The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Historical background
Administration of Criminal Justice during British rule in India

The administration of criminal justice in Bombay was on the pattern of

Bengal and Madras Presidencies with certain minor changes.
The practice and procedure in Courts in Bengal, Madras and Bombay were
prescribed by Regulations which were passed from time to time
In 1833, Maculay moved the House of Commons to codify the whole
criminal law a in India and bring About uniformity.
He told the House of Commons that Mahomedans were governed by the
Koran and in the Bombay Presidency Hindus were governed by the institutes of Manu.
Pandits and Kazis were to be consulted on points of law, and in certain
respects, the decisions of Courts were arbitrary.
Indeed, laws were often uncertain and differed widely from province to
province. Thus the year 1833 is a great landmark in the history of codification in India.
The Charter Act of 1833 introduced a single Legislature for the whole of
British India.
The Legislature had power to legislate for Hindus and Mahomedans alike for
Presidency towns as well as for mofussil areas.

First Indian Law Commission

Accordingly, the first Indian Law Commission was constituted in 1834 under
the Charter Act of 1833 to investigate into the jurisdiction, powers, rules of the existing Courts and
police establishments and into the laws in operation in British India; and make reports thereon and
suggest alterations having due regard to the distinction of costs, religions and opinions prevailing
among different races and in different parts of the country.
Mr. (afterwards Lord) MACAULAY was the President and Macleod,
Anderson, and Millet were the Commissioners of the Commission. Elucidating the task before the
Commission Lord MACAULAY observed,
"I believe that no country ever stood so much in need of a code of law as
India and I believe also that there never was a country in which the want might be so easily supplied.
Our principle is simply this-uniformity when you can have it; diversity when you must have it; but, in all
cases, certainty."
In preparing the Penal Code they drew not only upon the English and the
Indian laws and regulations, but also upon Livingstone's Louisiana Code and the Code Napoleon.
A Draft Code was submitted to the Governor-General in Council on October
14, 1837. It was circulated to the Judges and law advisers of the Crown.
On April 26, 1845, another Commission was appointed to revise the Code.
 This Commission submitted its report in two parts, one in 1846 and the other in 1847.
 The Bill so revised remained pigeon-holed. Subsequently, it was revised by Bethune and
Peacock who were Law Members of the Governor-General's Council.
 It was presented to the Legislative Council in 1856 and was passed on October 6, 1860. It
superseded all Rules, Regulations, and Orders, of criminal law in India and provided a uniform
criminal law for all the people in the then British India irrespective of caste, creed or religion.
 It must be said to the credit of Lord MACAULAY and his colleagues that in spite of tremendous
difficulties, they firmly laid the foundations of the Indian criminal law and did an excellent
pioneering work.
The Two Acts
Compared
 Sections Classification of
Chapter Sections Classification of offences
covered offences

I 1 to 5 Introduction 1 to 3 Preliminary

4 to
II 6 to 52 General Explanations Of Punishments
13

General Exceptions
Clauses
III 53 to 75 Of Punishments
14 to 44
of the Right to Private Defense
(sections 34 to 44)

General Exceptions

IV 76 to 106 of the Right of Private 45 to 62 Of Abetment, Criminal Conspiracy and Attempt

Defence (Sections 96
to 106)

Of Offences against Women and Children

V 107 to 120 Of Abetment 63 to 97  Of Sexual Offences (63 to 72)

 Of Criminal Force and Assault against Women (73 to 78)
 Of Offences relating to Marriage (79 to 85) Of
 the Causing of Miscarriage, etc. (86 to 97)

120A to
VA Criminal Conspiracy
120B

Of Offences Affecting the Human Body

Of Offences against the  Of Offences Affecting Life (98 to 111)

VI 121 to 130 98 to 144
State  Of Hurt (112 to 125)
 Of Criminal Force and Assault (126 to 134)
 Of Kidnapping, Abduction, Slavery and Forced Labour (135 to 144

Of Offences relating to
the Army, Navy and Air 145 to Of Offences Against the
VII 131 to 140
Force 156 State

Of Offences against the

VIII 141 to 160 157 to 166 Of Offences Relating to the Army, Navy and Air Force
Public Tranquility
 Of Offences by or
IX 161 to 171 relating to Public 167 to 175 Of Offences Relating to Elections
Servants

Of Offences Relating to
IXA 171A to 171I
Elections

Of Contempt’s of
X 172 to 190 Lawful Authority of 176 to 186 Of Offences Relating to Coins, Bank Notes, Currency Notes and Gov
Public Servants

Of False Evidence and

XI 191 to 229 Offences against Public 187 to 195 Of Offences Against the Public Tranquility
Justice

Of Offences relating to
XII 230 to 263 coin and Government 196 to 203 Of Offences by Or Relating to Public Servants
Stamps

Of Offences relating to
XIII 264 to 267 204 to 224 Of Contempt of Lawful Authority of Public Servants
Weight and Measures

Of Offences affecting
the Public Health,
XIV 268 to 294 Safety, Convenience, 225 to 267 Of False Evidence and Offences against Public Justice
Decency and Morals.

