Unit 6: Legal provisions related to crime-II

India replaced its three colonial-era criminal statutes with new codes that came into force on 1 July 2024. The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (BNSS) replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 (CrPC); the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (BSA) replaced the Indian Evidence Act 1872 (IEA). Both codes deliberately embed forensic science into procedure and proof, reflecting a policy shift from confession-led to evidence-led investigation.

• Scope: BNSS governs procedure — arrest, search, investigation, trial; BSA governs proof — what may be admitted and how it is weighed.
• Guiding theme: technology-forward criminal justice — mandatory forensics, audio-video recording, and electronic records as first-class evidence.
• Continuity: the substantive architecture of the old laws is largely retained, so most provisions map one-to-one with renumbered sections rather than fresh drafting.
• Key numeric threshold: offences punishable with 7 years or more imprisonment trigger the heaviest new forensic obligations.

II. Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 — Forensic Provisions

Procedural mandates that pull science into the investigation.

The BNSS makes scientific collection of evidence a statutory duty rather than an investigator's discretion.

A. Mandatory forensic examination of the scene

• Section 176(3): for any offence punishable with 7 years or more, a forensic expert shall visit the crime scene to collect forensic evidence and videograph the process on a mobile phone or electronic device.
• Enabling clause: where a State lacks forensic facilities, it may utilise another State's facility until its own is established.
• Purpose anchor: creates an audited, replayable chain from scene to laboratory, reducing tampering and post-hoc reconstruction.

B. Audio-video recording of search and seizure

• Section 105: the conduct of search and preparation of the seizure list shall be recorded through audio-video electronic means, preferably a mobile phone.
• Transmission duty: the recording is forwarded without delay to the District Magistrate, Sub-Divisional Magistrate or Judicial Magistrate.
• Effect: independent corroboration of recovery, historically the weakest link when relying only on panch (witness) testimony.

C. Collection of specimen signatures, handwriting and biological samples

• Section 349: a Magistrate may order any person to give specimen signatures, handwriting, finger impressions or voice samples — critically, even a person not arrested, closing an old gap.
• Sections 51–52: medical examination of the accused by a registered medical practitioner; examination of a person accused of rape may include DNA and other tests.
• Section 53: medical examination of a victim where warranted.

D. Scientific experts and reports in trial

• Section 329: reports of Government scientific experts (e.g., Chemical Examiner, Serologist, DNA/fingerprint/handwriting experts, Director of a Forensic Science Laboratory) are admissible without calling the author, though the court may summon them.
• Section 254: allows evidence of a witness (including an expert) to be taken via audio-video electronic means.

E. Significance and limitations

• Significance: shifts investigative culture toward objective, reproducible evidence and reduces reliance on custodial confession.
• Limitation: the 7-year mandate presumes forensic capacity — laboratories, trained experts and equipment — that is unevenly distributed across States.

III. Comparison of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 to CrPC 1973

What is new, what is merely renumbered.

Most forensic sections have direct CrPC ancestors; the substance changes only where the BNSS adds a duty.

A. Section-to-section mapping

• Scientific expert reports: BNSS s.329 ⟷ CrPC s.293 — expanded list of experts, same admissibility principle.
• Specimen samples: BNSS s.349 ⟷ CrPC s.311A — BNSS extends the power to persons not arrested.
• Medical examination of accused: BNSS ss.51–52 ⟷ CrPC ss.53–53A — substantively retained.
• Police report/charge-sheet: BNSS s.193 ⟷ CrPC s.173 — now requires forensic and expert findings to be annexed.

B. Genuinely new forensic duties

1. Mandatory scene forensics (s.176(3)): no CrPC equivalent — forensic visit and videography were discretionary before; now compulsory above the 7-year threshold.
2. Videographed search and seizure (s.105): CrPC only required a seizure list with witnesses (s.100); the audio-video mandate is new.

