New Criminal Major Acts – Pocket Hardbound Edition

New Criminal Major Acts (Pocket Hardbound Edition) is a fully updated, meticulously organised, and professionally designed statutory compendium that consolidates India’s three new criminal legislations—the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (BSA)—all enforced with effect from 1^st July 2024. This Pocket Hardbound Edition is designed specifically for maximum usability in a compact form, making it ideal for courtroom desks, judicial chambers, police stations, classrooms, examination halls, and field use, without compromising on statutory completeness or comparative depth. The hardbound format ensures durability for frequent handling, while the carefully structured layout allows for rapid navigation and instant cross-referencing. The publication is specifically designed to facilitate a seamless transition from the repealed Indian Penal Code 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act 1872 to the newly enacted criminal law framework. It achieves this through side-by-side comparative tools, provision-wise mapping, editorial keys, and legislative concordance tables, enabling users to move effortlessly between old references and the new statutory provisions. Serving as an authoritative reference on India’s most significant criminal law reform in over 160 years, this Edition presents the latest statutory text as amended up to date, supported by essential legislative materials and structured comparative insights that aid interpretation, application, teaching, examination preparation, and policy analysis.

This book is intended for the following audience:

• Judges, Magistrates & Judicial Officers responsible for interpreting and applying the new criminal statutes in trial courts, appellate courts, and special courts
• Criminal Law Practitioners, Advocates & Legal Consultants dealing with investigation, trial, bail, evidence, sentencing, and criminal appeals
• Police Officers, Investigating Agencies & Prosecution Departments requiring clarity on procedural reforms, powers of investigation, and definitional changes under the new laws
• Law Teachers, Researchers & Academicians analysing the structural shift from colonial-era criminal laws to modernised Indian criminal codes
• Law Students & Bar/Judicial Services Aspirants (AIBE, State Judicial Services, APO, etc.) who need a systematic and comparative study tool in a portable format
• Policy Analysts, Think Tanks & Government Institutions examining criminal justice reform, legislative intent, and procedural innovation in India

The Present Publication is the 2026 Edition, authored/edited by Taxmann’s Editorial Board, with the following noteworthy features, division-wise:

• [Complete Text of All Three New Criminal Codes with Legislative Materials] Each of the three enactments—BNS, BNSS, and BSA—is reproduced in full and is accompanied by:
  • Arrangement of Sections
  • Statement of Objects and Reasons
  • Notes on Clauses
  • A concise, ‘at-a-glance’ digest of the relevant Parliamentary Standing Committee Report
  • The Lok Sabha speech of the Hon’ble Union Home Minister delivered during the passage of the Bills
  • This ensures that the reader has access not only to the bare statutory provisions but also to the legislative background, intent, and parliamentary context within a single, compact hardbound volume
• [Section-wise Concordance Between Old and New Criminal Laws] For the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the book provides detailed concordance tables covering:
  • IPC sections mapped to corresponding BNS provisions
  • BNS sections mapped back to IPC provisions
  • Newly introduced sections under BNS
  • IPC sections repealed under the new regime
  • Similarly, for BNSS and BSA, dual-direction concordance tables map:
    • CrPC ↔ BNSS
    • Indian Evidence Act ↔ BSA
    • These tables allow practitioners and students to trace old references to the corresponding new law provisions instantly
• [Section Keys for Ready Reference] Each of the three codes—BNS, BNSS, and BSA—is accompanied by a dedicated Section Key that classifies significant topics and offences (including culpable homicide, cyber offences, organised crime, trafficking, electoral offences, offences against the State, public order, public servants, and economic offences) and cross-references them with the corresponding section numbers under both the repealed enactments and the new criminal laws
• [Alphabetical Keys for Instant Access] The Alphabetical Keys further organise the comparative framework by arranging subjects in an A–Z format, enabling quick identification of relevant provisions. These keys significantly enhance the utility of the pocket edition for examination preparation, courtroom use, and rapid statutory referencing
• [Comparative Study Chapters – Old Law vs New Law] Separate Comparative Study sections analyse:
  • BNS vs IPC
  • BNSS vs CrPC
  • BSA vs Indian Evidence Act
  • These chapters explain and contextualise:
    • Newly defined concepts such as child, transgender, organised crime, terrorist act, community service, snatching, and mob lynching
    • Changes in statutory definitions, including movable property, gender, public servant, and life imprisonment
    • Enhanced punishments, mandatory minimum sentences, and the introduction of community service as a form of punishment
    • Omitted offences such as sedition, adultery, attempt to commit suicide, and ‘unnatural offences,’ and how their underlying conduct is addressed or reconceptualised under the new framework
• [Guide to Punishment for Offences under BNS] A dedicated Guide to Punishment presents a tabular summary of offences under BNS, detailing:
  • Relevant section
  • Nature of offence
  • Prescribed punishment
  • Cognizability
  • Bailability
  • Court of trial
  • This guide functions as a ready reckoner for FIR drafting, charge framing, bail applications, sentencing submissions, teaching, and exam preparation
• [Extensive Annexures and Allied Procedural Materials] The BNSS division is supplemented with important allied rules and schemes, including:
  • Delhi BNSS (Arrest Information) Rules
  • Delhi BNSS (Service of Summons) Rules
  • Delhi BNSS (First Information Report) Rules
  • Non-Cognisable Offence Report Rules
  • Procedures relating to the investigation, final reports, and prosecution of judges and public servants
  • Rules governing electronic evidence, video-conferencing, and identification of case property
  • Delhi Witness Protection Scheme
  • These annexures transform the pocket edition into a functional procedural manual for criminal justice administration in the post-BNSS era
• [Subject Indices and Cross-Referencing Aids] Each division concludes with a detailed Subject Index, enabling concept-based access to topics such as bail, electronic records, organised crime, terrorism, witness protection, community service, confessions, presumptions, and burden of proof. When used in conjunction with concordance tables and section keys, these tools significantly reduce research and reference time

The coverage of the book is as follows:

• Division One – Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (BNS)
  • Concordance tables (IPC ↔ BNS), highlighting new offences and repealed provisions
  • Section Key and Alphabetical Key for subject-wise navigation
  • Comparative Study and Guide to Punishments
  • Full statutory text with legislative materials and parliamentary context
• Division Two – Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (BNSS)
  • CrPC ↔ BNSS concordance and reference keys
  • Comparative analysis of procedural reforms (e-FIR, electronic summons, video-conferencing, time-bound investigation and trial, victim participation)
  • Full statutory text with Standing Committee Report summary and ministerial speech
  • Annexures containing Delhi BNSS Rules and allied procedural schemes
• Division Three – Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (BSA)
  • Evidence Act ↔ BSA concordance tables and new sections list
  • Section Key and Comparative Study of Evidentiary Reforms
  • Complete statutory text with legislative materials
  • Detailed Subject Index for evidentiary concepts

The structure of the book is as follows:

• Part I | New Statutory Text – Full text of BNS, BNSS, and BSA with updated amendments
• Part II | Comparative Tables – Side-by-side alignment of old and new criminal laws
• Part III | Editorial Analysis – Explanatory notes on reforms, legislative intent, and reclassification of offences
• Part IV | Reference Aids – Concordance charts, punishment guides, procedural summaries, and indices