Introduction
Modern crime does not stop at national borders. Offences are frequently committed through cyberspace, international travel, ships, aircraft, and digital communication networks. If criminal law were limited only to offences physically committed within India, offenders could escape justice simply by crossing a border. To prevent such loopholes, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) lays down specific rules that determine the territorial extent of its application.
•
Which offences can be tried
in India?
•
Can India prosecute
offences committed abroad?
•
Does Indian law apply to
crimes committed on Indian ships and aircraft?
•
Can foreign nationals be
punished under Indian criminal law?
Section 1 of the BNS: Short Title, Commencement, and Application
Section
1 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 performs three distinct roles: it gives
the legislation its name, fixes its date of commencement, and defines the
geographical and personal scope of its application. The following is the
operative text of the section:
Section 1. Short title, commencement and application.
(1) This Act may be called the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
(2) It shall come into force on such date (1 July 2024) as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Sanhita.(3) Every person shall be liable to punishment under this Sanhita and not otherwise for every act or omission contrary to the provisions thereof, of which he shall be guilty within India.(4) Any person liable, by any law for the time being in force in India, to be tried for an offence committed beyond India shall be dealt with according to the provisions of this Sanhita for any act committed beyond India in the same manner as if such act had been committed within India.(5) The provisions of this Sanhita shall also apply to any offence committed by--(a) any citizen of India in any place without and beyond India;(b) any person on any ship or aircraft registered in India wherever it may be;(c) any person in any place without and beyond India committing offence targeting a computer resource located in India.Explanation.--In this section, the word "offence" includes every act committed outside India which, if committed in India, would be punishable under this Sanhita.Illustration.A, who is a citizen of India, commits a murder in any place without and beyond India.He can be tried and convicted of murder in any place in India in which he may be found.(6) Nothing in this Sanhita shall affect the provisions of any Act for punishing mutiny and desertion of officers, soldiers, sailors or airmen in the service of the Government of India or the provisions of any special or local law.
Section 1(4): The Bridge Provision
What Does Section 1(4) Do?
Section
1(4) does not create extra-territorial jurisdiction on its own. Instead, it
acts as an enabling or bridge provision. It operates whenever another law such as an extradition treaty, an anti-piracy statute, or any other legislation
already in force in India confers jurisdiction on Indian courts over a person
who committed an offence abroad.
Once
that separate legal basis for jurisdiction is established, Section 1(4) steps
in to ensure that the substantive provisions of the BNS, the definitions of
offences and the corresponding punishments are applied to that person,
exactly as if the act had been committed within India.
Without
Section 1(4), a court might have the authority to try a person but lack a clear
statutory framework specifying what the "offence" means and what
"sentence" applies to an act that occurred outside Indian territory.
Section 1(4) fills that gap.
Landmark Case: The Alondra Rainbow (1999)
Piracy Case - Alondra Rainbow (1999)
In 1999, the Indian Navy intercepted the Panama-registered vessel MV Alondra Rainbow off the coast of Goa and arrested the Indonesian pirates aboard. None of the conditions listed under Section 1(5) were present: the pirates were not Indian citizens, the ship was not registered in India, and the hijacking had taken place near Indonesia. What made them triable in India was the admiralty jurisdiction of the Bombay High Court a separate, pre-existing legal basis that satisfied the “other law” requirement of Section 1(4). Once that jurisdiction attached, the court applied the robbery and dacoity provisions of the Indian Penal Code (the equivalent provisions of which are now found in the BNS), treating the acts as if they had been committed within India. This is precisely the function that Section 1(4) is designed to serve.
Section 1(5): Self-Creating Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction
Unlike Section 1(4), Section 1(5) independently creates extra-territorial jurisdiction without requiring any other law to do so first. It identifies three categories of persons and situations where the BNS applies automatically, regardless of where the offence is committed.
Clause (a): Indian Citizens Abroad
If any Indian citizen commits an act outside India that constitutes an offence under the BNS, that citizen is liable to be tried in India as if the act had been committed within the country. The Explanation to Section 1 makes clear that the word “offence” includes any act committed abroad that would be punishable under the BNS had it been committed in India even if that act is not a crime under the law of the country where it was carried out.
Practical Example - Bigamy Abroad
Jaskirat Singh, who already has a wife in India, travels to the United States and marries an American woman. Since bigamy is not a criminal offence under American law, he commits no crime there. However, when he returns to India, he can be prosecuted for bigamy under the BNS. The act will be treated as if the bigamy had been committed in India itself.
Clause (b): Indian-Registered Ships and Aircraft
Any
person whether Indian or foreign national who commits an offence on board a ship or
aircraft registered in India is subject to the provisions of the BNS,
irrespective of where in the world that vessel or aircraft may be located at
the time of the offence. An Indian-registered ship or aircraft is treated, in
law, as a floating or flying extension of Indian territory.
