Section 34 BNSS: Duty of officers employed in connection with affairs of a village to make certain report (Formerly Section 40 CrPC)

Section 34 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023: Duty of officers employed in connection with affairs of a village to make certain report

Official Bare Act Text

Override / Mandate Mens Rea (Intent) Actus Reus (Conduct) Punishment Limitation Monetary

(1) Every officer employed in connection with the affairs of a village and every person residing in a village shall forthwith communicate to the nearest Magistrate or to the officer in charge of the nearest police station, whichever is nearer, any information which he may possess respecting—

(a) the permanent or temporary residence of any notorious receiver or vendor of stolen property in or near such village;

(b) the resort to any place within, or the passage through, such village of any person whom he knows, or reasonably suspects, to be a robber, escaped convict or proclaimed offender;

(c) the commission of, or intention to commit, in or near such village any non-bailable offence or any offence punishable under section 189 and section 191 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023;

(d) the occurrence in or near such village of any sudden or unnatural death or of any death under suspicious circumstances or the discovery in or near such village of any corpse or part of a corpse, in circumstances which lead to a reasonable suspicion that such a death has occurred or the disappearance from such village of any person in circumstances which lead to a reasonable suspicion that a non-bailable offence has been committed in respect of such person;

(e) the commission of, or intention to commit, at any place out of India near such village any act which, if committed in India, would be an offence punishable under any of the following sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, namely, 103, 105, 111, 112, 113, 178 to 181 (both inclusive), 305, 307, 309 to 312 (both inclusive), clauses (f) and (g) of section 326, 331or 332;

(f) any matter likely to affect the maintenance of order or the prevention of crime or the safety of person or property respecting which the District Magistrate, by general or special order made with the previous sanction of the State Government, has directed him to communicate information.

(2) In this section,—

(i) "village" includes village lands;

(ii) the expression "proclaimed offender" includes any person proclaimed as an offender by any Court or authority in any territory in India to which this Sanhita does not extend, in respect of any act which if committed in the territories to which this Sanhita extends, would be an offence punishable under any of the offence punishable with imprisonment for ten years or more or with imprisonment for life or with death under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023;

(iii) the words "officer employed in connection with the affairs of the village" means a member of the panchayat of the village and includes the headman and every officer or other person appointed to perform any function connected with the administration of the village.

Statutory Defined Terms in this Section: (Click any term for official legal definition)

Arrest Sec 35

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 34

Section 34 prescribes the statutory duty of officers employed in connection with the affairs of a village, including headmen, accountants, and watchmen, to communicate forthwith to the nearest police station information regarding suspected offenders, stolen property, or sudden deaths.

Village Officials & Residents: Applies to village headmen, patwaris, panchayat secretaries, watchmen, and landholders.
Specified Reportable Matters: Duty to report: (1) notorious receivers of stolen property; (2) suspected bandits or escaped convicts; (3) commission of non-bailable offences; and (4) unnatural or suspicious deaths.
Immediate Communication: Must inform the nearest Magistrate or police station immediately.

Key Landmark Precedents:

Ram Kumar v. State of Haryana (1995) Supp 1 SCC 248: Reiterated that village officials occupy statutory reporting positions; intentional suppression of homicides or village crimes constitutes a grave breach of public duty.
State of M.P. v. Ramcharan (1977) 2 SCC 515: Affirmed that village reports and chowkidar reports form the earliest contemporaneous record of crime in rural investigations.

Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

The village chowkidar or patwari's earliest entry or register is prime evidence. Cross-examine investigating officers if the formal FIR deviates substantially from the initial village chowkidar report.