Important Definitions under | Section 2 BNSS

Important Definitions under Section 2 of the BNSS, 2023: Bail, Cognizable Offence, Complaint, Investigation, Inquiry, Victim, Warrant-Case and Electronic Means

Section 2 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 contains twenty-six defined expressions, lettered (a) to (z), and a sub-section (2) that imports definitions from two other statutes. It is placed in Chapter I and is short, and it is easy to pass over. That would be a mistake. A small number of these definitions determine the entire route a criminal case takes: whether the police may investigate without an order of a Magistrate, whether bail is claimable as of right, which trial procedure applies and which court will conduct it. The definitions are not descriptive labels but operative provisions.

Every definition opens under the words “in this Sanhita, unless the context otherwise requires”. The qualification is real. A defined expression takes its statutory meaning unless the provision in which it appears indicates a different one, so a definition is read with the section that uses it and not in isolation.

Figure 1: The twenty-six definitions grouped by the function they perform

1. What Changed from Section 2 of the CrPC

Figure 2: The arithmetic of section 2

Section 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 contained twenty-five lettered clauses, together with clause (wa) defining victim, which was inserted by amendment in 2009. The Sanhita drops four of those definitions, adds five, and arranges the result as a continuous run of twenty-six clauses from (a) to (z).

Dropped from the CrPC	Clause	Why
“India”	Section 2(f)	Removed along with the positive extent clause in section 1. Section 1(2) of the Sanhita states only where the Sanhita does not apply
“metropolitan area”	Section 2(k)	The concept of the metropolitan area and the office of Metropolitan Magistrate have been abolished, along with sections 8, 16, 17 and 19 of the CrPC
“pleader”	Section 2(q)	The Sanhita uses the expression “advocate” throughout, which carries its meaning from the Advocates Act, 1961
“prescribed”	Section 2(t)	Rule-making powers in the Sanhita specify their own source, so the general definition was unnecessary

Added by the BNSS	Clause	Significance
“audio-video electronic means”	2(1)(a)	Carries every provision on video conferencing, electronic recording of identification, search, seizure and evidence, and transmission. Its scope may be extended by State rules
“bail”	2(1)(b)	The CrPC used the word throughout without defining it. Bail is now defined as release from the custody of law on conditions imposed by an officer or court, on execution of a bond or bail bond
“bail bond”	2(1)(d)	An undertaking for release with surety
“bond”	2(1)(e)	A personal bond or an undertaking for release without surety
“electronic communication”	2(1)(i)	Covers written, verbal, pictorial and video information transmitted by an electronic device, which is what permits electronic first information and service of summons

The arithmetic is exact: twenty-five clauses, less four dropped, plus five added, produces the twenty-six clauses of section 2(1). Three further changes of detail deserve notice. “Police report” in clause (t) now refers to section 193(3) of the Sanhita where the CrPC referred to section 173(2). “Victim” moves from the interpolated clause (wa) to a regular clause (y) and is retained in the same words. And the definition of “investigation” in clause (l) carries a new Explanation.

2. The Definitions That Decide the Route of a Case

2.1 Cognizable and non-cognizable: clauses (g) and (o)

Sections 2(1)(g) and 2(1)(o), BNSS 2023

(g) “cognizable offence” means an offence for which, and “cognizable case” means a case in which, a police officer may, in accordance with the First Schedule or under any other law for the time being in force, arrest without warrant;

(o) “non-cognizable offence” means an offence for which, and “non-cognizable case” means a case in which, a police officer has no authority to arrest without warrant.

The defining feature is the power to arrest without a warrant, and the source of that power is the First Schedule or another law. Everything else follows. In a cognizable case the police register information under section 173 and may investigate without the order of a Magistrate under section 175(1). In a non-cognizable case the officer records the substance of the information, refers the informant to the Magistrate, and may not investigate without an order under section 174(2). The Explanation to the definition of complaint completes the circuit: a police report which, after investigation, discloses a non-cognizable offence is deemed to be a complaint, and the officer is deemed to be the complainant.

2.2 Bailable and non-bailable: clause (c)

A bailable offence is one shown as bailable in the First Schedule or made bailable by any other law; every other offence is non-bailable. The definition is negative in its second limb, so an offence is non-bailable simply because it is not bailable. The consequence is the difference between section 478, under which a person accused of a bailable offence is entitled to be released on bail, and section 480, under which bail in a non-bailable offence is a matter for the discretion of the court and is subject to restrictions.

