mode
Statutory text verified against BNSS as published in the Gazette of India (CG-DL-E-25122023-250884, pdftotext), cross-checked against the India Code BNSS PDF text; CrPC from the original India Code PDF text including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands State amendment to s.69; word-by-word diff of each pair on whitespace-normalised text; read 2026-09-28
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