Of Offences relating to
XV 295 to 298 268 to 295 Of Offences affecting the Public Health, Safety, Convince, Decency a
Religion

Of Offences affecting
the Human Body.

 Of Offences
Affecting Life
including murder,
culpable homicide
( Sections 299 to
311)
 Of the Causing of
XVI 299 to 377 Miscarriage, of 296 to 300 Of Offences Relating to Religion
Injuries to Unborn
Children, of the
Exposure of Infants,
and of the
Concealment of
Births (Sections 312
to 318)
 Of Hurt (Sections
319 to 338)
 Of Wrongful
 Restraint and
Wrongful
Confinement (Secti
ons 339 to 348)
Of Criminal Force
and Assault
(Sections 349 to
358)
Of Kidnapping, Abd
uction, Slavery and
Forced Labour
(Sections 359 to
374)
Sexual Offences
including rape and
Sodomy (Sections
375 to 377)
Of Offences Against
Property

 Of Theft (Sections
378 to 382)
 Of Extortion (Sectio
ns 383 to 389)
 Of Robbery and
Dacoity (Sections
390 to 402)
 Of Criminal
Misappropriation of Of Offences against Property
Property (Sections
403 to 404)
 Of Theft (301 to 305)
 Of Criminal Breach
 Of Extortion (306)
of Trust (Sections
405 to 409)  Of Robbery and Dacoity (307 to 311)
XVII 378 to 462  Of the Receiving of 301 to 332  Of Criminal Misappropriation of Property (312 and 313)
Stolen Property  Of Criminal Breach of Trust (314)
(Sections 410 to  Of the Receiving of Stolen Property (315)
414)  Of Cheating (316 and 317)
 Of Cheating (Sectio  Of Fundamental Deeds and Disposition of Property (318 to 321)
n 415 to 420)  Of Mischief (322 to 326)
 Of Fraudulent Deeds  Of Criminal Trespass (326 to 332)
and Disposition of
Property (Sections
421 to 424)
 Of Mischief
(Sections 425 to
440)
 Of
Criminal Trespass
( Sections 441 to
 462)

XVIII 463 to 489 - E Offences relating to

Documents and Property
Marks

Offences relating to
Documents (Section 463
to 477-A) 333 to 348 Of Offences Relating to Documents and to Property Marks
Offences relating to
Property and Other Of Documents (333 to 343)
Marks (Sections 478 to Of Property Marks (344 to 348)
489)
Offences relating to
Currency Notes and
Bank Notes (Sections
489A to 489E)

XIX 490 to 492 Of the Criminal Breach of 349 to 356 Of Criminal Intimidation, Insult, Annoyance, Defamation, Etc
Contracts of Service
Intimidation, Insult and Annoyance (349 to 353)
Of Defamation (354)
Of breach of contract to attend on and supply wants of the helple
Repeal and Savings (356)

XX 493 to 498 Of Offences related to

marriage
XXA 498A Of Cruelty by Husband or
Relatives of Husband

XXI 499 to 502 Of Defamation

XXII 503 to 510 Of Criminal intimidation,
Insult and Annoyance
XXIII 511 Of Attempts to Commit
Offences
STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

oIn the year 1834, the first Indian Law Commission was constituted under
the Chairmanship of Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay to examine the
jurisdiction, power and rules of the existing Courts as well as the police
establishments and the laws in force in India.

