Trial in Absentia of a Proclaimed Offender Under the BNSS (Section 356): a New Provision (2026)

Explainer · Criminal Procedure · BNSS

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Trial in absentia means a court can inquire into, try, and even decide a case against an accused who is not present. Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) allows this against a proclaimed offender who has absconded and cannot be arrested soon. It is a new provision, with no equivalent in the old Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC). It is procedure, so it carries no punishment of its own. Last verified October 2026.

01The problem: the absconder who stalls justice

Under the old law, a single accused who ran away could freeze a serious case for decades. The court could declare him a proclaimed offender and attach his property, but it could not finish the trial while he stayed missing. Victims and witnesses waited, memories faded, and justice was delayed.

Section 356 of the BNSS is the answer to that problem. It lets the court go ahead with the trial, and pronounce judgment, even though the accused is absent, once he has been declared a proclaimed offender and has kept away despite strict efforts to secure his presence.

This is one of the most talked about new provisions in the BNSS. People searching "trial in absentia india" or "proclaimed offender trial bnss" are looking for it.

02What Section 356 covers

Section 356 lets a court hold the inquiry or trial, and pronounce judgment, against a proclaimed offender who has absconded, when there is no immediate prospect of arresting him. His continued absence is treated as a choice to give up his right to be present. The court can record evidence and decide the case as if he were present and had chosen not to defend himself.

Reports indicate the provision is aimed at serious offences, and the court must still give the absent accused a fair chance to be represented, usually through a legal aid advocate. The idea is to stop deliberate absconding from defeating a trial, not to punish an accused for being unavoidably absent.

03The conditions before an absentia trial

The power is hedged with strict pre-conditions, so that absentia trials are an exception, not the norm. Broadly, the court must be satisfied that:

• the accused has been declared a proclaimed offender for absconding to evade trial;
• there is no immediate prospect of arresting him;
• two consecutive warrants of arrest have been issued, with a gap of at least 30 days between them, and remain unexecuted;
• a notice has been published in a newspaper circulating where the accused last resided, requiring him to appear within 30 days; and
• at least 90 days have passed from the date the charge was framed, and the court does not commence the absentia trial before that period ends.

These steps are meant to make sure the accused had every real chance to appear before the court proceeds without him.

04A new provision, not a renumbering

Section 356 has no CrPC equivalent. The CrPC did not allow a full trial and judgment against an absent accused in this way. So this is a genuinely new power, not an old section with a new number.

Because it is new, the limits and the exact procedure will be shaped by the High Courts and the Supreme Court as cases come up. For the wider picture of what the new codes added, see the new criminal laws of 2024.

05Safeguards and what changed

The change from the old law is large. Earlier, absconding could stall a case indefinitely. Now a proclaimed offender who stays away after the required steps can be tried and convicted in his absence. That is a real shift in power towards finishing trials.

The balancing safeguards matter just as much. The accused must be a proclaimed offender, warrants and a public notice must have failed, a waiting period must have passed, and the court should ensure representation for the absent accused. For a plain comparison of the procedural shifts across the code, see BNSS vs CrPC key changes. Because the provision is new, treat any specific number as subject to the current official text.

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.

An absentia matter runs through proclamation, repeated warrants, a public notice, and a waiting period, with firm dates at every step. A missed date can undo the whole process. Claw helps on both the research and the tracking side. You can search 30 crore+ judgments by section, party, or advocate, with results in under 5 seconds, to find how courts are applying this new provision. You can then track cases, orders and hearings across 9,102 courts and forums, with automatic updates, cause lists, and WhatsApp and email alerts. See case search across Indian courts.

Create a FREE Claw account to search and track cases under this section by party or advocate name. Claw does not use customer case documents to train AI models. Claw is a research and tracking tool. It does not conduct the trial and does not replace legal advice.

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
• Supreme Court of India (judgments): sci.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 of Section 356 and take advice from counsel before you act.

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