Section 498 — Application of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 to proceedings before Special Court. Successor to s.280D of the 1961 Act.
Section 498 is in Chapter XXII — Offences and Prosecutions, which runs from section 473 to section 498.
Sub-section (1) provides that, save as otherwise provided in the Act, the provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — including the provisions as to bails or bonds — shall apply to proceedings before a Special Court, and that the person conducting the prosecution before the Special Court shall be deemed to be a Public Prosecutor.
Sub-section (2) allows the Central Government also to appoint a Special Public Prosecutor for any case or class or group of cases.
Sub-section (3) fixes the qualification: a person is not qualified to be appointed as a Public Prosecutor or a Special Public Prosecutor under the section unless he has been in practice as an advocate for not less than seven years, requiring special knowledge of law.
Sub-section (4) provides that every person appointed as a Public Prosecutor or Special Public Prosecutor under the section shall be deemed to be a Public Prosecutor within the meaning of section 2(1)(v) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and that the provisions of that Sanhita shall have effect accordingly.
A Special Court trying offences under this Act needs a complete procedural code, and rather than reproduce one the section imports the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, subject to anything the Act itself provides. The deeming provisions then give the prosecutor before that court the same status and powers under the Sanhita as a Public Prosecutor in an ordinary criminal court.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum standing for appointment as a Public Prosecutor or Special Public Prosecutor | Not less than seven years in practice as an advocate | The practice must be such as requires special knowledge of law | Sub-section (3) |
The opening words of sub-section (1) matter: the Sanhita applies save as otherwise provided in the Act, so any special procedure the Act lays down displaces it and the Sanhita fills the rest. The express mention of the provisions as to bails or bonds settles that an accused before a Special Court has the ordinary bail machinery available. Sub-section (3) is a bar on appointment — no one below seven years' practice may be appointed, whether as Public Prosecutor or Special Public Prosecutor. Sub-section (4) does not merely describe a title; by deeming the appointee a Public Prosecutor within section 2(1)(v) of the Sanhita it gives him the functions and powers that office carries.
A person prosecuted before a Special Court for an offence under the Act applies for bail. The application is made under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, which sub-section (1) carries into those proceedings expressly including its provisions as to bails or bonds, and the prosecution is conducted by a person deemed to be a Public Prosecutor — who must, under sub-section (3), have been in practice as an advocate for not less than seven years.
A person prosecuted for an offence under the Act meets this section in the conduct of the trial before the Special Court — it is the provision under which bail is sought and granted, and under which the prosecutor's standing to appear may be tested.
the provisions of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (46 of 2023) (including the provisions as to bails or bonds), shall apply to the proceedings before a Special Court
unless he has been in practice as an advocate for not less than seven years, requiring special knowledge of law
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.
See the circulars index.
See the notifications index.