Section 50 BNSS 2023: Power to Seize Offensive Weapons
Section 50 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 authorises the police officer or other person making an arrest under the Sanhita to take offensive weapons found about the arrested person immediately after arrest. Every weapon so taken must then be delivered to the Court or officer before whom the arrested person is required to be produced.
What is Section 50 BNSS?
Section 50 is an arrest-related safety provision. It permits the person lawfully making the arrest to remove offensive weapons that the arrested person has about his person immediately after arrest. The provision also controls what must happen to those weapons: they are to be delivered to the Court or officer before whom the arrested person is required by the BNSS to be produced.
Key legal terms under Section 50
Offensive weapon: A weapon capable of being used to cause injury or violence and which is found about the person of the arrested individual. Whether a particular object qualifies depends on its nature and the surrounding facts.
Person making an arrest: The police officer or other person who lawfully makes the arrest under the BNSS.
Immediately after arrest: The statutory timing of the power under Section 50. The taking of offensive weapons is tied directly to the making of the arrest.
About his person: Weapons carried on, worn by, or otherwise immediately possessed by the arrested person.
Deliver: To hand over the weapons taken from the arrested person to the Court or officer before whom the arrested person is required to be produced.
Text of Section 50 - Power to seize offensive weapons
50. The police officer or other person making any arrest under this Sanhita may, immediately after the arrest is made, take from the person arrested any offensive weapons which he has about his person, and shall deliver all weapons so taken to the Court or officer before which or whom the officer or person making the arrest is required by this Sanhita to produce the person arrested.
Who may take offensive weapons?
The power is available to the police officer or other person making an arrest under the BNSS. The wording is not confined only to a police arrest; it follows the person who is lawfully making the arrest under the Sanhita.
When can the weapon be taken?
Section 50 expressly states that the weapon may be taken immediately after the arrest is made. The provision is therefore ancillary to a lawful arrest and does not itself create an independent power to arrest.
What property does Section 50 cover?
Section 50 is specifically concerned with offensive weapons found about the arrested person. It should be distinguished from Section 49 BNSS, which deals more generally with searching an arrested person and placing articles found upon him in safe custody in the situations specified there.
Where must seized weapons be delivered?
Every weapon taken under Section 50 must be delivered to the Court or officer before whom the person making the arrest is required by the BNSS to produce the arrested person. The provision therefore links seizure with the formal process of producing the arrested person before the legally competent authority.
Relationship with Sections 49 and 57 BNSS
Section 49 BNSS governs search of the arrested person and safe custody of articles in specified circumstances. Section 50 separately addresses offensive weapons. The subsequent production of the arrested person is governed by the applicable provisions of the BNSS, including Section 57 concerning production before a Magistrate or officer in charge of a police station.
Relationship with other arrest safeguards
Section 50 operates within the broader arrest framework. Section 46 BNSS limits unnecessary restraint, Section 47 BNSS deals with communication of grounds of arrest and bail information, and Section 48 BNSS requires information about arrest and detention to be communicated to specified persons.
Section 50 BNSS at a glance
- The power applies after an arrest made under the BNSS.
- The police officer or other person making the arrest may exercise it.
- It concerns offensive weapons found about the arrested person.
- The power is exercisable immediately after arrest.
- Weapons taken must be delivered to the Court or officer before whom the arrested person must be produced.
- Section 50 does not itself create an independent arrest power.
Official legal resources
This page provides general legal information. Whether an object is an offensive weapon and whether a particular seizure is lawful depend on the circumstances of the arrest, the BNSS, other applicable law and binding judicial decisions.