The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), has served as the central procedural statute governing investigation, arrest, bail, trial and sentencing in India for over five decades. In 2023, Parliament enacted the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) to replace CrPC as part of a broader effort to “decolonise” and modernise Indian criminal law, alongside the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam. BNSS is presented as a citizen centric, technology enabled and time bound procedural code, emphasising victim rights, digital processes, forensic investigation and strengthened accountability of police and courts.
This paper offers a doctrinal comparative analysis of CrPC 1973 and BNSS 2023. It examines structural changes (chapters, sections, schedules), thematic reforms (investigation and FIR, arrest and bail, trial management and timelines, victim centric provisions, preventive powers, community policing and technological integration) and evaluates their normative and practical implications. Using statutory texts, official comparative notes, parliamentary and policy documents and recent scholarly commentary, the study argues that BNSS is evolutionary rather than revolutionary: it retains most of CrPC’s architecture while introducing targeted reforms that seek to embed constitutional jurisprudence, scientific methods and digital tools into everyday criminal procedure.
The paper concludes that BNSS signals a significant normative shift towards a more victim oriented and technology driven procedural model. However, the effectiveness of these textual innovations will depend on implementation—particularly institutional capacity, training, infrastructure and judicial oversight—as well as on continued critical engagement with potential over breadth of certain police and preventive powers.