C. Timelines tightened

• Forensic-relevant deadline: medical practitioner examining a rape victim must forward the report within 7 days (BNSS), reinforcing evidentiary freshness.
• Digitisation: BNSS mandates supply of documents including forensic reports to the accused in electronic form (s.230), absent in CrPC.

D. Continuity as the dominant pattern

• Point: roughly 90% of forensic procedure is carried over verbatim in substance; the reform is additive (new mandates) rather than a rewrite of proof rules, which live in the BSA.

IV. Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 — Forensic Provisions

How scientific and electronic evidence is admitted and weighed.

The BSA treats expert opinion and electronic records as central rather than exceptional forms of proof.

A. Expert opinion

• Section 39(1): when the court has to form an opinion on a point of foreign law, science, art, identity of handwriting or finger impressions, the opinions of persons specially skilled in it are relevant facts — these persons are called experts.
• Section 39(2): where court needs the opinion of the Examiner of Electronic Evidence, that opinion is a relevant fact — statutory recognition of the digital forensic examiner.
• Anchor: covers ballistics, toxicology, DNA, fingerprint and questioned-document experts.

B. Facts and grounds supporting expert opinion

• Section 40: facts not otherwise relevant become relevant if they support or contradict an expert's opinion.
• Sections 41–44: cover opinion as to handwriting (s.41), electronic signature (s.42), and identity/relationship/custom, giving each specialist opinion a defined evidentiary hook.

C. Admissibility of electronic and digital records

• Section 61: electronic or digital records shall have the same legal effect as paper records and cannot be denied admissibility solely because they are electronic.
• Section 63: a computer/electronic output is admissible as a document if accompanied by a certificate identifying the record and the device, signed by the person in charge and an expert.
• Definition anchor (s.2(1)(d)): "document" expressly includes electronic records — emails, server logs, locational evidence, messages.

D. Significance

• Significance: aligns the law of proof with a digital-forensics reality where much evidence (CCTV, phone data, cloud logs) originates in machines.
• Analytical dimension: the mandatory expert co-signature on the s.63 certificate raises the reliability bar for digital exhibits.

V. Comparison of Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 to the Indian Evidence Act 1872

Renumbering, consolidation, and a stricter electronic-evidence regime.

The BSA modernises the IEA's structure but preserves its evidentiary logic, with electronic records the principal area of change.

A. Expert-opinion mapping

• Expert opinion: BSA s.39 consolidates IEA ss.45, 45A and 46 — merging general experts, the Examiner of Electronic Evidence, and grounds of opinion into one framework.
• Handwriting opinion: BSA s.41 ⟷ IEA s.47 — substantively identical.
• Electronic signature opinion: BSA s.42 ⟷ IEA s.47A — retained.

B. Electronic records mapping

1. Old regime (IEA s.65B): admissibility of computer output required a certificate signed by a responsible person managing the device.
2. New regime (BSA s.63): retains the certificate but expands its content and requires a supplementary expert signature, and s.61 makes explicit that electronic records enjoy equal legal standing — a principle only implied earlier.

C. Structural and definitional changes

• Renumbering: IEA's 167 sections become BSA's 170 sections, so citations must be updated (e.g., "primary/secondary evidence" moves from IEA ss.62–65 to BSA ss.57–60).
• Definition of evidence: BSA broadens "evidence" to expressly include electronic and digital records given in the proceeding, whereas the IEA definition was oral-and-documentary only.
• Secondary evidence of electronic records: BSA lists electronic-record proof within its secondary-evidence scheme, clarifying earlier ambiguity.

D. Net effect on forensic practice

• Point: for a forensic examiner the practical shift is procedural — the tests remain the same, but the documentation, certification and chain-of-custody standards for both physical and digital evidence are codified and stricter.
• Continuity anchor: doctrines such as the relevance of expert opinion, admissibility of scientific reports, and the corroborative role of forensics survive intact from the IEA into the BSA.