Law Maker

CHAPTER V ARREST OF PERSONS

Section 41A: Notice of appearance before police officer

The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (repealed)

Repealed by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (46 of 2023) with effect from 1 July 2024.

1[(1) 2[The police officer shall], in all cases where the arrest of a person is not required under the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 41, issue a notice directing the person against whom a reasonable complaint has been made, or credible information has been received, or a reasonable suspicion exists that he has committed a cognizable offence, to appear before him or at such other place as may be specified in the notice.

(2) Where such a notice is issued to any person, it shall be the duty of that person to comply with the terms of the notice.

(3) Where such person complies and continues to comply with the notice, he shall not be arrested in respect of the offence referred to in the notice unless, for reasons to be recorded, the police officer is of the opinion that he ought to be arrested.

3[(4) Where such person, at any time, fails to comply with the terms of the notice or is unwilling to identify himself, the police officer may, subject to such orders as may have been passed by a competent Court in this behalf, arrest him for the offence mentioned in the notice.]

Footnotes in the official text

  1. 1.Ins. by s. 6, ibid. (w.e.f. 1-11-2010).
  2. 2.Subs. by Act 41 of 2010, s. 3, for “The police officer may” (w.e.f. 2-11-2010).
  3. 3.Subs. by Act 41 of 2010, s. 3 (w.e.f. 2-11-2010).

Leading cases

Questions on this section

3 questions in 6 of our papers cite Section 41A. Try these from the free papers:

  1. 1. Under the directions in Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar (2014), the decision of a police officer not to arrest an accused must be forwarded to the Magistrate within what period from the date of institution of the case?

  2. 2. In Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI (order of 16 July 2025), the Supreme Court declined to modify its earlier direction and held that a notice under Section 35 of the BNSS (formerly Section 41A CrPC):

Practise questions on Criminal Law