BNSS Section 126: Security for Keeping the Peace in Other Cases (CrPC 107 Mapping) (2026)

Explainer · Criminal Procedure · BNSS

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Sometimes the law needs to step in before a crime happens. Section 126 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) lets an Executive Magistrate ask a person who is likely to breach the peace to give a bond to keep the peace, for up to one year. This is a preventive power, used in cases other than on conviction. Section 126 carries forward Section 107 of the old Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC). It is a procedure provision, so it creates no offence and carries no punishment of its own. This explainer sets out what it allows, how it maps to the old law, and how it differs from the conviction based provision. Last verified October 2026.

01Why a preventive bond exists

Not every risk to public order ends in a crime. Sometimes a dispute is heading towards violence, and the useful step is to cool it down before anyone is hurt. Section 126 is one of the tools for that. It lets an Executive Magistrate take a bond from a person who is likely to breach the peace, so the person has a clear reason to keep calm.

This is preventive, not punitive. The person is not being punished for a past offence. They are being asked to promise, backed by a bond and sometimes sureties, to keep the peace for a fixed period.

Because it is a power to restrain a person who has not been convicted of anything, it is hedged with procedure: credible information, a show cause step, and a fixed, limited duration.

02What Section 126 allows

Section 126 lets an Executive Magistrate, on credible information that a person is likely to commit a breach of the peace or disturb public tranquillity, require that person to show cause why they should not give a bond for keeping the peace. In plain terms:

• Who acts: an Executive Magistrate, not a criminal court trying an offence.
• The trigger: credible information that the person is likely to breach the peace or disturb public tranquillity.
• The order: the person is called to show cause why they should not give a bond, with or without sureties, for keeping the peace.
• The duration: the bond is for a period the Magistrate thinks fit, not exceeding one year.
• Where it can be taken up: where the apprehended breach is within the Magistrate's local jurisdiction, or where the person is within that jurisdiction even if the feared breach is elsewhere.

Section 126 is about stopping a breach of the peace before it happens, not punishing one after it has.

Section 126 is a procedure provision. It creates no offence and has no sentence of its own.

03Section 125 and Section 126: two different situations

It is easy to confuse the two neighbouring sections, so keep them apart.

• Section 125 (on conviction): after a court finds that a person has committed or abetted an offence, a Court of Session or a First Class Magistrate can order a bond to keep the peace, for up to three years. This follows a conviction.
• Section 126 (other cases): before any offence, an Executive Magistrate can require a bond to keep the peace, for up to one year, on credible information that a breach is likely.

04Old law to new law: CrPC 107

Section 126 of the BNSS carries forward Section 107 of the old CrPC, the preventive bond in cases other than on conviction. The subject and the one year limit are substantially the same.

So an advocate who knows the old Section 107 will recognise the content. The change is mainly the number, as the preventive bond moves from Section 107 of the CrPC to Section 126 of the BNSS.

05What changed from the old law

In substance, Section 126 keeps the old position. It is the preventive bond for keeping the peace in cases other than on conviction, taken by an Executive Magistrate, for up to one year, on credible information. The core language is substantially the same as Section 107 of the CrPC.

The real point of care is not a change in the text, but using the right number. For proceedings under the new code, cite Section 126 of the BNSS, not the old Section 107, and keep it apart from the conviction based bond in Section 125. For the wider public order powers, see the power of certain armed force officers to disperse an assembly under Section 150.

06Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

A preventive bond proceeding lives or dies on how courts have read the phrase "likely to breach the peace" and on where an Executive Magistrate's authority ends. Claw puts more than 30 crore judgments within reach and returns them in under five seconds, so you can gather the rulings on bonds for keeping the peace and on the limits of the preventive power. It also tracks cases, orders and hearings across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, letting you follow a Section 126 bond matter by the party or the advocate on record. Create a free Claw account to pull this case law into your own peace-bond files. Research across every court begins at the case search across Indian courts hub.

Claw is a tool for research and tracking and does not stand in for legal advice, and it never uses customer case documents to train its AI models.

07Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the BNSS, 2023): indiacode.nic.in
• Ministry of Home Affairs (new criminal laws): mha.gov.in
• Section 126 BNSS (commentary): lexibal.com
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This explainer is general information, not legal advice. The law changes through amendments and judgments, so check the current text of Section 126 and take advice from counsel before you act.

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