Question

Under Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, if a police officer-in-charge determines that an investigation is not warranted because the case lacks sufficient gravity, they are legally obligated to notify the informant of this decision within:

• A. 14 days
• B. 7 days
• C. 30 days
• D. 24 hours

Hint:

For BNSS questions, pay special attention to numerical timelines such as 7 days, 14 days, 30 days, and 60 days, as these are frequently tested in examinations.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Concept: The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 introduces several procedural reforms intended to improve accountability, transparency, and efficiency within the criminal justice system. One such reform concerns communication between the police and the informant.

Step 1: Understanding the purpose of the provision.
When information regarding a cognizable offence is received, the police are expected to act promptly. However, there may be situations where the officer-in-charge concludes that the matter does not justify a full-fledged investigation.

Step 2: Duty to inform the complainant.
The law seeks to prevent arbitrary inaction by requiring the police to communicate their decision to the informant. This ensures transparency and enables the informant to pursue other legal remedies if necessary.

Step 3: Statutory timeline under BNSS.
Section 173 specifically requires the police officer to notify the informant within fourteen days when the officer decides that further investigation is not warranted due to insufficient gravity of the case.

Step 4: Importance of the provision.
The requirement strengthens accountability and prevents complaints from being silently ignored. It also helps maintain public confidence in criminal justice administration. \[ \boxed{\text{The informant must be notified within 14 days.}} \]

Answer 2

This question turns on a specific timeline written into Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, for the narrow situation where the officer-in-charge decides that a reported case does not deserve a full investigation because it lacks sufficient gravity. Each option can be checked against that specific timeline rather than against other, unrelated deadlines found elsewhere in the BNSS.

1. 14 days: Section 173 requires the officer-in-charge, on concluding that the case is not of sufficient gravity to warrant investigation, to notify the informant of that decision within a period of fourteen days. This matches the statutory language precisely.
2. 7 days: a seven-day period does appear elsewhere in the criminal procedure framework for certain other communications, but it is not the period fixed for this particular notice to the informant about a decision not to investigate, so this option does not fit.
3. 30 days: a thirty-day period is associated with different procedural steps, such as timelines for filing certain reports or completing particular stages of a case, and is longer than what Section 173 actually allows for this specific communication to the informant.
4. 24 hours: a twenty-four hour period is the classic timeline for producing an arrested person before a magistrate, a completely different procedural safeguard, and has no connection to the informant-notification duty being asked about here.

Only the fourteen-day period corresponds to the duty under Section 173 to inform the complainant that the case will not be investigated on account of its lack of gravity.

Therefore, the correct answer is 14 days.