Section 55 BNSS 2023: Procedure When Police Officer Deputes Subordinate to Arrest Without Warrant

Section 55 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 prescribes the procedure to be followed when an officer in charge of a police station or a police officer making an investigation under Chapter XIII requires a subordinate officer to arrest, without warrant and outside the superior officer's presence, a person who may lawfully be arrested without warrant.

What is Section 55 BNSS?

Section 55 regulates delegated warrantless arrest in a specific situation. Where a superior police officer requires a subordinate officer to make an arrest without warrant outside the superior officer's presence, the superior officer must issue a written order identifying the person to be arrested and stating the offence or other cause for the arrest.

Text of Section 55 - Procedure when police officer deputes subordinate to arrest without warrant

When does Section 55 apply?

Section 55 applies where an officer in charge of a police station, or a police officer conducting an investigation under Chapter XIII, directs a subordinate officer to make a warrantless arrest outside the directing officer's presence. The person must already be one who may lawfully be arrested without warrant.

Written order is required

The directing officer must deliver an order in writing to the subordinate officer. The order must specify both the person to be arrested and the offence or other cause for which the arrest is to be made. This written-order requirement is a central procedural safeguard in delegated warrantless arrest under Section 55(1).

What must the subordinate officer do before arrest?

Before making the arrest, the subordinate officer must notify the person to be arrested of the substance of the written order. If that person asks to see the order, the subordinate officer must show it.

Section 55 does not itself create a new arrest power

The section applies only to a person who may lawfully be arrested without warrant. It therefore regulates the manner in which an existing lawful arrest power is delegated to a subordinate officer; it does not independently make an otherwise unlawful warrantless arrest permissible.

Meaning of "otherwise than in his presence"

The written-order procedure applies where the subordinate officer is required to make the arrest outside the presence of the officer giving the direction. The provision distinguishes that delegated situation from an arrest taking place in the directing officer's presence.

Relationship with Section 35 BNSS

Section 55(2) expressly provides that subsection (1) does not affect the power of a police officer to arrest a person under Section 35 BNSS. Section 35 therefore continues to govern the substantive circumstances in which police may arrest without warrant, while Section 55 deals with the additional procedure for a specified form of delegation to a subordinate.

Why Section 55 matters

The provision creates a documentary trail for delegated warrantless arrest and requires advance communication of the basis of that delegation to the person being arrested. Together with other arrest safeguards in the BNSS, it helps ensure that the subordinate officer can identify the person and legal cause stated by the directing officer.

Relationship with nearby BNSS arrest provisions

Section 55 follows Section 54 BNSS, concerning identification of a person arrested, and precedes Section 56 BNSS, which imposes responsibility for the health and safety of an accused person in custody. It should also be read with the general arrest safeguards contained in Sections 35 to 62, according to the facts of the case.

Official legal resources

This page provides general legal information. Whether a warrantless arrest or delegated arrest is lawful in a particular case depends on compliance with Section 55, Section 35 and other applicable BNSS provisions, constitutional safeguards and binding judicial decisions.