• Adv Govind Bali
• Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Law Student Notes
• August 22, 2026

Investigation under BNSS: Sections 175–193

Official Statutory Framework

The official text of the BNSS is available through India Code. Chapter XIII is titled “Information to the Police and Their Powers to Investigate.” It begins with Sections 173 and 174 on cognizable and non-cognizable information, and then moves through the investigation machinery in Sections 175 to 193.

For a complete section-by-section overview of the entire statute, students may also use our BNSS all-sections guide. The present article is narrower and deeper: it focuses on the doctrinal and practical law of investigation.

Part I — Section Map: BNSS and CrPC

Part II — Sections 175–178: Power, Commencement and Judicial Supervision

Section 175: Police Officer’s Power to Investigate a Cognizable Case

Section 175(1) authorises the officer in charge of a police station to investigate, without obtaining an order from a Magistrate, any cognizable case which a court having jurisdiction over the local area could inquire into or try. This is the basic statutory source of police investigative power after a cognizable offence is reported.

The first proviso is significant. Considering the nature and gravity of the offence, the Superintendent of Police may require investigation by a Deputy Superintendent of Police. The provision therefore recognises supervisory allocation of a serious investigation at a higher police level.

Section 175(2) protects an investigation from being invalidated merely because the investigating police officer is later alleged not to have been empowered under that section to investigate the case. This does not immunise an investigation from every jurisdictional or constitutional challenge, but it prevents technical objections concerning the officer’s investigative competence from automatically nullifying the proceeding.

Section 175(3): Magistrate-Directed Investigation

Section 175(3) is particularly important for examination and practice. A Magistrate empowered under Section 210 may, after considering an application supported by an affidavit under Section 173(4), making such inquiry as considered necessary, and considering the police officer’s submission, order investigation.

For the complete police-refusal route, including the Section 173(4) Superintendent of Police stage, see our detailed guide on Section 175(3) BNSS and Magistrate-directed investigation.

Section 175(4): Complaint Against a Public Servant

Where a complaint concerns a public servant and arises from acts in the course of official duties, Section 175(4) adds specific safeguards before a Magistrate orders investigation. The Magistrate is to receive a report containing the facts and circumstances from the officer superior to the public servant and consider the public servant’s assertions regarding the situation which led to the alleged incident.

This sub-section should be distinguished from the separate question of sanction for prosecution at the stage at which sanction law becomes applicable. An investigation-order question and a cognizance/sanction question are not always identical.

Section 176: Procedure for Investigation

Once the officer in charge has reason to suspect commission of an offence which can be investigated under Section 175, Section 176 requires a report to the Magistrate and ordinarily requires the investigating officer, or a properly ranked subordinate officer, to proceed to the spot to investigate facts and circumstances and, where necessary, take measures for discovery and arrest of the offender.

The statute allows limited departures. In a named-accused case which is not serious, the officer need not necessarily proceed personally or depute a subordinate officer to the spot. Where the officer considers that there is no sufficient ground to enter upon investigation, the officer may decline to investigate, but the reasons and reporting obligations imposed by the provision become important.

Special Protection for a Rape Victim’s Statement

Section 176 requires the statement of a rape victim, as far as practicable, to be recorded at her residence or place of choice, by a woman police officer, in the presence of parents, guardian, near relatives or a social worker of the locality, and permits audio-video electronic recording including by mobile phone.

Section 176(3): Forensic Crime-Scene Visit and Videography

A major BNSS innovation appears in Section 176(3). On receipt of information relating to an offence punishable with seven years or more, the officer in charge is required, from the date notified by the State Government within the statutory implementation period, to cause a forensic expert to visit the crime scene, collect forensic evidence and cause videography of the process through mobile phone or another electronic device.

The implementation language matters. Students should not write that every State necessarily implemented the provision on the same date. The section itself contemplates State notification within a five-year window and permits inter-State forensic-facility arrangements where a State lacks the relevant facility.

Sections 177 and 178: Police Reporting and Magistrate’s Response

Section 177 regulates the manner in which the investigation report under Section 176 reaches the Magistrate, including transmission through a superior police officer where the State Government has created such a reporting structure. The superior officer may give instructions to the officer in charge and transmit the report without delay.

Section 178 gives the Magistrate an active supervisory role after receiving the Section 176 report. The Magistrate may direct investigation, may proceed to hold a preliminary inquiry, or may depute a subordinate Magistrate to do so and otherwise dispose of the case in accordance with the Sanhita.

