Section 105L CrPC - Application of this Chapter

Section 105L of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 formed part of Chapter VIIA, dealing with reciprocal arrangements for assistance in specified matters involving contracting States and procedures connected with attachment and forfeiture of property.

Text of Section 105L CrPC

The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, direct that the application of this Chapter in relation to a contracting State with which reciprocal arrangements have been made, shall be subject to such conditions, exceptions or qualifications as are specified in the said notification.

Meaning and scope of Section 105L

Section 105L empowered the Central Government to regulate how Chapter VIIA applied in relation to a particular contracting State. Where India had reciprocal arrangements with such a State, the Central Government could issue an Official Gazette notification specifying conditions, exceptions or qualifications governing the application of the Chapter.

The provision therefore recognized that international cooperation under Chapter VIIA could depend upon the terms of the reciprocal arrangement and the notification applicable to the contracting State concerned. The operative requirements in a particular matter consequently had to be read with the relevant Central Government notification, where one existed.

Important expressions

Contracting State

For Chapter VIIA, the expression is defined in Section 105A CrPC. In substance, it refers to a country or place outside India in respect of which arrangements have been made by the Central Government with the government of that country through a treaty or otherwise.

Official Gazette notification

Section 105L contemplated a formal notification by the Central Government. Such a notification could prescribe the conditions, exceptions or qualifications subject to which Chapter VIIA operated in relation to the specified contracting State.

Position before implementation of BNSS

Before the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 came into force, Section 105L was the concluding provision of Chapter VIIA of the CrPC framework on reciprocal arrangements and related property procedures. This page explains that CrPC provision in its pre-BNSS legal setting.

Current-law note: The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 came into force on 1 July 2024 and repealed the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, subject to the savings contained in Section 531 BNSS. Pending appeals, applications, trials, inquiries and investigations covered by the savings provision continue in accordance with the former Code as specified there.

Related provisions in Chapter VIIA

Section 105L should be read in the context of Section 105A and the connected provisions governing transfer of persons, attachment or forfeiture, identification and management of property, notices of forfeiture, fines in lieu of forfeiture, transfers of property and letters of request.