⚠ Two misconceptions about the classifications

Cognizable is not a synonym for non-bailable, and non-cognizable is not a synonym for bailable. The two classifications are independent and the First Schedule assigns them separately. An offence may be cognizable and bailable, and the combinations are all found in the Schedule.

Neither classification is a statement about the seriousness of the offence in the abstract. Both are drawn from the entry in the First Schedule, which is a legislative allocation, and the correct method is always to read the entry rather than to reason from the gravity of the conduct.

2.3 Summons-case and warrant-case: clauses (x) and (z)

A warrant-case is a case relating to an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term exceeding two years. A summons-case is a case relating to an offence and not being a warrant-case. The pair is exhaustive and is defined by the length of the punishment alone, which the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita or the special law prescribes.

The classification decides which trial chapter applies. A warrant case triable by a Magistrate follows Chapter XX of the Sanhita, which itself distinguishes cases instituted on a police report from cases instituted otherwise. A summons case follows Chapter XXI, which is shorter and simpler and does not require a formal charge, the substance of the accusation being stated to the accused instead. Note the internal logic: exactly two years is a summons case, because the definition requires the punishment to exceed two years.

3. Complaint, Inquiry, Investigation and Police Report

3.1 Complaint: clause (h)

Section 2(1)(h), BNSS 2023

“Complaint” means any allegation made orally or in writing to a Magistrate, with a view to his taking action under this Sanhita, that some person, whether known or unknown, has committed an offence, but does not include a police report.

Explanation. A report made by a police officer in a case which discloses, after investigation, the commission of a non-cognizable offence shall be deemed to be a complaint; and the police officer by whom such report is made shall be deemed to be the complainant.

Four elements are required. There must be an allegation, which may be oral or in writing; it must be made to a Magistrate, so an allegation made to the police is not a complaint; it must be made with a view to the Magistrate taking action under the Sanhita, which excludes a petition seeking some other relief; and it must allege that some person has committed an offence, though that person need not be named. What is excluded is a police report, and the Explanation creates the single exception.

3.2 Police report: clause (t)

A police report means a report forwarded by a police officer to a Magistrate under sub-section (3) of section 193. The corresponding definition in the CrPC referred to section 173(2). The change of reference is significant only as a matter of citation, but the definition matters a great deal in substance, because the whole of the procedure in Chapter XX turns on whether a case was instituted on a police report or otherwise. Note also that a report under section 194, on a suicide or an unnatural death, is not a police report within this definition, since it is not forwarded under section 193(3).

3.3 Inquiry and investigation: clauses (k) and (l)

	Inquiry: section 2(1)(k)	Investigation: section 2(1)(l)
Definition	Every inquiry, other than a trial, conducted under the Sanhita by a Magistrate or court	Includes all the proceedings under the Sanhita for the collection of evidence conducted by a police officer or by any person, other than a Magistrate, who is authorised by a Magistrate in this behalf
Who conducts it	A Magistrate or a court	A police officer, or a person authorised by a Magistrate who is not himself a Magistrate
Object	To ascertain a fact or to decide a question arising in a proceeding	To collect evidence
Form of the definition	Exhaustive in the negative: everything that is not a trial	Inclusive: the word “includes” leaves the content open
Examples	Examination of a complainant under section 223; committal under section 232; proceedings under Chapters IX and XI; an inquiry into an unnatural death under section 196	Proceeding to the spot, ascertaining the facts, arrest, search and seizure, examination of witnesses, and the formation of the opinion whether an offence is made out

📖 H.N. Rishbud v. State of Delhi, AIR 1955 SC 196

Facts: Investigations into offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 were conducted by officers below the rank required by that statute. The question was what the stages of an investigation are, and whether a conviction founded on an investigation conducted in breach of a statutory requirement is liable to be set aside on that ground alone.

Held: The Supreme Court identified the stages of an investigation as proceeding to the spot, ascertaining the facts and circumstances of the case, discovering and arresting the suspected offender, collecting evidence by examining persons and by search and seizure, and forming the opinion whether there is a case to place the accused before a Magistrate for trial and taking the necessary steps to do so. The Court held that an illegality in the investigation does not by itself vitiate the resulting trial or conviction; the court must consider whether the illegality has caused prejudice to the accused, and if the objection is raised at an early stage the court may direct a reinvestigation.

Ratio: Investigation is a defined sequence of acts culminating in the formation of an opinion. A defect in it is not automatically fatal; the consequence depends on whether it has caused a failure of justice.

