Police Notices Under Section 35 BNSS: When Arrest Is Not Required

When must a notice be issued?

Under Section 35(3), where arrest is not required under subsection (1), police must issue a notice directing the relevant person to appear before the officer or at the specified place. The statutory condition is whether arrest is required under subsection (1). It is inaccurate to describe every offence carrying up to seven years as requiring a notice in all circumstances or to treat the notice as notice of grounds delivered after arrest.

Compliance and possible arrest

• Subsection (4) places a duty on the recipient to comply with the notice.
• Under subsection (5), a person who complies and continues to comply should not be arrested for the offence in the notice unless the officer records reasons for concluding that arrest is nevertheless required.
• Under subsection (6), non-compliance or unwillingness to identify oneself may lead to arrest for the offence mentioned in the notice, subject to any relevant order of a competent court.

The earlier article incorrectly treated failure to attend as an automatic separate offence under this provision. Section 35(6) instead addresses the power to arrest for the offence specified in the notice.

Additional protection under subsection (7)

For an offence punishable with less than three years' imprisonment, where the person is infirm or above sixty, arrest requires prior permission from an officer of at least Deputy Superintendent of Police rank. This safeguard has its own stated conditions.

Handling a notice responsibly

Check the issuing authority, case details, attendance requirements and applicable court directions. Keep the notice and a record of compliance. If attendance is genuinely impossible or the notice appears defective, seek prompt legal advice and communicate through an appropriate documented channel.

Do not assume that a missing FIR attachment or a typographical error automatically permits the notice to be ignored. Subsections (3)–(7) do not contain the detailed mandatory enclosure and household-service rules attributed to them in the original article. Service questions also require checking the applicable rules and current binding judgments.

An alleged unlawful arrest and the validity of the underlying prosecution are separate questions. A procedural breach should not be described as automatically quashing the entire case.

Source and correction

Official BNSS text: Section 35, particularly subsections (1)(b) and (3)–(7).

Correction — 20 October 2026: Replaced the original overbroad account of mandatory notices, invented notice contents, automatic invalidity and automatic case-quashing. This explanation follows the statutory text and does not determine the validity of any particular notice or arrest.