BNS, BNSS and BSA for AP JCJ 2026: How to Study Old and New Criminal Codes Together
Aravind Rao’s Judicial Academy | Hyderabad
Andhra Pradesh Notification No. 118/2026-RC did something unusual. Schedule-A of the AP State Judicial (Service and Cadre) Rules, 2026 still names the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act. On the same list it also names the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.
That is not a typing error. It is the whole problem of this cycle. A Junior Civil Judge in 2026 will try offences committed before 1 July 2024 under the old codes and offences committed on or after that date under the new codes. The High Court has written both worlds into the paper.
What Telangana still does differently
The last Telangana JCJ written syllabus used through the 2025–26 exams — ROC No. 87/2024-RC dated 05.10.2024 — still lists IPC, CrPC and the Evidence Act. It does not list BNS, BNSS or BSA. If you are writing both States, do not flatten the two papers into one notebook.
The date-of-offence rule you must be able to write in one sentence
The date of the offence decides the statute. Conduct on or before 30 June 2024 is investigated and tried under IPC / CrPC / Evidence Act. Conduct on or after 1 July 2024 is registered under BNS and processed under BNSS and BSA. In a mains problem, state that rule before you cite a section.
BNS numbers that trip every first-generation candidate
No IPC section maps to the same number in BNS. The cultural number ‘302 for murder’ is the first trap. BNS 302 is a different offence. Learn the pair, not the old number alone.
Culpable homicide defined: IPC 299 → BNS 100. Murder defined: IPC 300 → BNS 101. Punishment for murder: IPC 302 → BNS 103(1).
BNS 103(2) is new: murder by five or more persons acting in concert on specified identity grounds (the mob-lynching clause).
Death by negligence: IPC 304A → BNS 106. Dowry death: IPC 304B → BNS 80.
Rape defined: IPC 375 → BNS 63. Punishment: IPC 376 → BNS 64. Gang rape sits in BNS 70.
Cruelty by husband or relatives: IPC 498A → BNS 85 (definition in 86).
Theft: IPC 378/379 → BNS 303. First petty theft below Rs. 5,000 can attract community service.
Cheating inducing delivery of property: IPC 420 → BNS 318. Criminal breach of trust: IPC 406 → BNS 316.
Sedition (IPC 124A) is gone. BNS 152 covers acts endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity.
New exam-favourite offences: organised crime (BNS 111), terrorism in the main code (BNS 113), snatching.
BNSS: what Paper-II actually wants
Do not memorise the Sanhita as a renamed CrPC. Examiners test the hinges that changed practice.
Time-bound investigation and trial — write the clock, not a slogan.
Forensic collection is mandatory for offences punishable with seven years or more.
Electronic processes: e-FIR in notified cases, electronic summons, audio-video examination.
Preliminary enquiry before registering certain categories — know when it is permitted and when it is not.
Mercy petition timelines and the limited window for further investigation after charge-sheet.
BSA on a civil-and-criminal desk
BSA sits on both papers in AP: it is named in the civil list and again in the criminal list. Treat electronic records as primary evidence when the statutory conditions are met. Expand ‘document’ to include electronic and digital records. Joint trial of a physical file and a phone dump is now a standard fact pattern, not an exotic one.
A 30-day dual-prep drill
Week 1: Build a one-page map of the 20 highest-frequency IPC sections to BNS. Recite it aloud every morning.
Week 2: Take ten old TG/AP screening questions set in IPC language and rewrite the key and the explanation in BNS numbers.
Week 3: Write three 15-mark Paper-II answers. First paragraph: date-of-offence + which code. Then ingredients. Then procedure under BNSS if the facts are post-1 July 2024.
Week 4: Mix old and new in the same problem — a 2023 theft investigated in 2025, or a 2024 assault with a 2026 electronic confession. That is the AP paper.
How this sits with the rest of our JCJ desk
Read this with the official subject list in AP JCJ Syllabus 2026, the side-by-side State comparison, and the AP exam-pattern note on qualifying marks. Paper-III English remains a separate filter and does not carry BNS numbers; do not spend translation hour on section maps.
The 12-month live batch at the Academy (7 December 2026 to 31 December 2027) treats old-code case law and new-code text as one classroom, because that is how an AP magistrate will actually sit. Enroll from the Programs page if you want that drilled weekly rather than collected from PDFs.
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