Police Powers With Special Reference To Arrest And Search Under The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023
- IJLLR Journal
- Mar 27
- 2 min read
Ajay Kumar Yadav, (B.Com., LL.B., LLM, PGDLL), Research Scholar, Department of Law, Baba Masthnath University
Vinay Kumar Yadav
ABSTRACT
The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 represents the most consequential overhaul of India’s criminal procedural law in over five decades. Replacing the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 as part of a sweeping legislative package that simultaneously reformed substantive criminal law and the law of evidence, the BNSS retains the broad structural architecture of its predecessor but introduces a series of significant changes—some expanding police powers, others imposing novel procedural constraints. Nowhere is this tension more visible than in the law governing arrest and search.
This paper undertakes a systematic and critical analysis of police powers of arrest and search under the BNSS. It proceeds from the constitutional foundations laid down by Articles 21, 22, and 19 of the Constitution of India, examines the specific provisions of Chapters V and VII of the BNSS, and situates these provisions within a broader field of judicial interpretation— from the seminal ruling in Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India to the transformative recognition of privacy as a fundamental right in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India. The paper offers a comparative account of key changes from the CrPC, analyses persistent structural challenges in implementing police accountability, and closes with concrete recommendations for reform. Throughout, the aim is not merely to map the law as it stands but to assess whether it adequately meets the test that a democratic constitutional order imposes: that the coercive power of the state must always be exercised with restraint, transparency, and accountability.
Keywords: BNSS 2023, Police Powers, Arrest, Search, CrPC, Fundamental Rights, Article 21, Custodial Rights, Digital Privacy, Criminal Procedure Reform.
