BNSS Section 290: Application for Plea Bargaining (CrPC 265B Mapping) (2026)

Explainer · Criminal Procedure · BNSS

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

An accused applies for plea bargaining under Section 290 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the new criminal procedure code in force since 1 July 2024. Section 290 replaced Section 265B of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The application must be filed within thirty days of the framing of charge, with a sworn affidavit that the plea is voluntary. If you still look up "section 265B CrPC", this is the provision you now need. This explainer sets out what Section 290 covers, the time limit, how the court checks the application, and how it maps to the old law. Last verified October 2026.

01Why the section number matters now

Plea bargaining, where an accused and the other side reach a mutually satisfactory settlement for a lighter sentence, came into the CrPC as Chapter XXIA. The application to start it was Section 265B. Since 1 July 2024 the CrPC is replaced by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), and that application now sits in Section 290.

The number is a trap. A reader may expect Section 290 to be about the framing of a charge, which was Sections 211 and 212 of the CrPC. It is not. The framing of a charge sits in the trial chapters of the BNSS. Section 290 is the application for plea bargaining. An application filed on or after 1 July 2024 cites Section 290, not Section 265B. Read the number with care.

02What Section 290 covers

Section 290 of the BNSS is the opening step in the plea bargaining process. It lets an accused who faces a trial apply to the court to resolve the case by a mutually satisfactory disposition, rather than fight it to the end.

The application must:

• Go to the right court: it is filed in the court in which the trial is pending.
• Describe the case: it contains a brief description of the case and the offence to which it relates.
• Carry an affidavit: it is supported by a sworn affidavit of the accused, stating that the application is voluntary, that the accused understands the nature and extent of the possible punishment, and that the accused has not been previously convicted of the same offence.

03The thirty-day window and the affidavit

The timing rule is specific. The accused must apply within thirty days from the date on which the charge is framed. This is a change from the older open-ended practice, and it pushes the choice of plea bargaining to an early, defined stage of the trial.

The affidavit is the safeguard against a forced or ill-informed plea. By swearing that the application is voluntary and that there is no prior conviction for the same offence, the accused puts the key eligibility facts on record at the start. A false affidavit, or a hidden prior conviction, can end the process.

04How the court checks the application

Once the application is filed, the court does not simply accept it. It issues notice to the Public Prosecutor or the complainant and to the accused, and it fixes a date.

On that date the court examines the accused in camera, that is, in private and without the other party present, to satisfy itself that the application was filed voluntarily. If the court is satisfied, it gives time, not exceeding sixty days, for the parties to work out a mutually satisfactory disposition, which may include compensation to the victim, and fixes a further date. If the court finds the plea was not voluntary, or that the accused was previously convicted of the same offence, the case goes back to the stage at which the application was filed and proceeds as a normal trial. The next steps, such as the guidelines for the disposition, sit in the sections that follow Section 290.

05Old to new: CrPC 265B to BNSS 290

Section 265B of the CrPC is now Section 290 of the BNSS. The application, the affidavit and the in-camera check are carried over, with the clear addition of a thirty-day time limit tied to the framing of charge.

So the mechanism is familiar. The headline change is the thirty-day window, which forces an early decision on whether to seek a plea bargain.

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.

Plea bargaining turns on eligibility and on how courts have handled the thirty-day window and the sworn affidavit, so earlier orders are worth reading closely. Claw holds 30 crore+ judgments and lets you track the cases, orders and hearings on a plea bargaining application across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, returning each search in under 5 seconds. You can see how a court read Section 290 or the old Section 265B, or follow a live application by party or advocate name to watch how the disposition was reached.

Claw does not use customer case documents to train its AI models, so your research stays private. Open a free Claw account to study how plea bargaining applications have been decided, or to follow one that is pending. To search the wider body of law, see case search across Indian courts.

07Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the BNSS, 2023): indiacode.nic.in
• PRS Legislative Research (BNSS overview and CrPC comparison): prsindia.org
• Section 290, BNSS (bare text): devgan.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

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

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