Clause (c): Cyber Offences Targeting Indian Computer Resources
Any
person, located anywhere in the world, who commits an act that targets a
computer resource situated in India, is subject to the BNS. This clause is
particularly significant in the context of cybercrime. It directly addresses
scenarios such as the one described in the opening illustration of this article where a person sitting abroad hacks into a bank account or computer system
located in India.
Key Case Laws on Extra-Territorial Application
Pheroze v. State of Maharashtra, AIR 1964 Bom 71
An Indian citizen who commits an act outside India that is not an offence under the law of that foreign country will still be liable to be tried in India, provided the act constitutes an offence under Indian law. The legality or illegality of the act under the law of the place where it was committed is irrelevant for the purpose of Section 1(5)(a) of the BNS.
Central Bank of India v. Ram Narain
For the purpose of Clause (a) of Section 1(5), it is the citizenship of the accused at the time of committing the offence that is relevant, not the citizenship at the time of the trial. If a person was an Indian citizen when the offence was committed, the provision applies even if that person has subsequently acquired foreign citizenship.
How Sections 1(3), 1(4), and 1(5) Work Together
The three operative sub-sections of Section 1 form a coherent framework designed to ensure that no offender can escape Indian criminal law by virtue of geography alone. Their roles can be summarised as follows:
The Procedural Framework: BNSS Sections 208 and 209
Establishing
extra-territorial jurisdiction under the BNS is only part of the picture. The
procedural mechanism for actually conducting a trial is governed by Chapter XV
of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), specifically Sections
208 and 209.
Section 208 BNSS - Jurisdiction Over Extra-Territorial Offences
Section 208. Offence committed outside India.
When an offence is committed outside India-
(a) by a citizen of India, whether on the high seas or elsewhere; or(b) by a person, not being such citizen, on any ship or aircraft registered in India,he may be dealt with in respect of such offence as if it had been committed at any place within India at which he may be found or where the offence is registered in India:Provided that notwithstanding anything in any of the preceding sections of this Chapter, no such offence shall be inquired into or tried in India except with the previous sanction of the Central Government.
Section 208 of the BNSS sets out two foundational conditions under which an Indian court may exercise jurisdiction over an offence committed abroad:
•
An Indian citizen commits
an offence outside India; or
• An offence is committed by any person on a ship or aircraft registered in India.
When either of these conditions is satisfied, the offence is deemed to have been committed in India. However, Section 208 also introduces an important procedural safeguard: no inquiry or trial may commence in respect of an extra-territorial offence unless the Central Government has granted its sanction. This requirement prevents frivolous or politically motivated prosecutions of persons for acts committed abroad.
Registration of the FIR
Remia v. Sub Inspector of Police, Tanur (1993) - Kerala High Court
The family of a victim approached a Sub Inspector of Police to file a complaint alleging that their son had been murdered by an Indian citizen in a foreign country. The Sub Inspector refused to register the FIR and declined to investigate on the ground that the offence was committed abroad. The Kerala High Court held that the Sub Inspector was under a legal obligation to register the FIR and conduct an investigation into the offence, because the accused was an Indian citizen, the condition prescribed by Section 208 of the BNSS was satisfied.
Where Can the Victim File the Case?
A critical practical question that arose under the old Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) was: which court has jurisdiction to try an extra-territorial offence, and where must the victim file the complaint? The CrPC provision (Section 188) stated that the accused could be tried where "he may be found," a phrase that created ambiguity and was exploited by accused persons to challenge jurisdiction.
Om Hemrajani v. State of U.P. (2005) - Supreme Court of India
An Indian citizen allegedly committed bank fraud in Dubai and fled. The victim bank filed a complaint in Kanpur. The accused challenged the Kanpur court’s jurisdiction on the ground that the crime occurred in Dubai and that the accused was never physically found in Kanpur. The Supreme Court rejected this argument entirely. It held that for extra-territorial offences, the law is designed for the convenience of the victim, not to provide an escape route for the fugitive. A victim may approach any competent court in India. Once that court issues a summons or arrest warrant and the accused appears or is brought before the court, the accused is legally considered to have been “found” within the jurisdiction of that court.
Section
208 of the BNSS has now codified the Om Hemrajani ruling directly into the
statute. It explicitly adds the words "or where the offence is registered
in India." As a result, there is no longer any need for courts to engage
in interpretive debate about the word "found." A victim may simply
register an FIR at any police station in India, and the local court
automatically acquires jurisdiction to try the extra-territorial offence.