oThe Commission suggested various enactments to the Government. One

of the important recommendations made by the Commission was on, the
Indian Penal Code, which was enacted in 1860 and the said Code is still
continuing in the country with some amendments made thereto from time
to time.
oThe Government considered it expedient and necessary to review the
existing criminal laws with an aim to strengthen law and order and also
focus on simplifying legal procedure so that ease of living is ensured to the
common man. The Government also considered to make existing laws
relevant to the contemporary situation and provide speedy justice to
common man. Accordingly, various stakeholders were consulted keeping in
mind contemporary needs and aspirations of the people with a view to
create a legal structure which is citizen centric and to secure life and liberty
of the citizens.
o It is proposed to enact a new law, by repealing the Indian Penal Code, to streamline
provisions relating to offences and penalties. It is proposed to provide first time
community service as one of the punishments for petty offences. The offences against
women and children, murder and offences against the State have been given
precedence. Some offences have been made gender neutral.
 In order to deal effectively with the problem of organized crimes and terrorist
activities, new offences of terrorist acts and organized crime have been added in the
Bill with deterrent punishments. A new offence on acts of armed rebellion, subversive
activities, separatist activities or endangering sovereignty or unity and integrity of India
has also been added.
 The fines and punishments for various offences have also been suitably enhanced.
Accordingly, a Bill, namely, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanita, 2023 was introduced in the Lok
Sabha on 11th August, 2023. The Bill was referred to the Department-related
Accordingly, a Bill, namely, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanita, 2023 was introduced in the Lok
Sabha on 11th August, 2023. The Bill was referred to the Department-related
 Accordingly, a Bill, namely, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanita, 2023 was introduced in the Lok
Sabha on 11th August, 2023. The Bill was referred to the Department-related

SPEECH OF HONOURABLE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND
MINISTER OF COOPERATION (SHRI AMIT SHAH)
IN LOK SABHA ON 20-12-2023

I have taken initiatives in this historic House to bring about a paradigm shift in
the three laws that are almost 150 years old and govern our criminal justice
system in order to address the concerns of the people who care for Indianness,
the Indian Constitution and the people of India.
The Indian Penal Code, 1860 has been replaced by The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanita,
2023, The Criminal Procedure Code, 1898 has been replaced by The Bharatiya
Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 has been
replaced by the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023.
Through this epochal change, an attempt has been made to add soul to our
criminal justice system. Earlier on, there were laws with a centralized idea of
awarding punishment and now victim-centric justice is going to evolve.
Ease of Justice should be implemented through simple, consistent, transparent and accountable
procedures. There will be fair, time-bound evidence-based speedy trials for enforcement, this is going to
reduce the burden on courts and prisons and the conviction ratio is also going to increase.. We have
strengthened the prosecution on the basis of forensic science in the investigation and have made it
mandatory to record the rape victim through audio-video recording.
After the passing of this law, there will be a single type of justice system in the entire country and
equality in the justice system. Accountability of the police has been fixed in many cases. Now it has been
decided that information about arrested persons will have to be kept at every police station and a police
officer will have to be made responsible for it. Right to compensation for loss has been given and zero
FIR has been introduced. Now the court cannot withdraw any case without the permission of the victim
and without hearing it, merely at the behest of the state. The responsibility of the police has been fixed to
inform the victim about the progress of the investigation within 90 days.
For the first time, we have completely abolished Section 124 (A) of treason. Now, just by committing
rape, all the sections of POCSO will be invoked through this Nyaya Sanhita and the culprit will be
punished. In consensual rape cases, we have increased the existing age limit of 15 years to 18 years.
Organized crime has also been defined for the first time. There was no special law for this. We have
brought a new provision against mob lynching. We have made a provision to send the rape victim's
report directly to the police station and court within seven days. There was no time limit for the charge
sheet earlier:
Now you cannot keep the charge sheet pending after 180 days, we have made this provision. The time
limit as to when the proceedings will start before the Magistrate has also been fixed. We have made
compulsory provision of video recording in all three evidence, search and seizure. Under this Bill, in
order to improve the quality of investigation, so that investigation may be carried out using the scientific
method and aiming at a 90 percent conviction rate, we have made a provision that in all the crimes in
which the punishment is more than seven years, the FSL team's visit has been made compulsory. We
have come up with a new witness protection scheme. Every State will have to declare it.
Thus, I can simply assure you that in the event of its implementation in all the Police Stations located
across the length and breadth of the country, our judicial system shall turn out to be an ultra-modern
judicial system in the world. We have made a whole host of provisions to this end. Under ICJS the
integration of Forensic Science University, Police Stations, Department of Home Affairs, and Offices of
the Public Prosecutor,
Prisons and Courts under one umbrella through the application of Software and making them accessible
online is in its last leg. This will be of huge relief for those citizens seeking justice and the delivery of
justice shall be fast. Smart phones, Laptops, Messages, Websites and locational evidence have been
brought within the definition of evidence. The accused, experts, and victims have been permitted their
appearance before the court through electronic media and the entire procedure for the admissibility of
electronic or digital records and its enforcement has been provided in the Bills.
There has not been a definition of terrorism in the Code of Criminal Procedure so far which would allow
the perpetrators to adopt the escape route.
All such routes have since been done away with through this legislation. This Bill provides for the safety
of those women who intend to hide the identity of the persons involved for the reasons of false promises
of getting hitched. From now onwards, no one can escape the law. I want to assure the House on this
count. As far as the devolution of powers to the police personnel is concerned, we have curtailed their
powers also. On several counts, we have made enough provisions to keep a vigil on their functioning.
We have tried to include a slew of provisions in the Bills to effect check and balance on their powers. I
hold the firm conviction that all the three Bills viz. the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanita, Bharatiya Nagarik
Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Sanhita shall be evolving ones with elbow room for
encapsulating the upcoming technology over at least a hundred years down the line and enough
provisions to this effect figure in the Bills. Bharat is going to be a unique country to incorporate Forensic
Science in law with so much severity and firmness. These are going to be entirely Indianised versions of
laws by doing away with all the footprints hitherto in existence and of course, in a way, overtly
indicative of the British colonial System and serving as reminders of our subjection during the British
period. The spirit of our constitution is of doing justice to all and the Indian concept is founded on the
award of punishment and dispensation of justice.
Given that spirit, these laws are being made. I do seek the blessings of all the Hon. Members and urge
them to extend their support for the passage of the Bills.
THE BILL, AS AMENDED, WAS PASSED