These provisions show why investigation is principally a police function but not an institutionally unreviewable one. The Magistrate remains an important judicial checkpoint at multiple stages.

Part III — Sections 179–184: Witnesses, Statements, Confessions and Medical Examination

Section 179: Requiring Attendance of Witnesses

A police officer conducting an investigation may, by written order, require attendance of a person within the officer’s own or an adjoining police-station area if that person appears acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case.

The proviso protects specified categories from being compelled to attend anywhere other than their residence: a male person below fifteen years, a male person above sixty years, a woman, a mentally or physically disabled person, and a person suffering from acute illness. A protected person may nevertheless be permitted to attend the police station voluntarily.

The State Government may also provide by rules for reasonable expenses where a person is required to attend at a place other than residence.

Section 180: Examination of Witnesses by Police

The investigating police officer may orally examine persons believed to be acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case. A person so examined must answer truly, except that the person is not bound to answer a question where the answer would have a tendency to expose that person to a criminal charge, penalty or forfeiture.

This statutory protection works alongside Article 20(3) and broader principles against compelled self-incrimination. It is particularly important where the line between witness and suspect is fluid during investigation.

The police officer may reduce statements into writing, but must make a separate and true record of each person’s statement. BNSS expressly permits such statements to be recorded through audio-video electronic means. For specified offences against women, the woman’s statement must be recorded by a woman police officer or woman officer.

Section 181: Police Statements and Their Use at Trial

Section 181 follows a familiar criminal-procedure rule: a police statement recorded during investigation is generally not to be signed by the maker and is not substantive evidence merely because it appears in the police record.

Where the prosecution witness later testifies at inquiry or trial, a duly proved part of the earlier police statement may be used by the accused, and with the court’s permission by the prosecution, to contradict the witness in the manner contemplated by Section 148 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. Re-examination may then explain matters referred to in the cross-examination.

A material omission may amount to a contradiction if it is significant and relevant in context. Whether a particular omission rises to that level is a question of fact.

Section 182: No Inducement, Threat or Promise

Police or other persons in authority must not offer or make the kind of inducement, threat or promise prohibited by the law of evidence. At the same time, the provision does not prevent a person from voluntarily making a statement. The section therefore reinforces the voluntariness principle without suppressing lawful voluntary disclosure.

Section 183: Recording Confessions and Statements by Magistrate

Section 183 is the BNSS successor to Section 164 CrPC. A Magistrate of the district in which information regarding commission of the offence has been registered may record a confession or statement during investigation or afterwards but before commencement of inquiry or trial, even if that Magistrate does not otherwise have trial jurisdiction.

A confession or statement may also be recorded through audio-video electronic means in the presence of the advocate of the accused. A police officer who happens to have been conferred Magistrate powers under another law cannot record the confession.

Voluntariness Safeguard

Before recording a confession, the Magistrate must explain that the person is not bound to confess and that a confession may be used as evidence against the maker. The Magistrate must question the person and be satisfied that the confession is voluntary. If the person says before recording that he or she is unwilling to confess, the Magistrate must not authorise police custody merely because the confession was refused.

Statements in Serious and Sexual Offences

Section 183 contains specific provisions for recording statements of victims in specified BNS offences against women and for witnesses in offences punishable with ten years or more, life imprisonment or death. It also contains protections for persons who are mentally or physically disabled, including interpreter/special-educator assistance and audio-video recording. In specified disability situations, the recorded statement can operate in lieu of examination-in-chief, with cross-examination on that statement.

Section 184: Medical Examination of a Rape Victim

Where medical examination of a woman alleging rape or attempted rape is proposed during investigation, Section 184 requires examination by an appropriate registered medical practitioner with the woman’s consent or the consent of a person legally competent to consent on her behalf. The woman is to be sent for medical examination within twenty-four hours from receipt of the information relating to the offence.

The medical report must record prescribed particulars, including age, material collected for DNA profiling, injuries, mental condition, the reasons for conclusions, consent, and the exact start and completion time of examination. The medical practitioner is to forward the report to the investigating officer within seven days, and the investigating officer forwards it as part of the Section 193 record.

Nothing in Section 184 authorises medical examination without the required consent.

Part IV — Sections 185–190: Search, Remand and Evidentiary Assessment

Section 185: Search by Police Officer

Section 185 allows the officer in charge or investigating officer to search a place within the relevant police-station limits where there are reasonable grounds to believe that something necessary for investigation may be found and it cannot otherwise be obtained without undue delay.

