Section 93 BNSS 2023: Provisions Generally Applicable to Summons and Warrants of Arrest
Section 93 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 lays down a general rule for summons and warrants of arrest issued under the BNSS. It makes the provisions in the relevant Chapter concerning their issue, service and execution applicable, as far as practicable, to every summons and every warrant of arrest issued under the Sanhita.
Text of Section 93 BNSS
93. Provisions of this Chapter generally applicable to summons and warrants of arrest.
The provisions contained in this Chapter relating to summons and warrant, and their issue, service and execution, shall, so far as may be, apply to every summons and every warrant of arrest issued under this Sanhita.
Meaning and Scope of Section 93
Section 93 is a general application provision. It prevents the procedural rules governing summons and warrants in the Chapter from being treated as limited only to the immediately preceding situations. Instead, those rules extend, so far as they can appropriately be applied, to summons and warrants of arrest issued anywhere under the BNSS.
- Summons: A formal process requiring a person to appear before a Court or other competent authority as provided by law.
- Warrant of arrest: A written judicial process authorising the arrest and production of a person in accordance with law.
- Issue: The legal act by which a competent Court or authority directs that the summons or warrant be made operative.
- Service: The legally prescribed process of delivering or communicating a summons to the person concerned.
- Execution: The carrying out of a warrant or other process according to the procedure laid down by the Sanhita.
- So far as may be: The Chapter rules apply to the extent they are suitable and capable of application to the particular summons or warrant.
Practical Effect
The practical purpose of Section 93 is procedural consistency. When the BNSS authorises a summons or warrant of arrest in another provision, the general safeguards and procedures in the Chapter regarding issue, service and execution ordinarily travel with that process, unless the context or a specific provision requires otherwise.
This means that Section 93 should be read together with the surrounding BNSS provisions dealing with processes to compel appearance, including the rules governing summons, warrants, bonds and related execution procedures.
Position Under the Earlier CrPC
Section 93 BNSS substantially continues the procedural principle previously contained in Section 90 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which similarly made the Chapter provisions concerning summons and warrants generally applicable to summons and warrants of arrest issued under that Code.
BNSS Commencement
The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 is Act 46 of 2023. It received Presidential assent on 25 December 2023. The Central Government appointed 1 July 2024 as the date on which the BNSS came into force, subject to the notified exception concerning the First Schedule entry related to Section 106(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
Official Legal Resources
For the authoritative statutory text and current official material, refer to the Government of India sources below.
Last reviewed: 10 September 2026.