IPC to BNS: Section Mapping for the Offences You Are Most Likely to Meet

On 1 July 2024 three statutes replaced the criminal law framework that had been in place since the nineteenth century:

The practical consequence for anyone with a case is that section numbers on papers filed after that date differ from the numbers people are used to. This note is a working table for the provisions most often encountered.

The rule that decides which law applies to you

This is the question that matters most, and it is answered simply.

The law in force when the offence was committed governs the case. An FIR registered before 1 July 2024 continues under the IPC and the CrPC, through trial and appeal, to its conclusion. An FIR registered on or after that date proceeds under the BNS and BNSS. This follows from Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, which preserves rights and proceedings under a repealed statute, and from the savings provisions in the new codes themselves.

So the district courts are, and will be for years, running both regimes at once. If your case is from 2023, nothing about it changes.

Offences: IPC to BNS

Procedure: CrPC to BNSS

Two of these come up constantly and are worth fixing in memory:

• Anticipatory bail moved from CrPC 438 to BNSS 482.
• Quashing moved from CrPC 482 to BNSS 528. Note the trap: the number 482 now means anticipatory bail, where it used to mean the High Court’s inherent powers.

Evidence: Indian Evidence Act to BSA

The change with the most practical bite is Section 63 BSA on electronic records, which carries forward and expands the certificate requirement that was in Section 65B. If you intend to rely on messages, call recordings or CCTV, preserve the original device and take advice on the certificate early. A screenshot forwarded through WhatsApp is not, by itself, proof of anything.

What is genuinely new

The BNS is not merely a renumbering. Among the substantive changes:

• Organised crime and petty organised crime are now offences under the general criminal law (Sections 111 and 112), where previously they were covered by special state legislation.
• Terrorist act is defined in Section 113.
• Mob lynching is dealt with as a distinct aggravated form of murder under Section 103(2).
• Snatching is a separate offence under Section 304.
• Section 377 IPC has no counterpart in the BNS.
• Sedition (Section 124A IPC) is gone; Section 152 BNS creates a differently framed offence concerning acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.
• Community service appears as a punishment for certain minor offences.

On procedure, the BNSS introduces timelines that did not previously exist — including a requirement that judgment be pronounced within a fixed period after conclusion of trial, and provision for electronic filing of an FIR and for a Zero FIR to be registered irrespective of territorial jurisdiction under Section 173.

Where to check the authoritative text

Do not rely on a table — including this one — for anything that matters. The bare Acts are published by the Government of India at India Code, and that is the source to cite.

A mapping table is a navigational aid. The wording of the section, and the case law on it, is what decides a case.