The officer must first record in writing, in the case diary, the grounds of belief and specify, so far as possible, the thing for which search is to be made. Where practicable, the investigating officer should conduct the search personally.

A significant BNSS change is the express requirement that a search conducted under Section 185 be recorded through audio-video electronic means, preferably a mobile phone. The records generated under the section are also to be sent to the nearest Magistrate in the statutory manner.

Section 186: Search in the Limits of Another Police Station

An investigating officer may request the officer in charge of another police station, whether in the same or a different district, to conduct a search which the requesting officer could have conducted within the requesting officer’s own station limits.

Where delay creates a risk that evidence may be concealed or destroyed, Section 186 permits the investigating officer to conduct or cause the search in another police-station area directly, subject to the statutory notice, record-transmission and Magistrate-reporting requirements. The owner or occupier may obtain specified records free of cost on application.

Section 187: Investigation Cannot Be Completed Within Twenty-Four Hours

Section 187 is the principal remand provision. Where an arrested person is in custody, the investigation cannot be completed within the twenty-four-hour limit, and the accusation appears well founded, the investigating officer must forward the accused to the Magistrate together with the relevant case-diary entries.

The Magistrate may authorise detention, including police custody, subject to the statutory limits. The aggregate police-custody period is fifteen days, but BNSS permits those fifteen days to be authorised in whole or in parts during the initial forty days in a sixty-day case or the initial sixty days in a ninety-day case.

The total investigation-custody ceiling before default bail is ordinarily ninety days for an offence punishable with death, life imprisonment or imprisonment for ten years or more, and sixty days for other offences. On expiry of the applicable period, the accused is to be released on bail if prepared to and does furnish bail, subject to the legal conditions governing the accrued right.

For a detailed remand chart, split-police-custody explanation and default-bail checklist, read Police Remand vs Judicial Custody under Section 187 BNSS.

Personal Production and Recorded Reasons

Police custody cannot be authorised without personal production of the accused as prescribed by Section 187. Further judicial custody may be extended through personal or permitted audio-video production. A Magistrate granting police custody must record reasons.

Six-Month Rule in Summons Cases

Where a summons-case triable by a Magistrate is not investigated to conclusion within six months from arrest, Section 187 contains a statutory mechanism for stopping further investigation unless the investigating officer satisfies the Magistrate that special reasons and the interests of justice require continuation. The Sessions Judge may, in the circumstances provided by the section, permit further investigation.

Sections 188–190: Subordinate Officer, Deficient Evidence and Sufficient Evidence

Section 188 requires a subordinate police officer who has investigated the case to report the result to the officer in charge of the police station.

Section 189 applies where evidence or reasonable ground is deficient. If the accused is in custody and the material does not justify forwarding the accused to a Magistrate, the officer in charge must release the accused on executing the appropriate bond or bail bond to appear before the Magistrate if and when required.

Section 190 applies where evidence or reasonable ground is sufficient. The officer forwards the accused in custody to the Magistrate competent to take cognizance and try or commit the case, or takes security where the offence is bailable. Importantly, if the accused is not in custody, the police officer takes security for appearance and the Magistrate cannot refuse it merely because the accused was not brought in custody.

Part V — Sections 191–193: Witnesses, Case Diary and Final Police Report

Section 191: Complainant and Witnesses Not to Be Restrained

A complainant or witness who is being sent to a Magistrate under the investigation provisions is not to be required to accompany a police officer, be subjected to unnecessary restraint or inconvenience, or be required to furnish security for appearance except in the manner permitted by law. The section protects the independent status of a witness and guards against turning a witness into a person under informal police custody.

Section 192: Case Diary

Every investigating police officer must maintain a day-to-day diary recording the time information reached the officer, the time investigation began and ended, places visited, and circumstances ascertained. Statements recorded under Section 180 are to be inserted in the case diary. The diary must be maintained as a duly paginated volume.

A criminal court may call for the police diaries and use them to aid the inquiry or trial, but the diary is not itself substantive evidence of the facts recorded in it.

The accused does not obtain an unrestricted right to demand or inspect the case diary merely because the court refers to it. If the investigating officer uses the diary to refresh memory, or if the court uses it to contradict that officer, the evidentiary provisions referred to in Section 192 become applicable.

