Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 · Chapter XII: Of Offences by or Relating to Public Servants
Section 199: Public servant disobeying direction under law
In plain words
A public servant who knowingly breaks the law on calling people for investigation, or on how to conduct an investigation to someone's prejudice, or who fails to record information about certain serious offences against women and children, is punishable with rigorous imprisonment of at least six months and up to two years, and a fine.
- The failure to record covers information given under section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 about offences under sections 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 74, 76, 77, 79, 124, 143 or 144, such as rape, acid attack and trafficking.
A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.
Official text
Whoever, being a public servant,—
(a) knowingly disobeys any direction of the law which prohibits him from requiring the attendance at any place of any person for the purpose of investigation into an offence or any other matter; or
(b) knowingly disobeys, to the prejudice of any person, any other direction of the law regulating the manner in which he shall conduct such investigation; or
(c) fails to record any information given to him under sub-section (1) of section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 in relation to cognizable offence punishable under section 64, section 65, section 66, section 67, section 68, section 70, section 71, section 74, section 76, section 77, section 79, section 124, section 143 or section 144,
shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to two years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Corresponding sections were matched by comparing the wording of both official texts, and for the IPC and BNS, also against a published correspondence table. Wording, punishments and structure often changed, so read both sections before relying on the match.
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 25 August 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 199
No Supreme Court judgment in our database cites this section yet.