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 was enacted on December 25,

2023, repealing, and replacing the Indian Penal Code, 1860 as the
new penal code of the country. A summary of the key changes are as
under:
 i. Of Offences Against Property

(a) Increase in Punishment

(a) Increase in Punishment

Offence Punishment under the Punishment under

Indian Penal Code, 1860 Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita,
(‘IPC’) 2023 (‘BNS’)

Dishonest Imprisonment upto two years Imprisonment upto two

Misappropriation or fine years but with minimum
imprisonment of six months
and fine

Criminal Breach of Imprisonment upto three Imprisonment upto five

Trust years years

Cheating Imprisonment upto one year Imprisonment upto three

years

Cheating with Imprisonment upto three Imprisonment upto five

knowledge that years years
wrongful loss may
ensue to person whose
interest offender is
bound to protect
ii. Of Offences Affecting Human Body

(a)Organised Crime

Section 111 of the BNS introduces the offence of ‘organised crime’,

borrowing it largely from specialised State legislations aimed at
curbing organised criminal activity, such as the Maharashtra Control of
Organised Crime Act, 1999 (‘MCOCA’), the Gujarat Control of
Organised Crime Act, 2015 (‘GCOC’) etc.

The definition of organised crime under the provision is quite vague

and uses catch-all phrases, which leaves room for unfettered
discretion with the investigating agencies to prosecute persons based
on these vague and undefined terms. For example, the definition uses
terms such as land grabbing, contract killing, cybercrimes etc., which
are not defined anywhere in the BNS. It also uses the term ‘economic
offence’. Economic offence is couched in vague terms using
overbroad phrases such as ‘hawala transaction’ and ‘mass-marketing
fraud’ which have not been otherwise defined anywhere in the BNS,
potentially adding to further confusion.

(a)Causing Death by Negligence

The offence of causing death by negligence has undergone a

significant change under the BNS. The punishment for causing death
by rash and negligent act has been increased to imprisonment upto
five years and with fine[5]. Earlier, such an offence was punishable with
two years or with fine or both under the IPC.[6]

•New Specific Offences Arising Out of Negligence

Section 106(1) of the BNS provides that whoever causes death by

rash or negligent driving of a vehicle, and thereafter escapes from the
scene of incident without reporting to the police or a magistrate, will be
punished with a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment, and will also be
liable to fine. This provision has now seemingly been introduced
specifically to punish hit-and-run cases.

Section 106(2) introduces causing death by rash and negligent act of a

medical practitioner while performing a medical procedure, as an
offence. The offence is punishable with imprisonment which may
extend to two years and with fine.

•Mob Lynching

The BNS now specifically provides for punishment of murder in cases

of mob-lynching. The provision states that where a group of five or
more acting in concert commit murder on grounds of race, caste or
community, sex, place of birth, language, personal belief, or any other
similar ground then each member of such group will be punished with
death or with imprisonment for life, and will also be liable to fine[7].

•Deletion of Offences
The BNS in line with the judgment of the Supreme Court in Navtej
Singh Johar v. Union of India[8], has deleted the offence under
Section 377 of the IPC.

The offence of attempt to commit suicide[9], and offence punishing

adultery[10] has also been omitted in the BNS.

iii. Overlap with Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967

(a) Offences Relating to Terrorism

A ‘terrorist act’ is a new offence introduced under the BNS[11]. The

definition of a terrorist act under the BNS exactly mirrors the definition
of terrorist act under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967
(‘UAPA’), which already defines and provides for the offence of
terrorist act.

