Taxmann New Criminal Major Acts Edition 2027

New Criminal Major Acts 

New Criminal Major Acts brings together the three new criminal laws in one volume: the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (BSA). Each Act includes tools that link it to the law it replaced: the Indian Penal Code 1860 (IPC), the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 (CrPC), and the Indian Evidence Act 1872.

The book is built for the move from the old laws to the new ones. Start from an old section number or a new one, and the tables give its counterpart. The Comparative Studies explain what has changed. In the text of each Act, notes give the matching old provision, section by section.

The book also brings together material on the three Acts: how they were made, the provisions of other laws they refer to, and the rules and notifications relating to them. Each Act has its own Division. All three Divisions follow a common plan, so a reader who knows one can find their way around the other two.

This book is intended for the following audience:

• Judges, Magistrates & Judicial Officers interpreting and applying the new criminal statutes in courts
• Criminal Law Practitioners, Advocates & Legal Consultants handling investigation, trial, bail, evidence, and appeals
• Police Officers, Investigators & Prosecution Departments requiring clarity on changes in procedure, powers, and definitions
• Law Teachers, Researchers & Academicians analysing the shift from colonial-era laws to modernised codes
• Law Students & Bar Exam Aspirants (AIBE/Judicial Services) needing a structured comparative resource
• Policy Analysts, Think Tanks & Government Institutions studying criminal justice reforms in India

The Present Publication is the 2027 Edition, authored/edited by Taxmann's Editorial Board, with the following noteworthy features:

• [Old and New, Linked Both Ways] For each Act, two tables link the old law and the new one. One runs from old to new and the other from new to old. Each row sets the section number and heading of one law against those of the other. The tables go down to sub-sections, clauses and even paragraphs of the old Acts. A dash marks a provision with no counterpart
• [What Is New, What Is Dropped] For each Act, two short tables list the new sections and the old sections that were dropped. Together, they show at a glance what the new law adds and what it leaves out
• [Look Up by Subject] A Section Key for each Act lists subjects, with sub-topics under them. Against each one, it gives the old and the new section number side by side. It helps when the reader knows the subject but not the section
• [Changes Explained, Point by Point] For the BNS and the BNSS, a Comparative Study goes through the changes topic by topic, in the order of the sections. Each topic heading identifies the relevant sections. The changes are then set out in short points under plain labels, such as ‘Prescribed fine’, ‘Community service’ and ‘Summary trial’ in the BNS study. New provisions are tagged [NEW]. An Alphabetical Key before each study lists its subjects, with the old and new section numbers and the points discussed under each
• [Evidence Law, Section by Section] The Comparative Study of the BSA covers all 170 sections, one by one. For each section, it names the matching provision of the Indian Evidence Act, or notes that there is none. It then explains what has changed, or says plainly that nothing has. The study opens with a note on the aims and objects of the new law
• [Guide to Punishment] For the BNS, a six-column table covers the offences in Sections 49 to 357. For each offence, it gives the section, the offence, the punishment, whether it is cognizable, whether it is bailable, and the court that tries it
• [Supreme Court Rulings in Place] Under some sections, Comments boxes summarise Supreme Court rulings reported in AIR 2022 and 2023. Each note has a short heading, the point decided, the paragraphs relied on and the citation. Across the three Acts, there are 82 such boxes, covering 84 rulings
• [How Each Law Was Made] For each Act, the book prints the Statement of Objects and Reasons and the Notes on Clauses. It adds an ‘At a Glance’ summary of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs' observations and recommendations, with paragraph references to its report. It also includes the speech of the Minister of Home Affairs, Shri Amit Shah, in the Lok Sabha on 20th December 2023
• [Other Laws at Hand] Each Division has an Appendix that reproduces provisions of other laws referred to in the Act, so the reader has them in the same volume
• [Rules and Notifications] The BNSS Division carries 24 Annexures relating to the BNSS: notifications, orders, rules, guidelines, a scheme and a letter. Most of them apply to the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Each notification, order or letter is headed by its number and date

The coverage of the book is as follows:

