Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 471 BNSS: Money Ordered to Be Paid Recoverable as a Fine

Section 471 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 provides a general recovery mechanism for money ordered to be paid under the BNSS when that money is not itself a fine and the Sanhita does not expressly provide another method of recovery.

Current law: The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 is Act No. 46 of 2023. Its relevant provisions came into force on 1 July 2024.

Text of Section 471 BNSS

471. Money ordered to be paid recoverable as a fine.

Any money (other than a fine) payable by virtue of any order made under this Sanhita, and the method of recovery of which is not otherwise expressly provided for, shall be recoverable as if it were a fine:

Provided that section 461 shall, in its application to an order under section 400, by virtue of this section, be construed as if in the proviso to sub-section (1) of section 461, after the words and figures "under section 395", the words and figures "or an order for payment of costs under section 400" had been inserted.

What Section 471 means

Section 471 is an execution and recovery provision. It applies where a court has directed payment of money under the BNSS, the amount is not itself a fine, and no separate recovery procedure is expressly prescribed. In that situation, the amount can be recovered by using the legal machinery available for recovery of a fine.

The amount must arise from an order under the BNSS.
The amount must be something other than a fine.
No other express recovery method should be provided for that amount.
Once Section 471 applies, recovery proceeds as if the amount were a fine.

Connection with Section 461 BNSS

Section 461 BNSS deals with warrants for levy of fine. It authorises the court, subject to the statutory conditions, to recover an unpaid fine by attachment and sale of movable property and/or by issuing a warrant to the District Collector for recovery as arrears of land revenue from movable or immovable property.

Section 471 imports this fine-recovery mechanism for qualifying monetary orders that are not fines. The proviso ensures that the special protection and exception contained in Section 461(1) also accommodates an order for payment of costs under Section 400.

Connection with Section 400 BNSS

Section 400 BNSS is titled Order to pay costs in non-cognizable cases. It permits a court, on conviction in a complaint relating to a non-cognizable offence, to order the accused to pay the complainant all or part of the reasonable prosecution costs allowed by law.

The proviso to Section 471 expressly links those costs to Section 461 so that the recovery machinery for fines can be used in the manner contemplated by the Sanhita.

Section 471 and the earlier CrPC provision

BNSS, 2023	CrPC, 1973	Subject
Section 471	Section 431	Money ordered to be paid recoverable as a fine
Section 461	Section 421	Warrant for levy of fine
Section 400	Section 359	Order to pay costs in non-cognizable cases

Section 471 substantially carries forward the recovery principle previously found in Section 431 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, with the corresponding BNSS section numbers.

Practical effect

The provision prevents a monetary order from becoming ineffective merely because the BNSS does not separately repeat a recovery procedure for that particular order. Where the statutory conditions are satisfied, the court may employ the recovery process applicable to fines.

Important: Section 471 does not automatically convert every monetary liability into a criminal fine. It creates a statutory method of recovery for qualifying monetary orders made under the BNSS. The precise recovery steps remain subject to Section 461 and any other applicable provision or judicial order.

Official sources

For the authoritative text and current status of the law, refer to India Code - Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and the Ministry of Home Affairs - New Criminal Laws.