Section 54 - The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

54. Identification of person arrested.

Where a person is arrested on a charge of committing an offence and his identification by any other person or persons is considered necessary for the purpose of investigation of such offence, the Court, having jurisdiction may, on the request of the officer in charge of a police station, direct the person so arrested to subject himself to identification by any person or persons in such manner as the Court may deem fit:

Provided that if the person identifying the person arrested is mentally or physically disabled, such process of identification shall take place under the supervision of a Magistrate who shall take appropriate steps to ensure that such person identifies the person arrested using methods that person is comfortable with and the identification process shall be recorded by any audio-video electronic means.

Section 54: Identifying the Arrested Person

Under Section 54 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, if the police consider that an arrested person needs to be identified by another person to solve a crime, a competent court may order test identification. The court decides the manner in which this process is conducted under Section 54.

If the person conducting the identification has a mental or physical disability, a magistrate supervises the procedure under Section 54. The court ensures that identification under Section 54 is carried out comfortably and recorded by audio-video electronic means.

This provision corresponds to the former section 54 crpc procedure governing medical examination and identification. While practitioners familiar with 54 crpc previously referred to Section 54 CrPC, Section 54 of BNSS modernizes identification safeguards while preserving core protections established under Section 54.