The Changing Contours of Police Administration: Analysing the Journey from the Code of Criminal Procedure to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita

The introduction of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita in 2023 brought about various changes in the criminal justice mechanism. As our former procedural criminal law was replaced by BNSS, we saw changes in various aspects of investigation, inquiry and trial, and one such salient feature to change within the criminal justice system was the police administration. The first pillar of the criminal justice system is set to undergo reforms through this new law. The law is set to give additional discretionary powers to the police. Accountability upon the police will also be imposed on various occasions. The new legislation also seeks to bring in clarifications to the provisions of law upon which there were ambiguities in the CrPC. A critical analysis has to be made of all these changes targeted to the most visible arm of the State machinery, i.e. the police.