The Explanation to clause (l) is new and is placed oddly. It provides that where any of the provisions of a special Act are inconsistent with the provisions of the Sanhita, the provisions of the special Act shall prevail. Although attached to the definition of investigation, the rule it states is general and matches sections 4(2) and 5. Its placement under a definition is a drafting curiosity rather than a limitation on its scope.

4. The New Definitions on Liberty

Sections 2(1)(b), (d) and (e), BNSS 2023

(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.

The Code of Criminal Procedure used the word bail in more than fifty places and never defined it. Its meaning was supplied by the case law, which described it as the delivery of a person to sureties on their undertaking to produce him, or more simply as release from custody on security for appearance. The definition in clause (b) is therefore a genuine addition, and three elements of it repay attention.

Release from the custody of law. The expression is wider than release from physical custody. A person on bail remains in the constructive custody of the court, which is why conditions may be imposed and why the bond may be forfeited.
Of a person accused of or suspected of commission of an offence. The definition covers a suspect as well as an accused, which accommodates anticipatory bail under section 482, where no accusation may yet have been formalised.
Upon certain conditions imposed by an officer or Court. Bail is conditional by definition. The officer in charge of a police station may grant it in a bailable offence, so the definition covers police bail as well as court bail.

The distinction between a bond and a bail bond is now statutory and is simply the presence or absence of surety. A bond under clause (e) is a personal undertaking; a bail bond under clause (d) is an undertaking with surety. The distinction matters in the operation of section 479, under which an undertaking prisoner who has served the qualifying period is to be released on bond, that is, without surety.

5. Victim, and the Definitions on Technology

5.1 Victim: clause (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. The definition is carried forward without change from clause (wa) of the CrPC, inserted in 2009, but its importance has increased considerably because the number of provisions that turn on it has grown. The victim is now entitled to a free copy of the first information report under section 173(2), to information about the progress of the investigation within ninety days under section 193(3)(ii), to copies of the police report and accompanying documents under section 230, to be heard before withdrawal from prosecution under section 360, to compensation under sections 395 and 396, to free medical treatment under section 397, and to appeal under the proviso to section 413.

Two features of the definition deserve notice. The loss or injury need not be physical, so financial and other loss is covered. And the inclusion of the guardian or legal heir means that where the victim has died, another person may exercise the entitlements in that capacity, which is what makes the right of appeal against an acquittal workable in a homicide case.

5.2 Audio-video electronic means and electronic communication: clauses (a) and (i)

These two definitions carry the electronic architecture of the Sanhita. Audio-video electronic means is defined inclusively and covers the use of any communication device for video conferencing, for the recording of processes of identification, search and seizure or evidence, and for the transmission of electronic communication, together with such other purposes and by such other means as the State Government may by rules provide. The power to extend the definition by State rules is unusual in a definition clause and means that the reach of the electronic provisions may vary between States.

Electronic communication is defined as the communication of any written, verbal, pictorial information or video content transmitted or transferred, whether between persons, between devices, or between a person and a device, by an electronic device including a telephone, mobile phone, other wireless telecommunication device, computer, audio-video player or camera, or any other electronic device or electronic form as the Central Government may specify by notification. Its immediate operation is in section 173(1), which permits information about a cognizable offence to be given by electronic communication, and in section 64, which permits service of summons by that means.

6. What Section 2 Does Not Define

Some of the most frequently used expressions in the Sanhita are not defined anywhere in it. Each takes its meaning from the provisions that use it and from the case law.

Expression	Where its meaning comes from
Trial	Not defined in the Sanhita, as it was not defined in the CrPC. It takes its meaning from the chapters that govern it, and is understood to commence on the framing of the charge in a warrant case and on the statement of the substance of the accusation in a summons case
Cognizance	Not defined. It is the application of the judicial mind to the allegation with a view to proceeding under the Sanhita, and is to be distinguished from an act done for some other purpose, such as ordering investigation
Arrest	Not defined. Its content is supplied by section 43, which describes how an arrest is made, and by the case law on the actual restraint or submission to custody
Custody	Not defined, though the Sanhita distinguishes custody of the police from custody otherwise than that of the police in section 187
Charge sheet	Not used in the Sanhita at all. The statutory expression is the report under section 193(3), which the definition of police report in clause (t) picks up
Accused	Not defined, although the definition of victim refers to “the accused person”

📖 R.R. Chari v. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 1951 SC 207

Facts: A Magistrate had issued a warrant of arrest on a police application at a stage before any report or complaint was before him, and the question was whether by doing so he had taken cognizance of the offence, which would have required prior sanction that had not then been obtained.

