CRPC37
CrPC to BNSS

Public when to assist Magistrates and police

Text carried over almost unchanged 95% Repealed 01 Jul 2024

CRPC 37 (Public when to assist Magistrates and police) corresponds most closely to BNSS 31, Public when to assist Magistrates and police, on a text comparison scoring 95 per cent. The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 was repealed with effect from 01 Jul 2024, but conduct before that date is still charged, tried and appealed under it.

Repealed · Code of Criminal Procedure

Section 37 Public when to assist Magistrates and police

Every person is bound to assist a Magistrate or police officer reasonably demanding his aid-

(a) in the taking or preventing the escape of any other person whom such Magistrate or police officer is authorised to arrest; or

(b) in the prevention or suppression of a breach of the peace; or

(c) in the prevention of any injury attempted to be committed to any railway, canal, telegraph or public property.

In force · Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita

Section 31 Public when to assist Magistrates and police

Every person is bound to assist a Magistrate or police officer reasonably demanding his aid—

(a) in the taking or preventing the escape of any other person whom such Magistrate or police officer is authorised to arrest; or

(b) in the prevention or suppression of a breach of the peace; or

(c) in the prevention of any injury attempted to be committed to any public property.

Other provisions with similar text

The next closest matches, in order. Where a provision was split or merged, the answer is often more than one of these.

How this table was made, and what it is not

There is no official machine-readable correspondence between the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. The Ministry published comparison charts for human readers; nothing exists that a computer can check. So this is not an official mapping and we do not present it as one.

What it measures is how alike the text of two provisions is. For each provision of the old enactment we compare its words against every provision of the new one and report the closest, with the score. That works here because the new codes are largely a renumbering rather than a rewrite: where a provision carried over near-verbatim the match is self-evidencing, and you can see it for yourself, because both texts are set out side by side on every entry.

Where the law genuinely changed, the score falls and the entry says no close match found rather than offering a guess. Those entries matter: they are where the reform actually did something.

Check before you cite. A high score means the words are alike, not that a court has held the provisions equivalent. For that, read both texts and the Gazette.

Full CrPC to BNSS table

Source and method. Compiled from the enactments of Parliament and of the State legislatures as published on India Code, and republished together with commentary and other original matter under section 52(1)(q)(ii) of the Copyright Act, 1957. Structured, cross-referenced and maintained by eCourtsIndia. This page is not a substitute for legal advice.