BNSS 184 — Medical examination of victim of rape.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Statutory text

(1)  Where,  during  the  stage  when  an  offence  of
committing rape or attempt to commit rape is under investigation, it is proposed to get the person of the
woman  with  whom  rape  is  alleged  or  attempted  to  have  been  committed  or  attempted,  examined
by a medical expert, such examination shall be conducted by a registered medical practitioner employed in
a hospital run by the Government or a local authority and in the absence of such a practitioner, by any other
registered  medical  practitioner,  with  the  consent  of  such  woman  or  of  a  person  competent  to  give  such
consent  on  her  behalf  and  such  woman  shall  be  sent  to  such  registered  medical  practitioner  within
twenty-four hours from the time of receiving the information relating to the commission of such offence.
(2) The registered medical practitioner, to whom such woman is sent, shall, without delay, examine her
person and prepare a report of his examination giving the following particulars, namely:—
(i) the name and address of the woman and of the person by whom she was brought;
(ii) the age of the woman;
(iii) the description of material taken from the person of the woman for DNA profiling;
(iv) marks of injury, if any, on the person of the woman;
(v) general mental condition of the woman; and
(vi) other material particulars in reasonable detail.
(3) The report shall state precisely the reasons for each conclusion arrived at.
(4) The report shall specifically record that the  consent of the woman  or of the person competent to
give such consent on her behalf to such examination had been obtained.
(5)  The  exact  time  of  commencement  and  completion  of  the  examination  shall  also  be noted  in  the
report.
(6) The registered medical practitioner shall, within a period of seven days forward the report to the
investigating  officer  who  shall  forward  it  to  the  Magistrate  referred  to  in section  193  as  part  of  the
documents referred to in clause (a) of sub-section (6) of that section.
(7) Nothing in this section shall be construed as rendering lawful any examination without the consent
of the woman or of any person competent to give such consent on her behalf.
Explanation.—For the  purposes  of this  section, “examination” and “registered medical  practitioner”
shall have the same meanings as respectively assigned to them in section 51.

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