Held: The Supreme Court approved the statement that taking cognizance does not involve any formal action, but occurs as soon as a Magistrate applies his mind to the suspected commission of an offence for the purpose of proceeding under the provisions that follow. Where he applies his mind not for that purpose but for some other, such as ordering investigation or issuing a search warrant, he has not taken cognizance. The issue of a warrant of arrest at the investigation stage was therefore not the taking of cognizance.

Ratio: Cognizance is not a formal act but the application of the judicial mind for the purpose of proceeding against the accused. The absence of a statutory definition is supplied by asking what the Magistrate applied his mind to and for what purpose.

7. Section 2(2): the Incorporating Provision

Section 2(2) provides that words and expressions used in the Sanhita and not defined in it, but defined in the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, carry the meanings assigned to them in that Act and that Sanhita. Section 2(y) of the CrPC had imported only the Indian Penal Code.

The addition of the Information Technology Act is the drafting counterpart of the electronic provisions. Expressions such as electronic record, computer, computer resource, electronic form and digital signature are used in the Sanhita without definition, and section 2(2) is what gives them content. The addition of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita performs the function the reference to the Indian Penal Code performed before, supplying expressions such as document, dishonestly and injury.

8. Key Takeaways

The position stated shortly

1. Section 2(1) contains twenty-six definitions lettered (a) to (z), and section 2(2) imports definitions from the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

2. The arithmetic: twenty-five clauses in section 2 CrPC, less four dropped (India, metropolitan area, pleader, prescribed), plus five added (audio-video electronic means, bail, bail bond, bond, electronic communication), gives twenty-six.

3. Cognizable and non-cognizable under clauses (g) and (o) turn on the power to arrest without warrant in accordance with the First Schedule, and decide whether the police may investigate without an order of a Magistrate.

4. Bailable under clause (c) is what the First Schedule shows as bailable; everything else is non-bailable. The two classifications are independent of the cognizable and non-cognizable division.

5. A warrant-case under clause (z) relates to an offence punishable with death, life imprisonment or imprisonment exceeding two years; every other case is a summons-case under clause (x).

6. A complaint under clause (h) is an allegation to a Magistrate with a view to his taking action under the Sanhita, excluding a police report, with the Explanation deeming a post-investigation report disclosing a non-cognizable offence to be a complaint.

7. Inquiry under clause (k) is conducted by a Magistrate or court and is everything that is not a trial; investigation under clause (l) is conducted by the police or an authorised person for the collection of evidence: H.N. Rishbud.

8. Bail, bail bond and bond are defined for the first time. A bond is without surety; a bail bond is with surety.

9. Trial, cognizance, arrest, custody, charge sheet and accused are nowhere defined and take their meaning from the provisions that use them: R.R. Chari on cognizance.

9. Frequently Asked Questions

How many definitions are there in section 2 of the BNSS?

Twenty-six, lettered (a) to (z) in section 2(1), together with the incorporating provision in section 2(2).

What is the difference between a bond and a bail bond under the BNSS?

A bond under section 2(1)(e) is a personal bond, an undertaking for release without surety. A bail bond under section 2(1)(d) is an undertaking for release with surety. Neither expression was defined in the CrPC.

What is the difference between inquiry and investigation?

An inquiry under section 2(1)(k) is conducted by a Magistrate or court and is every inquiry other than a trial. An investigation under section 2(1)(l) is conducted by a police officer or a person authorised by a Magistrate, and is directed to the collection of evidence. The first is judicial, the second is not.

Is a police report a complaint?

No, the definition in section 2(1)(h) expressly excludes it. The single exception is in the Explanation: a report made by a police officer in a case which discloses, after investigation, the commission of a non-cognizable offence is deemed to be a complaint, and the officer is deemed to be the complainant.

Is an offence punishable with exactly two years a warrant case?

No. Clause (z) requires the punishment to exceed two years, so an offence punishable with exactly two years falls into the residual category and the case is a summons-case under clause (x).

Is trial defined in the BNSS?

No. Neither the Sanhita nor the CrPC defined it. Its meaning is taken from the chapters that govern the several trial procedures and from the case law, under which a trial commences on the framing of the charge in a warrant case and on the statement of the substance of the accusation in a summons case.

Related Topics

BNS, BNSS and BSA: Their Interrelationship
Classification of Offences: Cognizable, Non-Cognizable, Bailable and Non-Bailable
Information in Cognizable Cases: Section 173, Zero FIR and e-FIR
Complaints to Magistrates: Sections 223 to 226, BNSS
Bail and Bonds under the BNSS, 2023: Sections 478 to 496
Object, Scope and Scheme of the BNSS, 2023