Similarly, other offences under the BNS such as Section 113(5)

(punishment for being a member of the terrorist organisation) mirrors
Section 20 of the UAPA. Section 113(6) of the BNS mirrors Section 19
of the UAPA, both providing for punishment for harbouring of person
who has committed a terrorist act.

The introduction of the overlapping offence under the BNS seems to

be ostensibly to avoid the safeguards provided under the UAPA like
UAPA provides for challenge to notification of declaration of an
organisation as a terrorist organization, under Sections 36 and 37 of
the Act. The same safeguard has not been provided under the BNS.
(b) Offence of Sedition

The most welcome change in the BNS is the deletion of offence of

sedition under Section 124A of IPC. Though offence of sedition under
Section 124A of the IPC has been deleted, it seems to have been
replaced by Section 152 of the BNS which deals with acts endangering
sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India.

Section 152 punishes secession and separatist activities, armed

rebellion, subversive activities, or any act which endangers
sovereignty or unity and integrity of India. The minimum punishment
under Section 152 is enhanced to seven years as opposed to three
years under Section 124A. Further, the offence is no longer punishable
with only fine as was the offence of sedition but with both fine and
imprisonment.

Section 20 of the Telecommunications Act, 2023 which permits

interception of telecommunication equipment, could be misused for
extensive and continued fishing and roving inquiry into alleged
secession and separatist activities even without there being any
concrete evidence of it.

In view of the above, regulations are required for regulating power

under the Telecommunications Act, 2003 for interception. Unless the
legislature lays out detailed procedure to regulate/ monitor the
interception of private information and data exchanged between two or
more persons, the provision as it exists, is insufficient to take care of
the fundamental rights.
iv. Of Punishments

The BNS introduces community service as a form of punishment[12].

Community Service (‘Community Service’) has been defined[13] in
the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (‘BNSS’) (new
criminal procedure code) as work which the Court may order a
convict to perform as a form of punishment that benefits the
community and for which he is not entitled to any renumeration.

Punishment in the form of Community Service is presently applicable

to limited offences such as misconduct by a drunken person in
public[14], public servant unlawfully engaging in trade[15], non-
appearance in response to a proclamation[16], defamation and two
other offences.

• Applicability of BNS

Section 358 of the BNS repeals the IPC, however, it protects the
previous operation of the IPC, or anything done or suffered under the
IPC[17].

At the same time, the BNS provides that any action taken under the
IPC will be deemed to have been done under the corresponding
provision of the BNS. This provision unfortunately raises issues of
retrospective application of the new penal code in violation of
Article 20 of the Constitution, which provides that no person will
be convicted of any offence except for violation of law in force at
the time of commission of act.
 Comparative Study
1. Definitions [Section 2 of
BNS/Sections 8 to 52A of IPC]

General

 In IPC, there was no definition clause. All the interpretation clauses were
spread over sections 8 to 52A of IPC.
 The definition of ‘section’ in section 50 of IPC stands omitted by BNS
as it is now a word of extensive usage in various legislations and it needs
no definition or elucidation.
 Most of these interpretation clauses in sections 8 to 52A of IPC,1860
have been retained in BNS without any change and have been compactly
grouped in section 2 of BNS in alphabetical dictionary sequence for ease
of reading and reference.
Unless context otherwise requires

 Though most of the interpretation rules in sections 8 to 52A of IPC have

been included in section 2 of BNS without any change, it must be noted
that the applicability of these interpretation rules in BNS is subject to
requirements of the context of a provision as all definitions in BNS in
section 2 are subject to the qualificatory phrase “unless the context
otherwise requires”. The applicability of interpretation clauses in
sections 8 to 52A of IPC, except definitions in sections 9, 32 and 46,
were not made subject to contextual requirements
.

Child

New definition of ‘child’ in section 2(3) of BNS

Transgender

The definition of “gender” in section 8 of IPC recognizes only

male and female genders. The new definition of
“gender” in section 2(10) of BNS recognizes “transgender” in
addition to genders of “male” and “female”.

2. Child [Section 2(3) of BNS]

Child

Section 2(3) of BNS is a new provision [NEW]

Section 2(3) of BNS defines ‘child’ to means any person below the age
of 18 years.
3. Court [Section 2(5) of BNS/Section 20 of IPC]

Omission of illustration

Illustration below section 20 of IPC referring to “Regulation VII, 1816, of the

Madras Code” has been omitted from the definition in section 2(5) of BNS, as the
illustration had become redundant long back with the repeal of Regulation VII by
the Madras Civil Courts Act, 1873.

