Section 22 : Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 Section 22 – BNSS | Sentences which High Courts and Sessions Judges may pass (1) A High Court may pass any sentence authorised by law.  (2) A Sessions Judge or Additional Sessions Judge may pass any sentence authorised by law; but any sentence of death passed by any such Judge shall be subject to confirmation by the High Court

Section 21 : Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 Section 21 – BNSS | Courts by which offences are triable Subject to the other provisions of this Sanhita,—  (a) any offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 may be tried by— (i) the High Court; or (ii) the Court of Session; or (iii) any other Court by which such offence is shown in the First Schedule to be triable:  Provided that any offence under section 64, section 65, section 66, section 67, section 68, section 69, section 70 or section 71 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 shall be tried as far as practicable by a Court presided over by a woman; (b) any offence under any other law shall, when any Court is mentioned in this behalf in such law, be tried by such Court and when no Court is so mentioned, may be tried by— (i) the High Court; or (ii) any other Court by which such offence is shown in the First Schedule to be triable.

Section 20 : Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 Section 20 – BNSS | Directorate of Prosecution (1) The State Government may establish,— (a) a Directorate of Prosecution in the State consisting of a Director of Prosecution and as many Deputy Directors of Prosecution as it thinks fit; and (b) a District Directorate of Prosecution in every district consisting of as many Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors of Prosecution, as it thinks fit.  (2) A person shall be eligible to be appointed,— (a) as a Director of Prosecution or a Deputy Director of Prosecution, if he has been in practice as an advocate for not less than fifteen years or is or has been a Sessions Judge; (b) as an Assistant Director of Prosecution, if he has been in practice as an advocate for not less than seven years or has been a Magistrate of the first class. (3) The Directorate of Prosecution shall be headed by the Director of Prosecution, who shall function under the administrative control of the Home Department in the State.  (4) Every Deputy Director of Prosecution or Assistant Director of Prosecution shall be subordinate to the Director of Prosecution; and every Assistant Director of Prosecution shall be subordinate to the Deputy Director of Prosecution.  (5) Every Public Prosecutor, Additional Public Prosecutor and Special Public Prosecutor appointed by the State Government under sub-section (1) or sub-section (8) of section 18 to conduct cases in the High Court shall be subordinate to the Director of Prosecution.  (6) Every Public Prosecutor, Additional Public Prosecutor and Special Public Prosecutor appointed by the State Government under sub-section (3) or sub-section (8) of section 18 to conduct cases in District Courts and every Assistant Public Prosecutor appointed under sub-section (1) of section 19 shall be subordinate to the Deputy Director of Prosecution or the Assistant Director of Prosecution.  (7) The powers and functions of the Director of Prosecution shall be to monitor cases in which offences are punishable for ten years or more, or with life imprisonment, or with death; to expedite the proceedings and to give opinion on filing of appeals.  (8) The powers and functions of the Deputy Director of Prosecution shall be to examine and scrutinise police report and monitor the cases in which offences are punishable for seven years or more, but less than ten years, for ensuring their expeditious disposal.  (9) The functions of the Assistant Director of Prosecution shall be to monitor cases in which offences are punishable for less than seven years. (10) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-sections (7), (8) and (9), the Director, Deputy Director or Assistant Director of Prosecution shall have the power to deal with and be responsible for all proceedings under this Sanhita.  (11) The other powers and functions of the Director of Prosecution, Deputy Directors of Prosecution and Assistant Directors of Prosecution and the areas for which each of the Deputy Directors of Prosecution or Assistant Directors of Prosecution have been appointed shall be such as the State Government may, by notification, specify.  (12) The provisions of this section shall not apply to the Advocate General for the State while performing the functions of a Public Prosecutor.

Section 19 : Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 Section 19 – BNSS | Assistant Public Prosecutors (1) The State Government shall appoint in every district one or more Assistant Public Prosecutors for conducting prosecutions in the Courts of Magistrates.  (2) The Central Government may appoint one or more Assistant Public Prosecutors for the purpose of conducting any case or class of cases in the Courts of Magistrates.  (3) Without prejudice to provisions contained in sub-sections (1) and (2), where no Assistant Public Prosecutor is available for the purposes of any particular case, the District Magistrate may appoint any other person to be the Assistant Public Prosecutor in charge of that case after giving notice of fourteen days to the State Government: Provided that no police officer shall be eligible to be appointed as an Assistant Public Prosecutor, if he— (a) has taken any part in the investigation into the offence with respect to which the accused is being prosecuted; or (b) is below the rank of Inspector.

