BNSS § 194
Definition
Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (replacing CrPC § 174). Requires a police inquest for deaths that are sudden, suspicious, suicidal, accidental, caused by another person, or otherwise not clearly natural. The inquest may trigger referral for medico-legal autopsy.
- Statute
- BNSS Section 194 (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023)
- Effective date
- July 1, 2024
- Replaced
- CrPC Section 174
Common questions
When does a police inquest become mandatory for a death?+
BNSS 194 requires a police inquest for any death that is sudden, suspicious, suicidal, accidental, caused by another person, or not clearly natural in origin. The inquest process investigates the circumstances and may lead to a medico-legal autopsy.
What replaced the old CrPC Section 174?+
Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) 2023 replaced the Criminal Procedure Code Section 174. BNSS 194 came into effect on July 1, 2024, and now governs police inquests in India.
Can a police inquest result in a medico-legal autopsy?+
Yes. An inquest under BNSS 194 may trigger a referral for a medico-legal autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death, especially when the death is suspicious or the cause is unclear.
Related terms
- Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (CJA 2009)
- The primary UK statute governing HM Coroner's jurisdiction in England and Wales. Section 1(2) triggers a duty to investigate when the coroner...
- CPP Articles 74-75 (France)
- Articles 74 and 74-1 of the French Code de procédure pénale governing the procureur de la République's investigative authority over deaths in...
- ICD-10 Chapter XX (V01-Y98)
- The External Causes of Morbidity and Mortality chapter of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision. These codes capture the circumstances and...
- INTERPOL DVI Protocol
- The INTERPOL Disaster Victim Identification protocol (last revised 2022), which defines standardised Post-Mortem (PM) data-collection forms and the matching process between PM...
- Mechanism of Death
- The physiological derangement through which the cause of death produced the dying process. Examples include exsanguination, asphyxia, sepsis, and cardiac arrhythmia. Multiple...
- Medical Examiner (US)
- A physician (typically a board-certified forensic pathologist) appointed by government authority to investigate deaths within their jurisdiction. Distinguished from the elected Coroner...
- NAME Classification
- The National Association of Medical Examiners five-class manner-of-death taxonomy: Natural, Accidental, Suicide, Homicide, and Undetermined. The internationally dominant framework for manner-of-death certification,...
- NAME Referral Criteria
- The National Association of Medical Examiners consensus criteria for deaths that should receive medico-legal investigation. Categories include sudden unexpected death in apparently...
- Open Verdict / Undetermined
- The UK Coroner's conclusion (open verdict, or narrative conclusion) where evidence is insufficient for a more specific conclusion. Functionally equivalent to the...
- Underlying Cause of Death
- The disease or injury that initiated the chain of events that led to death, as defined in the WHO ICD coding conventions....
Explained in these topics
- Cause, Mechanism, Manner and the NAME ClassificationSection 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (effective 1 July 2024), which replaced CrPC § 174. It mandates a police inquest for deaths that are...
- Which Deaths Require a Medico-Legal AutopsySection 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (replacing CrPC § 174). Requires a police inquest for deaths that are sudden, suspicious, suicidal,...