4. Document [Section 2(8) of BNS/Section 29 of IPC]

Electronic and digital record

Section 2(8) of BNS provides that documents includes ‘electronics and digital
record’.

5. Gender [Section 2(10) of BNS/Section 8 of IPC]

Transgender recognised as gender and defined

Definition in section 2(10) expressly refers to transgender and defines the term
which was not the case in section 8 of IPC.
6. Judge [Section 2(16) of BNS/Section 19 of IPC]

Old Law – Section 19 (IPC, 1860) – “Judge”

The old law’s definition of “Judge” is quite detailed.

It states that the term “Judge” includes not only individuals officially designated as Judges but
also those who have the authority to render definitive judgments in any legal proceeding,
whether civil or criminal.
This definition encompasses individuals who can make judgments that, if not appealed against,
would be considered definitive.
It also includes members of a body of persons authorized by law to render such judgments.
The illustrations provided clarify this definition further, including examples of Collectors,
Magistrates, and members of a panchayat.

New Law – Section 2(16) – “Judge”

The new law’s definition of “Judge” is more concise and follows a similar pattern.
The new law aligns with the old law’s definition but presents the information in a more
streamlined manner.

7. Month and Year [Section 2(20) of BNS/Section 49 of IPC]

Reference to British calendar replaced with reference to Gregorian calendar

Section 49 of IPC required year or month to be reckoned as per British calendar while section
2(20) of BNS requires year or month to be reckoned as per the Gregorian calendar.

8. Movable Property [Section 2(21) of BNS/Section 22 of IPC]

Scope of “Movable property” in section 2(21) not limited to property in corporeal form,
unlike the definition in section 22

Section 2(21) of BNS omits the word “are intended to include corporeal” before the word
“property” which was there in the definition of movable property in section 22 of IPC.
Therefore, movable property includes property of every description other than immovable
property whether such property is in corporeal (tangible physical) form or not.
Definition of movable property under BNS will include intangible assets like patents,
copyrights, etc., also as well as actionable claims.

9. Public Servant [Section 2(28) of BNS/Section 21 of IPC]

Juryman

References to juryman omitted from definition in section 2(28) of BNS

Local authority

“Local authority” is defined by referring to clause (31) of section 3 of the General Clauses Act,
1897 and section 2(45) of the Companies Act, 2013.
 10. Punishments [Section 4 of BNS/Section 53 of IPC]

Community service

Sentence What the sentence in Col. (1) may be com What the sentence in Col.(1) may be commuted for
muted for by appropriate govt. under sec by appropriate govt. under section 474 of BNSS
tion 433 of Cr.PC

(1) (2) (3)

Sentence of deat h Appropriate Government may commute a d Death sentence may be commuted for imprisonment for life
eath sentence for any other punishment prov
ided by the Indian Penal Code

Sentence of impr Sentence may be commuted for imprisonme Sentence may be commuted for imprisonment for a term not
isonment for life nt for a term not exceeding fourteen years or less than 7 years
for fine;

A sentence for i — Sentence may be commuted for imprisonment for a term not
mprisonment fo r less than 3 years
seven years or
more

Sentence of rigo Sentence may be commuted for simple impr Sentence may be commuted for simple imprisonment for an y
rous imprisonm isonment for any term to which that perso term to which that person might have been sentenced
ent n might have been sentenced, or for fine;

Sentence of simp Sentence may be commuted for fine —

le

imprisonment

Sentence for imp — Sentence may be commuted for fine

risonment for les s
than seven yea rs
 Section 53 of IPC provided for 5 types of punishments viz. (1) Death; (2) Imprisonment for life; (3) Imprisonment
which is of two descriptions–rigorous and simple; (4) Forfeiture of property and (5) Fine. Section 4(f) of BNS has
introduced a new 6th type of punishment – Community service.
 To reduce the burden on jails, community service has been included in BNS as a punishment for the first time and it
is being given legal status. [PIB Press Release, dated 20-12-2023]
 BNS prescribes Community Service as punishment for petty offences like non-appearance in response to a
proclamation, attempt to commit suicide, to compel or restraint exercise of lawful power of public servant, petty
theft on return of theft money, misconduct in public by a drunken person, defamation, etc.
 The term “community service” is not defined in BNS. However, it is defined by Explanation to section 23 of BNSS
to mean the work which the Court may order a convict to perform as a form of punishment that benefits the
community, for which he shall not be entitled to any remuneration.

Life imprisonment

 The punishment of imprisonment for life has been clearly defined as imprisonment for remainder of a person’s
natural life.

