Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 186 BNSS - Search in Another Police Station Area

Section 186 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 governs searches that need to be carried out in the territorial limits of another police station. It permits an investigating officer to request the officer in charge of another police station to cause a search to be made and, in urgent cases where delay may lead to concealment or destruction of evidence, permits a direct search in the other police-station area subject to Section 185 safeguards and additional notice and reporting requirements.

Updated: 11 September 2026

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Meaning and scope of Section 186 BNSS

Section 186 deals with the situation where material relevant to an investigation may be located outside the territorial limits of the investigating officer's own police station. The ordinary course is to require the officer in charge of the police station having territorial control over the place to cause the search to be made.

The provision also recognises urgency. If waiting for the other police station to conduct the search may result in evidence being concealed or destroyed, the investigating officer may search, or cause a search to be made, in the other police-station area in accordance with Section 185.

Text of Section 186 BNSS

186. When officer in charge of police station may require another to issue search-warrant.

(1) An officer in charge of a police station or a police officer not being below the rank of sub-inspector making an investigation may require an officer in charge of another police station, whether in the same or a different district, to cause a search to be made in any place, in any case in which the former officer might cause such search to be made, within the limits of his own station.

(2) Such officer, on being so required, shall proceed according to the provisions of section 185, and shall forward the thing found, if any, to the officer at whose request the search was made.

(3) Whenever there is reason to believe that the delay occasioned by requiring an officer in charge of another police station to cause a search to be made under sub-section (1) might result in evidence of the commission of an offence being concealed or destroyed, it shall be lawful for an officer in charge of a police station or a police officer making any investigation under this Chapter to search, or cause to be searched, any place in the limits of another police station in accordance with the provisions of section 185, as if such place were within the limits of his own police station.

(4) Any officer conducting a search under sub-section (3) shall forthwith send notice of the search to the officer in charge of the police station within the limits of which such place is situate, and shall also send with such notice a copy of the list (if any) prepared under section 103, and shall also send to the nearest Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of the offence, copies of the records referred to in sub-sections (1) and (3) of section 185.

(5) The owner or occupier of the place searched shall, on application, be furnished free of cost with a copy of any record sent to the Magistrate under sub-section (4).

Request to another police station under Section 186(1)

An officer in charge of a police station, or an investigating police officer not below the rank of sub-inspector, may require the officer in charge of another police station to cause a search to be made. The other police station may be in the same district or a different district.

The power is available where the requesting officer could have caused the same type of search to be made if the place had been situated within the territorial limits of the requesting officer's own police station.

On receiving the request, the officer in charge of the other police station must proceed in accordance with Section 185 and forward anything found to the officer who requested the search.

Urgent cross-jurisdiction search where evidence may be concealed or destroyed

Section 186(3) creates an exception to the ordinary inter-station request procedure. If there is reason to believe that the delay involved in asking the other police station to conduct the search may result in evidence being concealed or destroyed, the investigating officer may directly search, or cause a search to be made, in the territorial limits of the other police station.

Important safeguard: Even an urgent cross-jurisdiction search under Section 186(3) must be conducted in accordance with Section 185, as though the place were within the investigating officer's own police-station limits.

Notice and record-forwarding requirements after an urgent search

An officer who conducts a search under Section 186(3) must immediately complete the additional reporting steps in Section 186(4).

Recipient What must be sent
Officer in charge of the local police station Notice of the search must be sent forthwith.
Officer in charge of the local police station A copy of the list, if any, prepared under Section 103 must accompany the notice.
Nearest Magistrate empowered to take cognizance Copies of the records referred to in Section 185(1) and Section 185(3) must be sent.

How Section 185 applies to a Section 186 search

Section 186 repeatedly incorporates the procedure in Section 185. That means the statutory safeguards applicable to a police search during investigation remain relevant when the search occurs through another police station or is carried out urgently in another police-station area.

Section 185 requires, among other things, reasonable grounds for believing that something necessary for the investigation may be found, written recording of the grounds of belief in the case diary, specification of the thing sought so far as possible, personal conduct of the search where practicable, and audio-video recording of the search, preferably by mobile phone.

Read Section 185 BNSS - Search by police officer.

Section 103 and the seizure list

Section 186(4) specifically refers to the list prepared under Section 103. Section 103 contains general procedural safeguards relating to searches, including the calling of independent and respectable inhabitants to witness the search, preparation of a list of things seized and the places where they were found, signature of the witnesses, and supply of a copy of the list to the occupant or representative.

Where an urgent search is conducted in another police-station area under Section 186(3), a copy of the Section 103 list, if one is prepared, must be sent with the notice to the officer in charge of the police station within whose limits the search took place.

Right of the owner or occupier to obtain records

Section 186(5) gives the owner or occupier of the place searched a statutory right, on application, to receive free of cost a copy of any record sent to the Magistrate under Section 186(4).

This provision adds transparency and enables the affected person to obtain the record of the cross-jurisdiction search that has been placed before the Magistrate.

Official legal resources

The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 came into force on 1 July 2024, subject to the exception specified in the Central Government notification concerning the First Schedule entry relating to Section 106(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.