Judgment: pronouncement, contents and orders after conviction

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita · Unit IV · Topic 15 of 25 · 6 min read

Chapter XXIX of the BNSS (sections 392 to 406): the 45-day limit for pronouncing judgment, the three modes of delivery, what a judgment must contain, special reasons for a death sentence, the bar on review, free copies to the accused, and the orders a court may add on conviction.

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On this page

1. Meaning and place in the Sanhita
2. Pronouncement: section 392 (old section 353)
3. Language and contents: section 393 (old section 354)
4. Orders the court may add on conviction
5. Finality and copies
How this is examined

Cases checked to exist. Read the judgment before quoting a holding.

Every case cited here has been checked to exist — the citation resolves and names the right parties. The propositions attributed to each case have not been verified line by line against the judgment. Case names link through to the full judgment: read it before quoting a holding in an examination answer, and never carry a proposition from notes into court on trust.

The examinable core. A short note on “Judgment” was set in January 2026. Write it in four steps: when and how it is pronounced (section 392), what it must contain (section 393), the bar on altering it (section 403), and copies to the accused (section 404). Mention the new 45-day limit and the upload on the court portal; these are the BNSS changes examiners look for.

1. Meaning and place in the Sanhita

The Sanhita does not define “judgment”. It is the final decision of a criminal court of original jurisdiction at the end of a trial, which either convicts or acquits the accused and gives the reasons. An order made during the case (framing a charge, granting bail) is not a judgment. The provisions are in Chapter XXIX, sections 392 to 406 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (formerly Chapter XXVII, sections 353 to 365 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973).

2. Pronouncement: section 392 (old section 353)

The judgment must be pronounced in open Court by the presiding officer, immediately after the trial ends or at a later time not later than forty-five days, with notice to the parties or their advocates. The 45-day ceiling is new; the old Code fixed no outer limit. It may be pronounced in one of three ways:

delivering the whole judgment, which is then taken down in shorthand and the transcript signed on every page;
reading out the whole judgment, dated and signed in open court; or
reading out the operative part and explaining the substance in a language the accused or his advocate understands. Here the whole judgment must be given to the parties for perusal free of cost at once, and the court shall, as far as practicable, upload it on its portal within seven days (proviso to section 392(4), new).

An accused in custody is brought to hear the judgment in person or through audio-video electronic means (section 392(5)). An accused on bail must attend, unless his attendance was dispensed with and the sentence is fine only or he is acquitted. If one of several accused is absent, the court may still pronounce the judgment to avoid delay. Under section 392(7), a judgment is not invalid merely because a party was absent or notice of the date was defective.

3. Language and contents: section 393 (old section 354)

Every judgment must:

be written in the language of the Court;
contain the points for determination, the decision on them and the reasons for the decision;
on conviction, specify the offence, the section of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 or other law, and the punishment;
on acquittal, state the offence of which the accused is acquitted and direct that he be set at liberty.

Where it is doubtful under which of two sections the offence falls, the court must say so and pass judgment in the alternative (section 393(2)). Three sentencing rules follow:

for an offence punishable with death or, in the alternative, life imprisonment or a term, the judgment must give reasons for the sentence, and for a death sentence “special reasons” (section 393(3)). Life imprisonment is the rule and death the exception;
where the offence carries one year or more but the court imposes less than three months, it must record reasons, unless the sentence is imprisonment till the rising of the court or the case was tried summarily (section 393(4));
a death sentence must direct that the convict be hanged by the neck till he is dead (section 393(5)).

4. Orders the court may add on conviction

Notifying the address of a previous convict (section 394, old 356). A person convicted a second time of an offence punishable with three years or more may be ordered to notify his residence for up to five years after release.
Compensation and fine to the victim (sections 395 to 397), dealt with in the note on victim compensation.
Compensation for groundless arrest (section 399, old 358): up to one thousand rupees, payable by the person who caused the police to arrest another without sufficient ground.
Costs in non-cognizable cases (section 400, old 359): the complainant’s costs, including process fees, witnesses and advocate’s fees.
Release on probation or after admonition (section 401, old 360). A person aged 21 or more convicted of an offence punishable with fine or up to seven years, or a person under 21 or a woman convicted of an offence not punishable with death or life, with no previous conviction, may be released on a bond for up to three years. Theft, cheating and offences up to two years may end in release after admonition. Section 402 requires the court to record special reasons if it could have used section 401, the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 or the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and did not.

5. Finality and copies

Section 403 (old 362): court not to alter judgment. Once a court has signed its judgment or final order, it cannot alter or review it except to correct a clerical or arithmetical error. A criminal court has no power of review. The remedy against a wrong judgment is appeal or revision, not a fresh look by the same court.

Section 404 (old 363): copies. When the accused is sentenced to imprisonment, a copy of the judgment is given to him immediately and free of cost. On application he gets a certified copy, or a translation in his own language if practicable, free in every appealable case. A person sentenced to death by the High Court gets a certified copy at once whether or not he applies, and a person sentenced to death is told the period within which to appeal. Any other affected person may get copies on paying the charges.

Section 405 deals with translation of the original judgment, and section 406 requires the Court of Session or Chief Judicial Magistrate to send a copy of its finding and sentence to the District Magistrate.

Trap. Do not write that a criminal court may “review” its judgment as a civil court can under Order XLVII of the Code of Civil Procedure. Section 403 permits only correction of clerical or arithmetical slips. The High Court’s inherent power (section 528, old 482) does not authorise it to review its own final judgment in a criminal case either.

How this is examined

“Judgment” was a 6-mark short note in January 2026. Define it, give the 45-day limit and the three modes of pronouncement, list the contents under section 393, and end with section 403 and free copies under section 404. For a longer answer, add the special reasons rule for death sentences and the orders under sections 394 and 399 to 402. Always give the old CrPC section in brackets.

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