11. Sentence, Commutation of [Section 5 of BNS/Sections 54 and 55 of IPC]

Changes in commutation provisions: Section 433 of Cr.PC vis-a-vis section 474 of Bharatiya
Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS)

 The comparison between section 433 of Cr.PC and section 474 of BNSS is tabulated below:

12. Punishment, Fractions of Terms of [Section 6 of BNS/Section 57 of IPC]

Unless otherwise provided

 Unlike section 57 of IPC, section 6 applies “unless otherwise provided”.

 The words “unless otherwise provided” which were not there in section 57 have been added in section 6 at the end
of the provision.

13. Fine, Liability in Default of Payment of Fine, etc. [Section 8 of BNS/Sections 63 to 70 of

IPC]

Community service

 IPC only provided for imprisonment in default of fine only. As there was no punishment of community service in
IPC, there was also no imprisonment in default of community service in IPC.
 Consequent upon introduction of new punishment of community service [See section 4 of BNS] by the BNS, sub-
sections (4) and (5) of section 8 of BNS provide for imposing imprisonment in default of community
service.

Fine of community service, default in payment of

 Under old law for default in payment of fine following punishment followed: 1.
1. Fine not exceeding ` 50 – Imprisonment not exceeding 2 months
2. Fine not exceeding ` 100 – Imprisonment not exceeding 4 months
3. In any other case – Imprisonment not exceeding 6 months

 Under BNS for default in payment of fine or default of community service following punishment

follows: 1.
1. Fine not exceeding ` 5000 or community service – Imprisonment not exceeding 2 months
2. Fine not exceeding ` 10,000 or community service – Imprisonment not exceeding 4 months
3. In any other case – Imprisonment not exceeding 1 year

14. Private Defence of Property, When Right of, Extends to Causing Death
[Section 41 of BNS/Section 103 of IPC]

House breaking

 Old law provided for ‘House breaking by night’. Section 41 of BNS provides for ‘house breaking
after sunset and before sunrise’.
 Section 103 of Cr.PC provided for ‘mischief by fire’. Section 41 of BNS provides for ‘mischief by
fire or any explosive substance’.

15. Private Defence of Property, Commencement and Continuance of Right of

[Section 43 of BNS/Section 105 of IPC]

House breaking ‘after sunset and before sunrise’

 Section 105 of IPC provided for ‘house breaking by night’. Section 43 of BNS provides for ‘house
breaking after sunset and before sunrise’.

16. Abetment Outside India for Offence in India (New) [Section 48 of BNS]

Abetment outside India

 Section 48 of BNS is a new provision [NEW]

 Section 48 of BNS provides that a person abets an offence within the meaning of this Sanhita who,
without and beyond India, abets the commission of any act in India which would constitute an
offence if committed in India.
 Abetment by a person outside India has been made an offence under section 48 to allow
prosecution of person located in foreign country.

17. Abetting Commission of Offence By Public or By More Than Ten Persons

[Section 57 of BNS/Section 117 of IPC]

Prescribed punishment

 Section 117 of IPC provided for imprisonment upto 3 years or fine or both. Section 57 of BNS
provides for imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 7 years and fine.
18. Rape [Section 63 of BNS/Section 375 of IPC]

Age of Consent

Exception 2 to section 63 of BNS provides that sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the
wife not being under 18 years of age, is not rape. Under section 375 of IPC the age limit was 15 years.

19. Rape, Punishment for [Section 64 of BNS/Section 376 of IPC]

Consent

Clause (i) of section 64(2) of BNS provides for ‘commits rape, on a woman incapable of giving consent’. Section
376(2)(i) of IPC provided for ‘commits rape on woman when she is under 16 years of age’.

20 Rape, Punishment for, in Certain Cases [Section 65 of BNS/Section 376AB of IPC]

Age categories

Section 65 of BNS combines both age categories (under 12 and under 16) into a single section, simplifying the
legal framework.

21. Sexual Intercourse by Employing Deceitful Means, etc. [Section 69 of BNS]

Sexual intercourse by employing deceitful means

Section 69 of BNS is a new provision [NEW]

Section 69 of BNS provides that whoever, by deceitful means or making by promise to marry a woman without
any intention of fulfilling the same, and has sexual intercourse with her, such sexual intercourse not amounting to
the offence of rape, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten
years and shall also be liable to fine.
“Deceitful means” shall include the false promise of employment or promotion, inducement or marring after
suppressing identity.

