Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
Section 186
When officer in charge of police station may require another to issue search-warrant
(1) An officer in charge of a police station or a police officer not being below the rank of sub-inspector making an investigation may require an officer in charge of another police station, whether in the same or a different district, to cause a search to be made in any place, in any case in which the former officer might cause such search to be made, within the limits of his own station.
(2) Such officer, on being so required, shall proceed according to the provisions of section 185, and shall forward the thing found, if any, to the officer at whose request the search was made.
(3) Whenever there is reason to believe that the delay occasioned by requiring an officer in charge of another police station to cause a search to be made under sub-section (1) might result in evidence of the commission of an offence being concealed or destroyed, it shall be lawful for an officer in charge of a police station or a police officer making any investigation under this Chapter to search, or cause to be searched, any place in the limits of another police station in accordance with the provisions of section 185, as if such place were within the limits of his own police station.
(4) Any officer conducting a search under sub-section (3) shall forthwith send notice of the search to the officer in charge of the police station within the limits of which such place is situate, and shall also send with such notice a copy of the list (if any) prepared under section 103, and shall also send to the nearest Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of the offence, copies of the records referred to in sub- sections (1) and (3) of section 185.
(5) The owner or occupier of the place searched shall, on application, be furnished free of cost with a copy of any record sent to the Magistrate under sub-section (4).
Why this exists
Police jurisdiction is normally confined to a station's local limits, but crime and evidence don't respect those boundaries. This provision (carried over with modernization from Section 166 of the old CrPC) lets an investigating officer reach evidence located outside their own area — either through cooperation with the local station or, in urgent situations, directly — while building in oversight (notice to the local station and the Magistrate) so that cross-jurisdiction searches aren't misused or left unaccountable.
How courts read it
Under the equivalent CrPC provision, courts consistently held that the requirement to send notice and records to the local police and the Magistrate is a safeguard against abuse of the emergency search power, not a mere formality; failure to do so could affect the evidentiary value of the search but generally did not automatically invalidate the seizure if the search itself was otherwise fair. Courts also emphasized that the 'urgency' exception must be based on genuine, recorded reasons to believe evidence might be concealed or destroyed, not used routinely to bypass the normal request procedure.
Common misconceptions
- Myth: Police can search any area outside their jurisdiction whenever they want without telling anyone.
Fact: Even in urgent cases, the law requires the searching officer to promptly notify the local police station and send search records to a Magistrate, and the affected person can get a free copy of those records. - Myth: This provision creates a separate kind of search with different rules.
Fact: The actual search must still follow the same procedure laid out in Section 185; this provision only deals with jurisdiction and notice, not a different method of searching.