Why the Case Diary Matters in Practice

• It tests whether investigative steps were contemporaneously recorded or reconstructed later.
• It can show gaps between claimed investigation and actual recorded activity.
• It records visit timings, witness examination and material investigative developments.
• It becomes highly relevant at remand, bail, further-investigation and trial stages even though it is not substantive evidence by itself.
• Courts may use it to understand the course and bona fides of investigation.

Section 193: Police Report on Completion of Investigation

Every investigation under Chapter XIII must be completed without unnecessary delay. For investigation of specified serious sexual offences under the BNS and specified POCSO offences, Section 193(2) prescribes completion within two months from the date information was recorded by the officer in charge.

On completion, the officer in charge forwards the police report to the Magistrate, including through electronic communication where permitted. The report includes the parties’ names, nature of information, persons acquainted with the case, whether an offence appears to have been committed and by whom, arrest/bail/custody status, the required medical-examination information in specified offences, and the sequence of custody in the case of an electronic device.

Victim/Informant Progress Update Within 90 Days

Section 193 requires the police officer, within ninety days, to inform the progress of investigation to the informant or victim by any means including electronic communication. The officer must also communicate the action taken to the person who first supplied information about commission of the offence in the manner prescribed.

Documents and Witness Statements with the Police Report

Where Section 190 applies, the police officer forwards relied-upon documents or relevant extracts and the Section 180 statements of witnesses whom the prosecution proposes to examine. The officer may identify a part of a statement for which exclusion from copies is requested on relevance/public-interest grounds and must state reasons. Subject to that process, the police report and indexed material are supplied for the accused under Section 230, and electronic supply is recognised as service.

Charge-Sheet, Closure Report and Police Opinion

Section 193 is broader than the everyday expression “charge-sheet.” The final police report may support prosecution, may report insufficient evidence, or may otherwise convey the investigating officer’s conclusion. The Magistrate is not mechanically bound by the police opinion and applies the law governing cognizance, closure, further investigation and process.

Section 193(9): Further Investigation

The first police report does not necessarily end investigative power. Section 193(9) permits further investigation after the report has been forwarded, and additional evidence may be placed before the Magistrate through a further report or reports. During trial, further investigation requires permission of the trial court and is to be completed within ninety days, extendable with court permission.

The Supreme Court’s 2026 decision in Pramod Kumar v. State of Uttar Pradesh, 2026 INSC 120, reinforces the judicial-control principle after the police report has been filed. For the complete current framework, see our specialist article on further investigation after charge-sheet under Section 193(9) BNSS.

Official Supreme Court judgment: Pramod Kumar v. State of Uttar Pradesh, 2026 INSC 120.

Part VI — Important Investigation Doctrines

1. Investigation Is a Police Function, but Fairness Is Judicially Enforceable

Courts ordinarily do not dictate each investigative step. Yet an investigation must remain lawful, fair and bona fide. Statutory supervision by the Magistrate and constitutional jurisdiction remain available where the investigative process is tainted by illegality, non-registration, refusal to investigate, selective omission, abuse or other legally cognisable failure.

2. FIR Is Not the Entire Prosecution Case

An FIR sets criminal law in motion and records the initial information. Investigation thereafter develops the evidentiary record through statements, searches, seizures, forensic evidence, medical evidence, expert material, digital records and other lawful steps. Every discrepancy between FIR and later evidence is therefore not automatically fatal; its significance depends on context, materiality and the nature of the change.

3. Police Statement Is Not the Same as Magistrate Statement

4. Search and Digital Evidence Require Process Integrity

BNSS places greater express emphasis on electronic process: audio-video recording of search, audio-video witness statements, electronic communication of reports and investigation updates, and recording of electronic-device custody sequence in the final police report. These changes make authenticity, chain of custody, device handling and metadata increasingly central to investigation litigation.

5. Arrest Is Not Mandatory Merely Because Investigation Exists

Investigation and arrest are legally distinct. A cognizable case may be investigated without automatic arrest of every named person. The BNSS arrest provisions, Supreme Court arrest jurisprudence and Section 190’s recognition of an accused not in custody all reinforce this distinction.

6. Charge-Sheet Does Not Freeze the Evidentiary Record Forever

Section 193(9) preserves further investigation. But further investigation is not the same as de novo or fresh investigation that wipes away everything already done. The Supreme Court in Vinubhai Haribhai Malaviya v. State of Gujarat explained the Magistrate’s power concerning further investigation under the corresponding CrPC structure. Official judgment: Vinubhai Haribhai Malaviya v. State of Gujarat.

