A warrant is only valid in the area where the court that issued it is located.

A warrant can be executed anywhere in India; Section 81 just describes the procedure (endorsement) for executing it outside the issuing court's jurisdiction.

Police always need permission from local authorities before making an arrest outside their jurisdiction.

Endorsement is the ordinary rule, but sub-section (3) allows officers to skip it if getting the endorsement would cause a delay that lets the suspect escape or otherwise defeats the warrant's purpose.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Section 81

Warrant directed to police officer for execution outside jurisdiction

(1) When a warrant directed to a police officer is to be executed beyond the local jurisdiction of the Court issuing the same, he shall ordinarily take it for endorsement either to an Executive Magistrate or to a police officer not below the rank of an officer in charge of a police station, within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the warrant is to be executed.§

(2) Such Magistrate or police officer shall endorse his name thereon and such endorsement shall be sufficient authority to the police officer to whom the warrant is directed to execute the same, and the local police shall, if so required, assist such officer in executing such warrant.§

(3) Whenever there is reason to believe that the delay occasioned by obtaining the endorsement of the Magistrate or police officer within whose local jurisdiction the warrant is to be executed will prevent such execution, the police officer to whom it is directed may execute the same without such endorsement in any place beyond the local jurisdiction of the Court which issued it.§

Why this exists

Police warrants are issued by a specific court and are normally meant to be executed within that court's territorial limits. As policing and courts are organized locally, this provision (carried over from Section 79 of the old Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973) creates a system of inter-jurisdictional cooperation: local authorities are informed and endorse the warrant so they know an outside officer is operating in their area, and can assist if needed. The emergency exception recognizes that rigid procedural formality should not let a suspect evade justice through delay.

Common misconceptions

Myth: A warrant is only valid in the area where the court that issued it is located.
Fact: A warrant can be executed anywhere in India; Section 81 just describes the procedure (endorsement) for executing it outside the issuing court's jurisdiction.
Myth: Police always need permission from local authorities before making an arrest outside their jurisdiction.
Fact: Endorsement is the ordinary rule, but sub-section (3) allows officers to skip it if getting the endorsement would cause a delay that lets the suspect escape or otherwise defeats the warrant's purpose.