Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 · Chapter XIII: Information to the Police and Their Powers to Investigate
Section 192: Diary of proceedings in investigation
In plain words
Every investigating officer must keep a daily case diary recording when information arrived, when the investigation began and ended, places visited and what was found. It must be a paginated volume, and witness statements under section 180 are included.
- A criminal court can call for the diary and use it to help the inquiry or trial, but not as evidence.
- The accused cannot demand to see the diary, but if the officer uses it to refresh memory or the court uses it to contradict the officer, the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 rules apply.
A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.
Official text
(1) Every police officer making an investigation under this Chapter shall day by day enter his proceedings in the investigation in a diary, setting forth the time at which the information reached him, the time at which he began and closed his investigation, the place or places visited by him, and a statement of the circumstances ascertained through his investigation.
(2) The statements of witnesses recorded during the course of investigation under section 180 shall be inserted in the case diary.
(3) The diary referred to in sub-section (1) shall be a volume and duly paginated.
(4) Any Criminal Court may send for the police diaries of a case under inquiry or trial in such Court, and may use such diaries, not as evidence in the case, but to aid it in such inquiry or trial.
(5) Neither the accused nor his agents shall be entitled to call for such diaries, nor shall he or they be entitled to see them merely because they are referred to by the Court; but, if they are used by the police officer who made them to refresh his memory, or if the Court uses them for the purpose of contradicting such police officer, the provisions of section 148 or section 164, as the case may be, of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, shall apply.
Corresponding sections were matched by comparing the wording of both official texts, and for the IPC and BNS, also against a published correspondence table. Wording, punishments and structure often changed, so read both sections before relying on the match.
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 12 September 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 192
No Supreme Court judgment in our database cites this section yet.