Section 18 : Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 Section 18 – BNSS | Public Prosecutors (1) For every High Court, the Central Government or the State Government shall, after consultation with the High Court, appoint a Public Prosecutor and may also appoint one or more Additional Public Prosecutors, for conducting in such Court, any prosecution, appeal or other proceeding on behalf of the Central Government or the State Government, as the case may be: Provided that for National Capital Territory of Delhi, the Central Government shall, after consultation with the High Court of Delhi, appoint the Public Prosecutor or Additional Public Prosecutors for the purposes of this sub-section.  (2) The Central Government may appoint one or more Public Prosecutors for the purpose of conducting any case in any district or local area.  (3) For every district, the State Government shall appoint a Public Prosecutor and may also appoint one or more Additional Public Prosecutors for the district: Provided that the Public Prosecutor or Additional Public Prosecutor appointed for one district may be appointed also to be a Public Prosecutor or an Additional Public Prosecutor, as the case may be, for another district.  (4) The District Magistrate shall, in consultation with the Sessions Judge, prepare a panel of names of persons, who are, in his opinion fit to be appointed as Public Prosecutors or Additional Public Prosecutors for the district.  (5) No person shall be appointed by the State Government as the Public Prosecutor or Additional Public Prosecutor for the district unless his name appears in the panel of names prepared by the District Magistrate under sub-section (4).  (6) Notwithstanding anything in sub-section (5), where in a State there exists a regular Cadre of Prosecuting Officers, the State Government shall appoint a Public Prosecutor or an Additional Public Prosecutor only from among the persons constituting such Cadre: Provided that where, in the opinion of the State Government, no suitable person is available in such Cadre for such appointment, that Government may appoint a person as Public Prosecutor or Additional Public Prosecutor, as the case may be, from the panel of names prepared by the District Magistrate under sub-section (4).Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-section,— (a) “regular Cadre of Prosecuting Officers” means a Cadre of Prosecuting Officers which includes therein the post of Public Prosecutor, by whatever name called, and which provides for promotion of Assistant Public Prosecutors, by whatever name called, to that post; (b) “Prosecuting Officer” means a person, by whatever name called, appointed to perform the functions of a Public Prosecutor, Special Public Prosecutor, Additional Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public Prosecutor under this Sanhita.  (7) A person shall be eligible to be appointed as a Public Prosecutor or an Additional Public Prosecutor under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) or sub-section (6), only if he has been in practice as an advocate for not less than seven years.  (8) The Central Government or the State Government may appoint, for the purposes of any case or class of cases, a person who has been in practice as an advocate for not less than ten years as a Special Public Prosecutor: Provided that the Court may permit the victim to engage an advocate of his choice to assist the prosecution under this sub-section.  (9) For the purposes of sub-section (7) and sub-section (8), the period during which a person has been in practice as an advocate, or has rendered (whether before or after the commencement of this Sanhita) service as a Public Prosecutor or as an Additional Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public Prosecutor or other Prosecuting Officer, by whatever name called, shall be deemed to be the period during which such person has been in practice as an advocate.

Section 17 : Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 Section 17 – BNSS | Subordination of Executive Magistrates (1) All Executive Magistrates shall be subordinate to the District Magistrate, and every Executive Magistrate (other than the Sub-divisional Magistrate) exercising powers in a sub-division shall also be subordinate to the Sub-divisional Magistrate, subject, to the general control of the District Magistrate.  (2) The District Magistrate may, from time to time, make rules or give special orders, consistent with this Sanhita, as to the distribution or allocation of business among the Executive Magistrates subordinate to him.

Section 16 : Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 Section 16 – BNSS | Local Jurisdiction of Executive Magistrates (1) Subject to the control of the State Government, the District Magistrate may, from time to time, define the local limits of the areas within which the Executive Magistrates may exercise all or any of the powers with which they may be invested under this Sanhita.  (2) Except as otherwise provided by such definition, the jurisdiction and powers of every such Magistrate shall extend throughout the district.

Section 15 : Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 Section 15 – BNSS | Special Executive Magistrates The State Government may appoint, for such term as it may think fit, Executive Magistrates or any police officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police or equivalent, to be known as Special Executive Magistrates, for particular areas or for the performance of particular functions and confer on such Special Executive Magistrates such of the powers as are conferrable under this Sanhita on Executive Magistrates, as it may deem fit.

Section 14 : Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 Section 14 – BNSS | Executive Magistrates (1) In every district, the State Government may appoint as many persons as it thinks fit to be Executive Magistrates and shall appoint one of them to be the District Magistrate.  (2) The State Government may appoint any Executive Magistrate to be an Additional District Magistrate, and such Magistrate shall have such of the powers of a District Magistrate under this Sanhita or under any other law for the time being in force as may be directed by the State Government.  (3) Whenever, in consequence of the office of a District Magistrate becoming vacant, any officer succeeds temporarily to the executive administration of the district, such officer shall, pending the orders of the State Government, exercise all the powers and perform all the duties respectively conferred and imposed by this Sanhita on the District Magistrate.  (4) The State Government may place an Executive Magistrate in charge of a sub-division and may relieve him of the charge as occasion requires; and the Magistrate so placed in charge of a sub-division shall be called the Sub-divisional Magistrate.  (5) The State Government may, by general or special order and subject to such control and directions as it may deem fit to impose, delegate its powers under sub-section (4) to the District Magistrate. (6) Nothing in this section shall preclude the State Government from conferring, under any law for the time being in force, on a Commissioner of Police all or any of the powers of an Executive Magistrate.

Section 13 : Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 Section 13 – BNSS | Subordination of Judicial Magistrates. (1) Every Chief Judicial Magistrate shall be subordinate to the Sessions Judge; and every other Judicial Magistrate shall, subject to the general control of the Sessions Judge, be subordinate to the Chief Judicial Magistrate.  (2) The Chief Judicial Magistrate may, from time to time, make rules or give special orders, consistent with this Sanhita, as to the distribution of business among the Judicial Magistrates subordinate to him.