BNSS Section 48: Obligation to Inform a Relative or Friend About the Arrest (CrPC 50A Mapping) (2026)

Explainer · Criminal Procedure · BNSS

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Section 48 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) requires the person making an arrest to tell a relative, friend or nominated person about the arrest and where the arrested person is being held. It is a safeguard against secret or hidden detention. It is not the section on arrest by a private individual or a magistrate. Those are separate, earlier sections. Section 48 maps to the old Section 50A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). This explainer sets out what the section requires, how it maps to the old law, and how courts have read it. Last verified October 2026.

01Why the heading can mislead

The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) on 1 July 2024. The arrest chapter was renumbered, and several arrest powers and duties moved to new numbers.

Section 48 of the BNSS is the duty to inform a relative or friend about an arrest. It is not the power of a private person to arrest, and it is not the power of a magistrate to arrest. Those are earlier sections. So read the words of Section 48 and do not rely on the number alone.

02What Section 48 requires

Section 48 of the BNSS places a duty on any police officer or other person making an arrest. As soon as the arrest is made, that person must give information about the arrest and the place of detention to a relative, friend or other person named or disclosed by the arrested person, and to a designated police officer in the district.

The purpose is simple and important. It makes sure that an arrest cannot be kept secret, and that someone who cares about the arrested person knows where they are being held.

Section 48 exists so that no arrest is a secret: a relative or friend, and a designated officer, must be told at once.

03The duties in detail

Section 48 sets out a chain of duties:

• Inform at once: the person making the arrest must immediately pass on the fact of the arrest and the place of detention to the relative, friend or nominated person, and to the designated police officer in the district.
• Tell the arrested person of this right: the officer must inform the arrested person of this right as soon as they are brought to the police station.
• Keep a record: an entry must be made in a book kept at the police station, in the form the State Government prescribes, recording who was informed of the arrest.
• Magistrate to check: the Magistrate before whom the arrested person is produced must satisfy himself that these duties have been complied with.

04Old to new: CrPC 50A to BNSS 48

Section 48 of the BNSS carries forward Section 50A of the CrPC. The structure is the same, with the duty to inform, the duty to tell the arrested person, the record, and the Magistrate check.

So Section 48 of the BNSS is the direct successor of Section 50A of the CrPC. The arrest-power sections that the plan heading pointed to are earlier, at Sections 40 and 41 of the BNSS.

05How courts are reading Section 48

Early BNSS case law shows how courts apply Section 48:

• The Kerala High Court held that serving the arrest notice on an advocate whom the accused had nominated satisfied the mandate of Section 48.
• The Madras High Court held that intimation through a phone call or an SMS can be valid, and that written intimation is not always mandatory, where the nominated person was in fact informed.
• The Gauhati High Court dealt with a related point, treating a Section 48 notice served on the family as serving the purpose of informing a relative or nominated person.

These decisions are from 2026 and show the provision being tested in live matters.

06What this means in practice

In practice, Section 48 is a key safeguard that defence counsel use to test the legality of an arrest and detention. A failure to inform a relative or friend, or a missing station record, can support a bail or illegality argument.

Because the text follows Section 50A of the CrPC, older judgments on Section 50A still guide how Section 48 is read. Read it with the duties of the officer making the arrest, in Section 36 of the BNSS, which also deals with the memorandum of arrest and the right to inform someone.

07Where 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.

Arrest-intimation points are argued in bail and remand matters every day, and the early BNSS rulings on them are growing quickly. Claw lets you search its 30 crore+ judgments and follow the cases, orders and hearings on an intimation question across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, with each search returning in under 5 seconds. You can see how a High Court read the duty to inform under Section 48 or the old Section 50A, or follow a live matter by party or advocate name.

Claw keeps customer case documents out of its AI model training, so what you research stays with you. Create a free Claw account to study how the intimation duty has been applied, or to track a bail or remand matter as it moves. To search the wider body of law, see case search across Indian courts.

08Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the BNSS, 2023): indiacode.nic.in
• PRS Legislative Research (BNSS and CrPC comparison): prsindia.org
• Ministry of Home Affairs (new criminal laws): mha.gov.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

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

09Frequently asked questions