• Division One | Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 [Act No. 45 of 2023]
  • Tables showing sections of the IPC and the corresponding sections of the BNS, and the reverse
  • Tables showing the new sections of the BNS, and the sections of the IPC repealed by it
  • Section Key to the BNS
  • Alphabetical Key to the Comparative Study, and the Comparative Study of the BNS and the IPC
  • Guide to Punishment for Offences under the BNS
  • Arrangement of Sections, and the text of the BNS
  • Statement of Objects and Reasons, Notes on Clauses, the 246th Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee (At a Glance) and the Home Minister’s speech
  • Appendix: Provisions of seven other Acts referred to in the BNS, including the Information Technology Act 2000 and the General Clauses Act 1897
  • Subject Index
• Division Two | Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 [Act No. 46 of 2023]
  • Tables showing sections of the CrPC and the corresponding sections of the BNSS, and the reverse
  • Tables showing the new sections of the BNSS, and the sections of the CrPC repealed by it
  • Section Key to the BNSS
  • Alphabetical Key to the Comparative Study, and the Comparative Study of the BNSS and the CrPC
  • Arrangement of Sections, and the text of the BNSS, with the First Schedule (Classification of Offences) and the Second Schedule (Forms 1 to 58)
  • Statement of Objects and Reasons, Notes on Clauses, the 247th Report (At a Glance) and the Home Minister’s speech
  • Appendix: Provisions of the Constitution of India and of six other Acts referred to in the BNSS
  • Annexures I to XXIV:
    • Courts, prosecutors and powers: Delegation of powers to Administrators of Union Territories, re-designation of Magisterial Courts in Delhi, Special Judicial Magistrates, Special Public Prosecutors, the Director of Prosecution, and prosecution of Judges and public servants
    • Police and investigation: The specified police control room; the Section 176 order on deputing subordinate officers to investigate; notifications on the procedure for investigation and on the police report on completion of investigation; the Procedure for Investigation to be followed by an Officer In-charge of Police Station Rules 2024; the Delhi BNSS (Arrest Information), (First Information Report) and (Identification of Case Property) Rules 2025; and the Non-Cognizable Offences Report Rules 2025
  • Summons and warrants: The Delhi BNSS (Service of Summons and Warrants) Rules 2025, and the earlier Delhi BNSS (Service of Summons) Rules 2025, which a footnote marks as repealed
  • Evidence, forensics and video conferencing: Officials of the Forensic Science Laboratories of Delhi, notified Government scientific experts, examination of witnesses through audio-video electronic means, the places designated for evidence to be taken in the presence of the accused, and the Electronic Evidence and Video Conferencing Rules 2025
  • Witnesses and sentencing: The Delhi Witness Protection Scheme 2025 and the Guidelines for Community Services
  • Later Delhi notifications printed with Annexures XXIII and XXIV: Executive Magistrates, police station areas, hospitals for medico-legal cases and post-mortems, video-conferencing places, and the declaration of the NIA Headquarters in New Delhi as a police station
  • Subject Index
• Division Three | Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 [Act No. 47 of 2023]
  • Tables showing sections of the Indian Evidence Act and the corresponding sections of the BSA, and the reverse
  • Tables showing the new sections of the BSA, and the sections of the Indian Evidence Act repealed by it
  • Section Key to the BSA
  • Comparative Study of the BSA and the Indian Evidence Act
  • Arrangement of Sections, and the text of the BSA, with its Schedule (the certificate under Section 63(4)(c), in Part A and Part B)
  • Statement of Objects and Reasons, Notes on Clauses, the 248th Report (At a Glance) and the Home Minister’s speech
  • Appendix: Provisions of the Information Technology Act 2000 and the General Clauses Act 1897
  • Annexure: Guidelines for eSakshya (the eSakshya Management Guidelines 2025)
  • Subject Index

Each Division opens with its finding tools and closes with the legislative material, the Appendix, any Annexures and a Subject Index. In between, the text of the Act is set out section by section, as follows:

• Section Text — Each section appears in full under its marginal heading, with its Explanations, Illustrations and provisos
• Corresponding Provision — A note names the provision of the old law that the section, sub-section or clause comes from. There are more than 1,200 such notes across the three Acts. Every section with an old-law counterpart carries at least one. Only sections that are entirely new have none
• Classification of Offence — In the BNS, a note under the penal provisions shows whether the offence is cognizable, whether it is bailable, and which court tries it. Where a section provides more than one punishment, each one is classified separately
• Comments — Where case law is given, it follows the section in a Comments box
• Footnotes — Footnotes give the notification that brought the Act into force. They also point to the text of other laws in the Appendix and, in the BNSS, to the Annexures