CrPC 98 vs BNSS 101: Restoration of Abducted Females Explained (2026)

In India, Section 101 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) replaced Section 98 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) on 1 July 2024. A Magistrate can still order an abducted or unlawfully detained woman or girl restored, but a girl can no longer be restored to her "husband", and the express age limit is removed.

At a glance

CrPC	BNSS	Procedure	Key rule in the BNSS text	Classification	Change
98	101	Power to compel restoration of abducted females	On a complaint on oath, a District Magistrate, Sub-divisional Magistrate or Magistrate of the first class may order immediate restoration of a woman "to her liberty", or of a female child "to her parent, guardian or other person having the lawful charge of such child", and compel compliance "using such force as may be necessary"	Not an offence; no First Schedule entry	Modified
97	100	Search for persons wrongfully confined (neighbouring provision)	Search-warrant where a person is confined in circumstances amounting to an offence; person found taken before a Magistrate	Not an offence	Identical

Both sections sit in Part B, "Search-warrants", of Chapter VII (processes to compel the production of things) in each Code.

What changed

Minor edit in effect — "female child under the age of eighteen years" becomes "female child". The age words are deleted from Section 101. Section 2(2) BNSS gives words that the BNSS does not define the meanings assigned to them in the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Section 2(3) BNS defines "child" as "any person below the age of eighteen years". On a reading of those two provisions, the age limit is the same as before, now supplied by definition instead of by the section's own words.
Modified — "husband" omitted. Section 98 CrPC allowed restoration of a female child "to her husband, parent, guardian or other person having the lawful charge of such child". Section 101 BNSS reads "to her parent, guardian or other person having the lawful charge of such child". The Magistrate's order for a female child can therefore no longer direct restoration to her husband.
Identical — everything else: the heading; the trigger ("Upon complaint made on oath of the abduction or unlawful detention of a woman, or a female child for any unlawful purpose"); the Magistrates empowered ("a District Magistrate, Sub-divisional Magistrate or Magistrate of the first class"); the order ("immediate restoration of such woman to her liberty"); and the enforcement words ("may compel compliance with such order, using such force as may be necessary").
Identical — Section 100 BNSS (CrPC 97): the search power for persons wrongfully confined is word for word the same, under a new number.
Minor edit — Section 102 BNSS (CrPC 99): the provision applying the general search-warrant rules to warrants under the search section is renumbered ("section 97" becomes "section 100"). It applies to search-warrants, and the restoration power in Section 101 is not listed in it.

What the section does not say. Neither version defines "unlawful purpose" or "lawful charge", and neither fixes a time limit, a form, or a hearing procedure before the order. Section 101 does not say whether the person against whom the order is made must be heard first; this page does not supply an answer the text does not give.

Statutory text (relevant extract)

Extract, Section 98 CrPC (repealed from 1 July 2024):

Upon complaint made on oath of the abduction or unlawful detention of a woman, or a female child under the age of eighteen years for any unlawful purpose, a District Magistrate, Sub-divisional Magistrate or Magistrate of the first class may make an order for the immediate restoration of such woman to her liberty, or of such female child to her husband, parent, guardian or other person having the lawful charge of such child …

Extract, Section 101 BNSS:

Upon complaint made on oath of the abduction or unlawful detention of a woman, or a female child for any unlawful purpose, a District Magistrate, Sub-divisional Magistrate or Magistrate of the first class may make an order for the immediate restoration of such woman to her liberty, or of such female child to her parent, guardian or other person having the lawful charge of such child, and may compel compliance with such order, using such force as may be necessary.

How it works — the steps

A complaint on oath. The trigger is a "complaint made on oath". The section does not limit who may complain; on a reading of the text, a parent, guardian, relative or any other person with knowledge may do so, provided the complaint is sworn.
What the complaint must show. Either (a) "abduction", or (b) "unlawful detention", of (i) a woman or (ii) a female child, "for any unlawful purpose". "Abduct" is defined in Section 138 BNS: a person who "by force compels, or by any deceitful means induces, any person to go from any place" abducts that person. "Woman" in Section 2(35) BNS means "a female human being of any age". "Unlawful detention" and "unlawful purpose" are not defined.
Which Magistrate. A District Magistrate, a Sub-divisional Magistrate or a Magistrate of the first class.
The order. For a woman: "immediate restoration … to her liberty" — she is freed, not handed to anyone. For a female child: "immediate restoration" to "her parent, guardian or other person having the lawful charge of such child".
Enforcement. The Magistrate "may compel compliance with such order, using such force as may be necessary". The power is discretionary ("may") at both stages.
Relationship with prosecution. The order secures the woman or child; it does not decide guilt. The facts may separately amount to an offence — for example abduction-based offences, kidnapping from lawful guardianship under Section 137(1)(b) BNS, or wrongful confinement under Section 127 BNS — which are investigated and tried in the ordinary way. The offences are covered on the page Kidnapping and abduction: IPC 359–369 vs BNS 137–142, which also notes this section briefly.

Section 100 or Section 101? Section 100 BNSS is wider in whom it protects ("any person") but needs "reason to believe" that the confinement "amounts to an offence"; it works by a search-warrant, and the person found is "immediately taken before a Magistrate, who shall make such order as in the circumstances of the case seems proper". Section 101 is confined to women and female children, starts from a sworn complaint, and leads directly to a restoration order enforceable by force.

