Section 40 CrPC: Duty of Village Officers to Report Certain Matters

Section 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 imposed a prompt reporting duty on officers connected with village administration and on persons residing in a village when they possessed information about specified offenders, offences, suspicious deaths, disappearances and matters affecting public order or safety.

Historical law position: This page explains Section 40 CrPC as applicable immediately before the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 came into force on 1 July 2024. It is retained for research, older proceedings and matters in which the CrPC continues to be relevant under applicable saving or transitional provisions.

Text of Section 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

40. Duty of officers employed in connection with the affairs of a village to make certain report.

(1) Every officer employed in connection with the affairs of a village and every person residing in a village shall forthwith communicate to the nearest Magistrate or to the officer in charge of the nearest police station, whichever is nearer, any information which he may possess respecting-

(a) the permanent or temporary residence of any notorious receiver or vendor of stolen property in or near such village;

(b) the resort to any place within, or the passage through, such village of any person whom he knows, or reasonably suspects, to be a thug, robber, escaped convict or proclaimed offender;

(c) the commission of, or intention to commit, in or near such village any non-bailable offence or any offence punishable under section 143, section 144, section 145, section 147, or section 148 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860);

(d) the occurrence in or near such village of any sudden or unnatural death or of any death under suspicious circumstances or the discovery in or near such village of any corpse or part of a corpse, in circumstances which lead to a reasonable suspicion that such a death has occurred or the disappearance from such village of any person in circumstances which lead to a reasonable suspicion that a non-bailable offence has been committed in respect of such person;

(e) the commission of, or intention to commit, at any place out of India near such village any act which, if committed in India, would be an offence punishable under any of the following sections of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), namely, 231 to 238 (both inclusive), 302, 304, 382, 392 to 399 (both inclusive), 402, 435, 436, 449, 450, 457 to 460 (both inclusive), 489A, 489B, 489C and 489D;

(f) any matter likely to affect the maintenance of order or the prevention of crime or the safety of person or property respecting which the District Magistrate, by general or special order made with the previous sanction of the State Government, has directed him to communicate information.

(2) In this section-

(i) "village" includes village-lands;

(ii) the expression "proclaimed offender" includes any person proclaimed as an offender by any Court or authority in any territory in India to which this Code does not extend, in respect of any act which if committed in the territories to which this Code extends, would be an offence punishable under any of the following sections of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), namely, 302, 304, 382, 392 to 399 (both inclusive), 402, 435, 436, 449, 450 and 457 to 460 (both inclusive);

(iii) the words "officer employed in connection with the affairs of the village" means a member of the panchayat of the village and includes the headman and every officer or other person appointed to perform any function connected with the administration of the village.

Meaning and Scope of Section 40 CrPC

The provision was preventive as well as informational. It required specified information to be passed without delay to the nearest Magistrate or the officer in charge of the nearest police station. The obligation was not confined to a formal village officer: subsection (1) also referred to every person residing in the village.

What had to be reported?

The reporting obligation covered information concerning receivers or vendors of stolen property, certain suspected offenders passing through or staying in the village, actual or intended non-bailable and specified IPC offences, suspicious or unnatural deaths, suspicious disappearances, certain serious acts outside India near the village, and specified matters affecting public order, crime prevention or the safety of persons or property.

Meaning of "forthwith"

In the context of Section 40, "forthwith" required the information to be communicated promptly. The section was designed to ensure that information relevant to prevention or detection of serious crime and preservation of public order reached the Magistracy or police without avoidable delay.

Definitions Used in Section 40

Village: The statutory definition expressly included village-lands.
Proclaimed offender: For this section, the expression also extended to a person proclaimed by a Court or authority in territory to which the CrPC did not extend, where the underlying act corresponded to one of the serious IPC offences specified in subsection (2)(ii).
Officer employed in connection with village affairs: This meant a member of the village panchayat and included the headman and every officer or other person appointed to perform a function connected with village administration.
Non-bailable offence: Under the CrPC classification, a non-bailable offence is one shown as non-bailable in the First Schedule or made non-bailable by another law. Bail in such cases is governed by the applicable statutory provisions rather than arising as an absolute right merely because the accused offers bail.

Why Section 40 CrPC Was Important

Section 40 formed part of Chapter IV of the CrPC under the group of provisions dealing with aid to Magistrates and police. It supplemented the broader public duty to provide information about specified offences by creating a village-focused reporting mechanism. The section recognised that village residents and local administrative functionaries may receive early information about suspicious persons, serious offences, unexplained deaths and threats to public safety.

CrPC and the Change to BNSS

The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 governed criminal procedure before the new criminal-law framework took effect on 1 July 2024. The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 thereafter became the principal procedural criminal statute, subject to its commencement, saving and transitional provisions. Accordingly, the date of the alleged offence, proceeding or procedural step may be important when determining which statutory regime applies.

This article is for legal information and historical statutory reference. The exact law applicable to a particular proceeding should be checked with reference to the relevant dates, amendments, notifications and saving provisions.