Explainer · Criminal Law · Case Search

Criminal Record and Case Search Under BNS BNSS 2023

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

A criminal record and case search means finding out whether a person has criminal cases, FIRs, chargesheets or convictions tied to their name in the court record. Since 1 July 2024 this sits across two eras of law: offences committed on or after that date are charged under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, which replaced the Indian Penal Code 1860, with procedure under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 in place of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, while older cases remain on the record under the IPC and CrPC. That split is the single most important thing about a criminal search today, because a search that only looks for new BNS sections, or only for old IPC sections, will miss half the record. This guide explains what a criminal case search covers under the new codes, why it must span both eras, and how to read the result honestly. Last verified October 2026.

01What a criminal case search covers

A criminal case search looks for the criminal matters tied to a person in the public court and case record. Depending on the stage, that can include:

• FIRs: the first information report that starts a criminal case, now registered under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023.
• Chargesheets and pending cases: matters that have been investigated and are before a court.
• Convictions and acquittals: the outcome of a decided case.
• The offence sections: the provisions a person is charged under, which since 1 July 2024 are BNS sections for new offences and IPC sections for older ones.

This is a court-record search, which is different from a police character or verification certificate issued by the police. The two are complementary, and neither replaces the other.

02Why the search must span two eras

The new criminal codes do not erase the old ones. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita applies to offences committed on or after 1 July 2024, while offences committed before that date are still dealt with under the Indian Penal Code, and cases filed under the old law continue under it. The result is that, for any given person, part of the record can be in BNS sections and part in IPC sections.

So a reliable criminal search has to do two things at once:

• Search the new era: matters registered and charged under BNS and BNSS from 1 July 2024.
• Search the old era: matters still on the record under the IPC and CrPC, which for many people is the bulk of the history.

A search that ignores either era gives a false picture. For the wider change, see the new criminal laws BNS, BNSS and BSA and BNS vs IPC key changes.

03Section mapping between IPC and BNS

Because the same conduct now carries a different section number, understanding the mapping helps you read a record that mixes the two. A few common examples:

For the full picture, see the IPC to BNS section mapping and the CrPC to BNSS section mapping. The point for a search is simple: the same person’s record can be found under either number depending on when the offence was committed.

04Where the records sit

Criminal records are spread across the system, which is why a name search is hard to do completely by hand:

• Magistrate and Sessions courts hold the bulk of criminal trials, now numbered under BNS and BNSS for new matters.
• High Courts hold appeals, bail matters, and petitions to quash, and their judgments are a key source.
• Special courts handle specific categories of offence.

There is no single official all-India name index that returns a person’s complete criminal history across every court, which is why a search that aggregates across forums and spans both eras is far more reliable than checking one portal.

05Reading the result honestly

A criminal case search result must be read with real care, because the stakes for a person are high.

• "Nothing on record" is not a clean chit. It means no matter was found in the registries searched, on the date searched, under the names searched, across both eras. A case under a different spelling or in an uncovered forum can still exist.
• A hit on a common name is not proof. Namesake risk is acute in criminal searches, where a common name can wrongly attach a case to the wrong person, so every finding needs a confidence flag and a human check.
• A case is not a conviction. A pending FIR or case is an allegation, and a person is presumed innocent until a court decides, so a finding must be read for what it actually is.

In a criminal search, the two biggest errors are missing a real case and attaching the wrong one. Spanning both eras fixes the first; a match-confidence check and respect for the presumption of innocence guard against the second.

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.

Claw’s ClawScore service (at clawscore.clawlaw.in) is built for exactly this kind of litigation and criminal-risk search, and it spans both eras by design. Name a person, and it searches across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, returning matters whether they are numbered under the new BNS and BNSS or the older IPC and CrPC, with judgment search across 30 crore+ judgments, Supreme Court decisions from 1950 and High Court decisions from 1990, and results in under 5 seconds. Every finding carries a match confidence, which matters because namesake risk is acute in criminal searches, and the result comes as a scored workbook rather than a raw list. Claw does not use your searched names or documents to train its AI models. ClawScore is a litigation and criminal-risk input, not a police verification certificate and not a credit score; "nothing on record" means nothing was found in these registries on the date searched under the names searched, a pending case is an allegation not a conviction, and the workbook is information to verify, not legal advice. You can create a FREE Claw account to run a criminal case search.

To search a person across both eras and every forum, run a case search across Indian courts by party name.

07Sources and further reading

• India Code (the BNS, BNSS and BSA 2023 texts): indiacode.nic.in
• Ministry of Home Affairs (the new criminal laws): mha.gov.in
• eCourts (criminal case status): ecourts.gov.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This page is general information for an Indian audience, not legal advice. A criminal case search is a court-record search, not a police verification, and a pending case is an allegation, not a conviction.

08Frequently asked questions