BNSS Section 179: Police Officer's Power to Require Attendance of Witnesses (CrPC 160 Mapping) (2026)

Explainer · Criminal Procedure · BNSS

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

An investigation needs witnesses, and the police need a way to call them in. Section 179 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) lets an investigating officer require a person who appears to know the facts of a case to attend, by a written order. It also protects vulnerable people from being called to a police station. Section 179 carries forward Section 160 of the old Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC). It is a procedure provision, so it creates no offence and carries no punishment of its own. This explainer sets out what it allows, the protections it builds in, and how it maps to the old law. Last verified October 2026.

01Why the police need this power

To investigate a case, the police must be able to speak to people who saw or know something about it. If attendance were purely voluntary, witnesses could simply stay away, and an investigation could stall.

Section 179 answers this by letting an investigating officer require a person to attend. But because this is a power to summon a private person during an investigation, the law also builds in protections, so that the power is not used to drag vulnerable people to a police station.

So the section does two things at once: it gives the police a tool to secure witnesses, and it keeps that tool within limits.

02What Section 179 allows

Section 179 lets a police officer making an investigation require, by written order, the attendance of any person who appears to be acquainted with the facts of the case. In plain terms:

• The order is in writing: the officer issues a written order requiring the person to attend.
• Who can be called: a person within the limits of the officer's own or an adjoining police station, who appears to be acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case.
• Duty to attend: such a person is required to attend as ordered.
• Expenses: the State Government may make rules for paying reasonable expenses to a person who is required to attend at a place other than their residence.

Section 179 brings the witness in; the questioning itself is done under Section 180.

Section 179 is a procedure provision. It creates no offence and has no sentence of its own.

03Who cannot be called to the police station

The most important part of Section 179 is its protection for vulnerable people. Certain persons cannot be required to attend at any place other than their own residence.

• any woman;
• a male person under the age of 15 or above the age of 60;
• a person with a mental or physical disability; and
• a person with an acute illness.

For these persons, the examination must happen at their residence, not at the police station. If such a person is willing to attend the police station, they may be permitted to do so.

04Section 179 and Section 180: two steps

It helps to read Section 179 together with the next section. The two work as a pair.

So Section 179 brings the person before the investigating officer, and Section 180 covers the questioning. Do not confuse the two: the examination of witnesses is Section 180 (old Section 161), while Section 179 is only the power to require attendance (old Section 160).

05Old law to new law: CrPC 160

Section 179 of the BNSS carries forward Section 160 of the old CrPC, the police power to require attendance of witnesses. The content is largely the same, with the widened protection on age.

So an advocate who knows the old Section 160 will recognise the content. The main change is that the protection against being called to the station now covers a man above 60, not above 65, and the section keeps the protections for women, children, and persons who are disabled or acutely ill.

06Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

Fights over Section 179 tend to be about whether a protected person was wrongly summoned to the station, or whether a written order to attend was valid in the first place. Claw lets you search more than 30 crore judgments in under five seconds for how courts have read the power to require attendance and the protections that ride with it. It also follows cases, orders and hearings across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, so you can track a matter by party or advocate name from the investigation through to trial. Set up a free Claw account to search this case law against your own files. The starting point for research across every court is the case search across Indian courts hub.

Claw is made for research and tracking, not for legal advice, and it does not use customer case documents to train its AI models.

07Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the BNSS, 2023): indiacode.nic.in
• Ministry of Home Affairs (new criminal laws): mha.gov.in
• Section 179 BNSS (commentary): lexibal.com
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This explainer is general information, not legal advice. The law changes through amendments and judgments, so check the current text of Section 179 and take advice from counsel before you act.

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