FIR Lodged On Or After July 1 Would Be Under IPC If Offence Committed Before That Date; Investigation Will Be As Per BNSS: Allahabad HC

The Allahabad High Court has observed that in a particular case, if the FIR is lodged on or after July 1, 2024 (the date of commencement of 3 New Criminal Laws), for an offence committed before that date, it would be registered under the provisions of the IPC. Still, the investigation will continue as per Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).The Court also held that in a particular case, if the investigation is pending on July 1, 2024, the investigation will continue as per the CrPC; however, the cognizance of the police report will be taken as per the procedure laid down under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).The Court also clarified that in such a case, all subsequent proceedings, including enquiry, trial, or appeal, would be conducted as per the BNSS procedure. A bench of Justice Vivek Kumar Birla and Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal further summarised the law regarding the effect of repealing the IPC and CrPC by BNS and BNSS, respectively, and the same is being mentioned below: If an FIR is registered on or after July 1, 2024, for an offence committed before that date, it would be registered under the provisions of the IPC, but the investigation will continue as per BNSS. In the pending investigation on July 1, 2024 (on the date of commencement of New Criminal Laws), the investigation will continue as per the CrPC till the cognizance is taken on the police report, and if any direction is made for further investigation by the competent Court, then the same will continue as per the CrPCThe cognizance of the pending investigation on or after July 1, 2024, would be taken as per the BNSS, and all the subsequent proceedings, including enquiry, trial, or appeal, would be conducted as per the procedure of BNSS. Section 531(2)(a) of BNSS saved only pending investigation, trial, appeal, application and enquiry; therefore, if any trial, appeal, revision or application is commenced after July 1, 2024, the same will be proceeded as per the procedure of BNSS.If the trial pending on July 1, 2024, is concluded on or after July 1, 2024, then an appeal or revision against the judgement passed in such a trial will be as per the BNSS. However, if any application is filed in appeal, pending on July 1, 2024, then the procedure of CrPC will apply. If the criminal proceeding or chargesheet is challenged before the High Court on or after July 1, 2024, where the investigation was conducted as per CrPC, then the same will be filed u/s 528 of BNSS, not u/s 482 CrPC. The Court made these observations while dealing with an FIR quashing plea filed by Deepu and four other accused persons booked in the alleged rape case. In this case, the FIR, lodged on July 3, contained provisions of the Indian Penal Code. In view of this, the Court had earlier questioned the Superintendent of Police, Hamirpur, over not invoking the provisions of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) even though the FIR was lodged on July 3. Filing a personal affidavit in the matter, the SP Concerned submitted before the Court that in respect of the procedure after the commencement of BNSS, a circular (dated July 4, 2024) was issued by the Police Technical Services Headquarters, Uttar Pradesh, which provided that if any offence is committed prior to the enforcement of BNC, the FIR would be registered under the provisions of IPC, and procedure of investigation would be followed as per Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (B.N.S.S.) Against this backdrop, it was submitted that since the alleged incident occurred before July 1, 2024, an FIR was not lodged under the BNS but the IPC. Finding the personal affidavit and the reasoning given therein satisfactory, the Court said that the circular of the Police Technical Services Headquarters, UP, was 'absolutely correct' in view of Article 20 of the Constitution of India. “…in case the F.I.R. is registered after the commencement of new criminal laws for the offence committed prior to the enforcement of new criminal laws then the F.I.R. would be registered under the provision of I.P.C. as the I.P.C. is a substantive law which was prevalent at the time of committing the offence because as per Article 20 of the Constitution of India a person can be convicted of an offence for the violation of law enforced at the time of the commission of the act,” the Court remarked. Further, the Court also addressed the question as to what would be the procedure of investigation, if the FIR is registered after the commencement of new criminal laws for the offence committed prior to the enforcement of new criminal laws, as such investigation is not saved by Section 531(2)(a) of the BNSS to be conducted as per CrPC. To answer the query, the Court referred to Section 6 of the General Clause Act, 1897 to note that the repeal of CrPC shall not affect any investigation, legal proceeding or remedy in respect of any liability, penalty or ...

FIR Lodged On Or After July 1 Would Be Under IPC If Offence Committed Before That Date; Investigation Will Be As Per BNSS: Allahabad HC

Sparsh Upadhyay

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