Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 182 BNSS - No Inducement to Be Offered

Section 182 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 protects the voluntariness of statements made during investigation. It prohibits a police officer or other person in authority from offering an inducement, threat or promise of the kind referred to in Section 22 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, while also making clear that a person must not be prevented from making a statement of his own free will.

Updated: 11 September 2026

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Meaning and scope of Section 182 BNSS

Section 182 is a safeguard against improper pressure during a criminal investigation. Sub-section (1) bars a police officer or any other person in authority from offering, making or causing to be offered or made an inducement, threat or promise of the kind contemplated by Section 22 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.

Sub-section (2) balances that protection by providing that the police or any other person must not prevent a person, by caution or otherwise, from making a statement which that person is disposed to make voluntarily during investigation. The proviso makes this subject to the requirements of Section 183(4) BNSS relating to the formal recording of a confession by a Magistrate.

Text of Section 182 BNSS

182. No inducement to be offered.

(1) No police officer or other person in authority shall offer or make, or cause to be offered or made, any such inducement, threat or promise as is mentioned in section 22 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.

(2) But no police officer or other person shall prevent, by any caution or otherwise, any person from making in the course of any investigation under this Chapter any statement which he may be disposed to make of his own free will:

Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall affect the provisions of sub-section (4) of section 183.

Key legal effect of Section 182

Rule Effect
No inducement, threat or promise Police officers and other persons in authority cannot use an inducement, threat or promise of the kind covered by Section 22 BSA to obtain a confession or statement.
Voluntary statement not to be obstructed A person who wishes to make a statement of his own free will during investigation should not be prevented from doing so merely by caution or other discouragement.
Voluntariness remains central The provision distinguishes a statement freely made from one brought about by improper influence.
Magisterial safeguards preserved The freedom to make a voluntary statement does not override Section 183(4), which governs the formal recording of a confession by a Magistrate.

Section 22 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023

Section 182(1) expressly refers to Section 22 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. Section 22 deals with a confession caused by inducement, threat, coercion or promise in a criminal proceeding.

In substance, a confession may become irrelevant where the Court considers that it was caused by an inducement, threat, coercion or promise connected with the charge, coming from a person in authority, and sufficient to give the accused reasonable grounds to suppose that by confessing he would gain an advantage or avoid a temporal evil in relation to the proceedings.

Practical point: Section 182 BNSS operates at the investigation stage by prohibiting improper inducement, threat or promise, while Section 22 BSA addresses the evidentiary consequence where a confession is caused by such improper influence.

Voluntary statements during investigation

Section 182(2) does not prohibit a person from speaking voluntarily. Instead, it states that no police officer or other person should prevent a person, by caution or otherwise, from making a statement which that person is disposed to make of his own free will during investigation.

This does not mean that every statement made during investigation automatically becomes admissible evidence. Its admissibility and use remain subject to the other provisions of the BNSS and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, including the rules governing police statements, confessions and proof.

Relationship with Section 183(4) BNSS

The proviso to Section 182(2) preserves the operation of Section 183 BNSS, which governs the recording of confessions and statements by a Magistrate.

Under Section 183(4), a confession is recorded in the manner prescribed for recording the examination of an accused under Section 316 BNSS. The confession must be signed by the person making it, and the Magistrate must append the statutory memorandum recording, among other matters, that the person was informed that he was not bound to confess and that the Magistrate believed the confession to have been voluntarily made.

Official legal resources

The BNSS and BSA came into force throughout India with effect from 1 July 2024, subject to the statutory commencement framework and the notified exception concerning Section 106(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.