What this means in practice

For a parent or guardian of an abducted or detained girl

Make a sworn complaint to the District Magistrate, Sub-divisional Magistrate or a Magistrate of the first class, stating the abduction or unlawful detention and the unlawful purpose alleged. Section 101 requires the complaint to be "on oath".
Show that you are the parent or guardian, or otherwise have "the lawful charge" of the child; the order restores her to such a person.
The restoration order does not replace a police complaint. If the facts disclose a cognizable offence such as kidnapping, the information also goes to the police for registration and investigation.

For a woman who is detained, and those acting for her

For an adult woman, the order is restoration "to her liberty". On a reading of the text, the section does not authorise handing an adult woman over to a parent, husband or anyone else against her will.

For a husband seeking the return of a wife or a minor bride

Section 101 BNSS gives no route to have a female child restored to a husband; the word was removed. For an adult woman, the section only frees her. Other remedies under other laws are outside this page.

For Magistrates and police

Record the complaint on oath and the basis for treating the detention as unlawful and for an unlawful purpose; the section's words are the only statutory criteria.
Where the person to whom a girl would be restored is himself suspected of the detention, the section's words — "lawful charge" — are the test; on a reading of the text, a person holding the child unlawfully does not have lawful charge of her.

Judgments that still matter

No Supreme Court judgment construing Section 98 CrPC or Section 101 BNSS was found in the Supreme Court corpus searched for this page (local AI summaries and one targeted search). Judgments that only mention a petition under the neighbouring Section 97 CrPC as background were not treated as authority on either section. This is a gap in what was found, not a statement that no such judgment exists.

On a reading of the text, any judgment construing the unchanged words — "complaint made on oath", "abduction or unlawful detention", "unlawful purpose", "lawful charge" — would remain relevant to Section 101 BNSS; one that turned on restoration to a husband would not.

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, a restoration complaint under Section 98 CrPC pending on 1 July 2024 is decided under Section 98 — including its reference to the husband — while a complaint made on or after that date falls under Section 101 BNSS. See which law applies to an offence before 1 July 2024.

Frequently asked questions

What is the BNSS equivalent of Section 98 CrPC? Section 101 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 replaces Section 98 CrPC from 1 July 2024, with the same heading, 'Power to compel restoration of abducted females'. On a complaint made on oath of the abduction or unlawful detention of a woman or female child for any unlawful purpose, a District Magistrate, Sub-divisional Magistrate or Magistrate of the first class may order immediate restoration and compel compliance using such force as may be necessary.

What changed from Section 98 CrPC to Section 101 BNSS? Two things. 'A female child under the age of eighteen years' becomes 'a female child', and a female child is to be restored to 'her parent, guardian or other person having the lawful charge of such child' — the word 'husband', which Section 98 CrPC listed first, is omitted. The rest of the section is the same.

Does Section 101 BNSS still cover girls under eighteen only? The section no longer states the age, but Section 2(2) BNSS gives words not defined in the BNSS the meaning they have in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Section 2(3) BNS defines 'child' as any person below the age of eighteen years. On a reading of those provisions, 'female child' in Section 101 BNSS means a girl below eighteen, as Section 98 CrPC said expressly.

Can a Magistrate order a girl to be returned to her husband under the BNSS? Section 101 BNSS does not provide for it. A female child may be restored only to her parent, guardian or other person having the lawful charge of her; Section 98 CrPC had also named her husband. An adult woman is restored 'to her liberty' under both provisions, not to any person.

Who can apply and to whom under Section 101 BNSS? The section requires a 'complaint made on oath' of the abduction or unlawful detention; it does not limit who may make it. The complaint goes to a District Magistrate, Sub-divisional Magistrate or Magistrate of the first class, any of whom may order immediate restoration.

What is the difference between Section 100 and Section 101 BNSS? Section 100 BNSS (formerly Section 97 CrPC) lets a District Magistrate, Sub-divisional Magistrate or Magistrate of the first class issue a search-warrant where there is reason to believe a person is confined in circumstances amounting to an offence; the person found is taken before a Magistrate. Section 101 BNSS applies only to a woman or female child abducted or unlawfully detained for an unlawful purpose, starts with a complaint on oath, and leads directly to an order for restoration, enforceable by force.

Is Section 101 BNSS an offence or a prosecution? No. Section 101 BNSS creates no offence and has no First Schedule entry; it is a power to secure the woman or child. The conduct behind the complaint may separately be an offence, for example kidnapping under Section 137 BNS or an abduction-based offence (abduction is defined in Section 138 BNS), which is prosecuted through the ordinary process.

Which law applies to a restoration complaint pending on 1 July 2024? Section 531(2)(a) BNSS provides that an application or inquiry pending immediately before the BNSS came into force continues under the CrPC as if the BNSS had not come into force. On a reading of that provision, a complaint under Section 98 CrPC pending on that date is decided under Section 98, including its reference to the husband; a complaint made on or after 1 July 2024 is under Section 101 BNSS.

Sources

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (Gazette text): Sections 2(2), 100, 101, 102 and 531(2)(a).
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Gazette text): Sections 2(3), 2(35), 127, 137 and 138.
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (India Code text): Sections 2(y), 97, 98 and 99.
Indian Penal Code, 1860 (India Code text): Section 10.
Judgments: none relied on; searches and hits examined are listed in the page's source notes.

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 98 CrPC vs Section 101 BNSS — Power to Compel Restoration of Abducted Females