Section 209 BNSS - Admission of Evidence Collected Abroad
Section 209. Receipt of evidence relating to offences committed outside India.
When any offence alleged to have been committed in a territory outside India is being inquired into or tried under the provisions of section 208, the Central Government may, if it thinks fit, direct that copies of depositions made or exhibits produced, either in physical form or in electronic form, before a judicial officer, in or for that territory or before a diplomatic or consular representative of India in or for that territory shall be received as evidence by the Court holding such inquiry or trial in any case in which such Court might issue a commission for taking evidence as to the matters to which such depositions or exhibits relate.
When an offence is committed in a foreign country, the evidence relating to that offence is typically collected by the law enforcement agencies of that country. Such evidence, gathered outside Indian territory, would ordinarily not be directly admissible in an Indian court. Section 209 of the BNSS addresses this challenge.
The section provides that a certificate or order issued by a representative of the Central Government such as a Political Agent, diplomat, or consular official serves as legal validation for evidence collected by an Indian Embassy or consular official in connection with the case. An Indian judge may, on the basis of such a certificate, admit the foreign-collected evidence in trial proceedings, treating it with the same weight as evidence collected within India by a police officer. This mechanism enables Indian courts to conduct effective trials in respect of cross-border offences without being hampered by evidentiary gaps.
Practical Application: A Step-by-Step Case Study
Case Study - Murder Abroad by an Indian Citizen
Ravi, an Indian citizen, travels to Russia on a business trip. During his stay, he murders Jassi, his Indian colleague, in Russia. The family of Jassi files a complaint against Ravi at a police station in Mumbai, India.
Step 1 - Establishing Jurisdiction (Section 1(5)(a) of BNS read with Section 208 BNSS):
Ravi is an Indian citizen and Jassi was also an Indian citizen. The conditions in Section 1(5)(a) of the BNS are satisfied. Section 208 of the BNSS provides that the offence will be treated as if it were committed in India. However, the trial cannot commence until the Central Government grants its sanction.
Step 2 - Collecting and Admitting Evidence (Section 209 BNSS):
Since the offence was committed in Russia, the physical evidence- forensic reports, witness statements, and other documentation will have been collected by Russian authorities. Section 209 of the BNSS provides the mechanism by which this evidence can be officially certified and admitted before an Indian court, enabling a fair and complete trial.
Conclusion
Section
1 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 represents a comprehensive and carefully
structured approach to the challenge of extra-territorial criminal
jurisdiction. By distinguishing between offences committed within India
(Section 1(3)), offences where another law provides the jurisdictional basis
(Section 1(4)), and offences where the BNS itself creates extra-territorial
jurisdiction (Section 1(5)), the legislature has ensured that Indian criminal
law keeps pace with the realities of a globalised world.
Read
alongside Sections 208 and 209 of the BNSS, which govern the procedural and
evidentiary aspects of cross-border trials, the framework offers both
substantive clarity and procedural efficiency. The codification of judicial
pronouncements such as Om Hemrajani v. State of U.P. into the bare text of
Section 208 further demonstrates the legislature’s commitment to accessible
justice for victims of extra-territorial offences.
In
sum, the BNS and the BNSS together ensure that geography cannot be used as a
shield against criminal accountability, whether the offence involves a
cybercrime targeting Indian systems, a murder committed abroad by an Indian
citizen, or piracy on the high seas.
Watch video for better understanding
For Hindi Notes Click Here
FAQs
Could the Police officer in India Can register an FIR against the person who has committed an offence outside India
Yes, The Police officer fill register an FIR it is held by the case Remia v. Sub-Inspector of Tanur.
Can an Indian citizen be prosecuted in India for a crime committed in another country?
Yes. Under Section 1(5)(a) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, an Indian citizen can be prosecuted in India for an offence committed outside the country if the act would have been punishable under Indian law. However, under Section 208 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the trial can begin only after obtaining the previous sanction of the Central Government.
Does Indian criminal law apply to cybercrimes committed from outside India?
Yes. Section 1(5)(c) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 extends Indian criminal law to any person located outside India who commits a cyber offence targeting a computer resource situated in India. This means that hackers or cybercriminals operating from foreign countries can still be prosecuted under Indian law if their actions affect individuals, businesses, or computer systems within India.
What is the difference between territorial and extra-territorial jurisdiction under Indian criminal law?
Territorial jurisdiction refers to the power of Indian courts to try offences committed within the geographical boundaries of India under Section 1(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. Extra-territorial jurisdiction, on the other hand, allows Indian courts to prosecute certain offences committed outside India. This includes offences committed by Indian citizens abroad, offences on Indian-registered ships or aircraft, and cybercrimes targeting computer resources located in India under Section 1(5) of the BNS.
0 Comments