Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 · Chapter XXIX: The Judgment
Section 397: Treatment of victims
In plain words
Every hospital, public or private, must immediately give free first-aid or medical treatment to victims of rape, sexual offences and acid attack under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and of certain POCSO offences, and must immediately inform the police.
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
All hospitals, public or private, whether run by the Central Government, the State Government, local bodies or any other person, shall immediately, provide the first-aid or medical treatment, free of cost, to the victims of any offence covered under section 64, section 65, section 66, section 67, section 68, section 70, section 71 or sub-section (1) of section 124 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) or under sections 4, 6, 8 or section 10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (32 of 2012), and shall immediately inform the police of such incident.
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 397
No Supreme Court judgment in our database cites this section yet.