Jurisdiction and scope: All-India central law. This note addresses only whether the offence-cognizance limitation chapter bars (a) an application for relief under section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 or (b) prosecution for breach of a protection order under section 31. It does not calculate limitation for any other offence, appeal, execution step or civil remedy.
Law checked: 25 October 2026. Next review: 25 January 2027, or earlier if the Domestic Violence Act, BNSS limitation chapter or Kamatchi is affected by amendment or a larger-Bench decision.
Short answer
Do not reject a section 12 application merely because it was filed more than one year after the alleged domestic violence. In Kamatchi, the Supreme Court held that a section 12 application seeking statutory relief is not itself a prosecution for an offence to which former CrPC section 468 applied. The offence created by the Domestic Violence Act is breach of a protection order under section 31. If the file concerns a section 31 prosecution, identify the applicable procedural code and compute the cognizance period for that offence; do not transfer that computation to the underlying section 12 application.
When this note applies
Use this note when a party raises an objection based on the criminal-procedure limitation chapter. It is not an answer to delay, laches, proof, territorial jurisdiction, maintainability against a particular respondent, or the merits of the relief sought. Kamatchi also requires the Magistrate to decide from the pleaded facts whether an asserted wrong is continuing; it did not create a universal “continuing wrong” presumption.
Step-by-step file review
- Classify the proceeding. Read the application, complaint and prayer. A section 12 application seeks one or more civil-protective remedies under the Act. A section 31 matter alleges breach of a protection order and concerns the offence defined by that section. Do not use the word “case” to blur the distinction.
- Identify the procedural code. The BNSS came into force on 1 July 2024. BNSS section 531 saves specified proceedings that were pending immediately before commencement and directs that they continue under the CrPC as if the BNSS had not come into force. Record when the relevant proceeding began and whether it was pending at commencement.
- Handle the Domestic Violence Act’s CrPC reference carefully. Section 28(1) says that, save as otherwise provided in the Act, proceedings under sections 12, 18–23 and offences under section 31 are governed by the CrPC. General Clauses Act section 8 provides that, where a Central Act repeals and re-enacts a provision, references in another enactment to the repealed provision are ordinarily construed as references to the re-enacted provision unless a different intention appears. On that statutory cross-reference reading, a new proceeding governed by the BNSS requires the corresponding BNSS provision; preserve the section 531 analysis for pending matters.
- Apply Kamatchi to a section 12 objection. State that the application itself is not an offence and that the offence-cognizance limitation chapter therefore does not bar it merely by counting one year from an alleged act of domestic violence. Keep the proposition limited to the issue the Supreme Court decided.
- If section 31 is alleged, identify the offence date. Section 31 punishes breach of a protection order or interim protection order. For a BNSS-governed prosecution, section 514 bars cognizance after the applicable period, and section 515 supplies the starting rules. Because section 31 carries imprisonment up to one year, section 514(2)(b) specifies a one-year period, subject to the remainder of the limitation chapter, exclusions, extension provisions and the facts.
- Do not assume the same event starts every clock. Record the protection order, service or knowledge, the act said to breach it, the complaint date, the cognizance date and any exclusion or extension claimed. A dispute about the original domestic violence is not automatically the same as a later alleged breach of an order.
- Plead continuing conduct as facts, not a label. Identify each act, date, omission and continuing consequence relied on. Kamatchi left it to the Magistrate to determine whether the allegations disclosed a continuing wrong. It did not decide that all deprivation of property, residence, maintenance or contact continues indefinitely.
- Keep merits separate. Defeating a CrPC or BNSS limitation objection to the section 12 application does not establish domestic violence, respondent status or entitlement to a particular order. Conversely, a weak merits case does not convert the section 12 proceeding into a prosecution for an offence.
Practical checklist
- Exact relief and statutory provision invoked;
- Protection or interim-protection order, if any;
- Proof of service or knowledge of that order;
- Chronology separating alleged domestic violence from any alleged breach;
- Date the relevant investigation, inquiry or proceeding began;
- BNSS section 531 transition note;
- Applicable limitation provision and written computation for a section 31 offence;
- Any exclusion, continuing-offence or extension argument with its source;
- Relevant pleadings from the section 12 proceeding; and
- Draft order confined to the precise limitation issue.
Common errors
- Calling a section 12 application a prosecution for an offence;
- Applying a one-year section 31 offence period to the request for section 12 relief;
- Saying Kamatchi held that every domestic-violence allegation is continuing;
- Citing CrPC section 468 without checking BNSS section 531;
- Ignoring the separate date and elements of an alleged breach of a protection order;
- Computing from an allegation without checking the statutory commencement rule; and
- Treating success on limitation as success on the merits.
Official sources
| Authority | Pinpoint used | Point checked |
|---|---|---|
| Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 — India Code | ss 12, 28, 31 | Relief application, procedure and offence for breach of protection order |
| Kamatchi v Lakshmi Narayanan, Criminal Appeal No. 627 of 2022 | paras 15, 20–21 | Section 12 application is not an offence prosecution; continuing wrong is fact-specific |
| Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — India Code | ss 513–519, 531 | Limitation for cognizance and transition/savings |
| General Clauses Act, 1897 — India Code | s 8 | Construction of statutory references after repeal and re-enactment |
Automated-research disclosure: This maintained Practice Note was rebuilt through automated comparison of the official statutes and Supreme Court judgment, followed by a separate claim-to-source check. The application of General Clauses Act section 8 to the Domestic Violence Act’s CrPC reference is stated as a statutory cross-reference reading, not as a claim that Kamatchi decided the BNSS transition. No human-lawyer authorship or review is claimed.