Part VII — Investigation Flowchart

Part VIII — How to Audit an Investigation File

For practice, investigation law becomes clearer when the file is reviewed chronologically rather than section by section. A structured audit can use the following checklist:

Part IX — Frequently Asked Examination Questions

1. Explain the power of police to investigate a cognizable case under Section 175 BNSS.
2. Explain Magistrate-directed investigation under Section 175(3).
3. What is the role of the Superintendent of Police under Section 175?
4. Explain the procedure for investigation under Section 176.
5. What is the forensic-investigation requirement under Section 176(3)?
6. Explain the power of police to require attendance of witnesses under Section 179.
7. Which persons cannot ordinarily be compelled to attend a police station under Section 179?
8. Explain examination of witnesses under Section 180.
9. How may statements under Section 180 be recorded electronically?
10. Explain the evidentiary use of police statements under Section 181.
11. When can an omission in a police statement amount to contradiction?
12. Explain the prohibition on inducement, threat or promise under Section 182.
13. Explain recording of confession by a Magistrate under Section 183.
14. What safeguards ensure voluntariness of a confession?
15. Explain the special provisions for victims and disabled persons under Section 183.
16. Explain medical examination of rape victim under Section 184.
17. Explain police search under Section 185 and the audio-video requirement.
18. Explain inter-station search under Section 186.
19. Explain remand under Section 187 and the 15-day police-custody rule.
20. What are the 40-day and 60-day police-custody windows under BNSS?
21. Distinguish the 60-day and 90-day default-bail periods.
22. When is an accused released under Section 189?
23. What happens when evidence is sufficient under Section 190?
24. Explain the status of a complainant and witnesses under Section 191.
25. What is a case diary under Section 192 and how may a court use it?
26. Explain the contents of a police report under Section 193.
27. What is the 90-day informant/victim progress-update requirement?
28. What does Section 193 require regarding electronic-device custody?
29. Explain further investigation under Section 193(9).
30. Distinguish further investigation from fresh or de novo investigation.

How to Answer a 10/15-Mark Problem Question

One-Minute Revision Table

Frequently Asked Questions

What sections of BNSS govern police investigation?

Chapter XIII covers information to police and investigation. Sections 175 to 193 contain the principal investigation sequence after Sections 173 and 174 on cognizable and non-cognizable information.

Can police investigate a cognizable offence without a Magistrate’s order?

Yes. Section 175(1) authorises the officer in charge to investigate a cognizable case within the statutory jurisdictional framework without first obtaining a Magistrate’s order.

What is the new BNSS equivalent of Section 156(3) CrPC?

Section 175(3) BNSS is the current provision for a Magistrate to order investigation, read with the affidavit-supported route under Section 173(4).

Is forensic investigation mandatory under BNSS?

Section 176(3) provides for forensic expert crime-scene visit and videography for offences punishable with seven years or more from the date notified by the relevant State Government within the statutory implementation window.

Can police call a woman to the police station as a witness?

Section 179 ordinarily protects a woman from being required to attend at a place other than her residence, though she may voluntarily attend the police station.

Does a witness sign a police statement?

Section 181 provides that a police statement reduced to writing is generally not to be signed by the person making it.

Can police statements be used as evidence?

Their use is restricted. Section 181 principally permits duly proved parts to be used for contradiction in the prescribed manner, subject to the statutory exceptions.

Who records a judicial confession under BNSS?

A Magistrate records a confession under Section 183, subject to the express voluntariness warning and safeguards.

Must police searches be videographed?

Section 185 provides that a search under that section is to be recorded through audio-video electronic means, preferably by mobile phone.

What is the maximum ordinary police custody under Section 187?

Fifteen days in aggregate, which may be authorised in whole or in parts within the applicable initial 40-day or 60-day statutory window.

Is the case diary evidence?

No. Section 192 permits the court to use the diary to aid inquiry or trial, but the diary is not substantive evidence merely because it records an investigative fact.

What is filed after police investigation is complete?

Section 193 requires the police report to the Magistrate, commonly referred to as the charge-sheet when prosecution is recommended, or as a final/closure report depending on the investigative conclusion.

Can investigation continue after charge-sheet?

Yes. Section 193(9) permits further investigation and further reports. During trial, court permission is express and a 90-day completion framework applies, subject to extension by the court.

Academic note: This material is intended for legal education and examination preparation. Investigation questions are fact-sensitive and may also be affected by State rules, State notifications, special statutes and subsequent judicial decisions. The current statutory text and full judgments should be checked before professional reliance.