22. Rape, Gang [Section 70 of BNS/Sections 376D to 376DB of IPC]

Death penalty for gang rape of woman under 18 years of age

Death sentence was provided under section 376DB of IPC for gang rape of woman under 12 years of age. No
death penalty was provided for gang rape of woman aged below 16 but above 12 in section 376DA. Now, section
70(2) of BNS provides death penalty for gangrape of woman under 18 years of age.

23. Woman, Assault or Use of Criminal Force With Intent to Disrobe [Section 76 of
BNS/Section 354B of IPC]

Neutral Gender
 Word “whoever” is used in sections 76 and 77 of BNS. Earlier word ‘man’ was used in section 354B/354C of IPC

24. Voyeurism [Section 77 of BNS/Section 354C of IPC]

Neutral Gender

 Word “whoever” is used in sections 75 and 76 of BNS. Earlier word ‘man’ was used in section 354B/354C of IPC

25. Woman, Enticing or Taking Away or Detaining With Criminal Intent a Married Woman
[Section 84 of BNS/Section 498 of IPC]

Woman under husband care or any other person

 Words ‘from that man, or from any person having the care of her on behalf of that man’ are omitted from section
498 of IPC
 Thus, unlike section 498 of IPC, offence under section 84 of BNS is committed whether or not a married woman is
taken or enticed away from her husband or from any person having care of her on behalf of her husband.
 Section 84 protects a married woman whether or not she is living in the care of her husband or any other person
who is taking care of her on behalf of her husband.

26. Child, Hiring, Employing or Engaging to Commit an Offence [Section 95 of BNS]

[NEW]

Hiring child to commit an offence

 Section 95 of BNS is a new provision

 Section 95 of BNS provides that whoever hires, employs or engages any person below the age of eighteen years to
commit an offence shall be punished for with imprisonment of either description or fine provided for that offence
as if the offence has been committed by such person himself.
 Hiring, employing, engaging or using a child for sexual exploitation or pornography is covered within the meaning
of this section.

27. Child, Procuration of [Section 96 of BNS/Section 366A of IPC]

Neutral Gender

 Section 366A of IPC provided for offence of procuration of minor girl (under the age of eighteen years). Section 96
of BNS deals with offence of procuration of any child below the age of eighteen years (irrespective of gender).
 The protection accorded by section 96 of BNS to children is wider than that accorded by section 366A of IPC since
protection under section 96 is available to all children irrespective of gender while section 366A protected only
minor girls.
28. Child, Selling for Purposes of Prostitution, etc. [Section 98 of BNS/Section 372 of
IPC]

Child

Word “child” is substituted for “any person” in section 372 of IPC

29. Child, Buying for Purposes of Prostitution, etc. [Section 99 of BNS/Section 373 of
IPC]

Child

Word ‘child’ is substituted for ‘person’ in section 99 of BNS

Prescribed imprisonment

Imprisonment prescribed is ‘not less than 7 years but which may extend to 14 years’. Earlier prescribed
imprisonment was ‘ten years’.

30. Mob Lynching [Section 103(1) of BNS/Section 302 of IPC]

Section 103(2) of BNS is a new provision [NEW]

Section 103(2) of BNS provides that when a group of five or more persons acting in concert commits murder on
the ground of race, caste or community, sex, place of birth, language, personal belief or any other ground each
member of such group shall be punished with death or with imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.

31. Murder, Punishment for by Life-convict [Section 104 of BNS/Section 303 of IPC]

Prescribed imprisonment

Unlike IPC, it is not mandatory to award death sentence for murder by a life-convict. BNS given an option to the
Judge to sentence the life-convict murderer to death or with imprisonment for life, which shall mean the remainder
of that person’s natural life.

32. Culpable Homicide not Amounting to Murder, Punishment for [Section 105 of
BNS/Section 304 of IPC]

Prescribed punishment

Section 105 of BNS prescribes imprisonment of ‘not less than 5 years which may extend to 10 years’ with fine. It
was upto 10 years with fine or both under section 304 of IPC

Lesser punishment if accused reports the case to Police and takes the victim to hospital for
medical treatment
 As per the Home Minister’s statement in Lok Sabha on 20.12.2023-See PIB’s Press Release, dated 20.12.2023 in
case of culpable homicide, there is a provision for lesser punishment if the accused goes to police to report the case
and takes the victim to the hospital for medical treatment. [However, there is no such provision in the text of BNS]

33. Death, Causing by Negligence [Section 106 of BNS/Section 304A of IPC]

Increased punishment

 Section 106(1) of BNS provides that whoever causes death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not
amounting to culpable homicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may
extend to five years.
 The new law increases the punishment for causing death by negligence from a maximum of two years to a
maximum of five years. This change reflects a stricter approach to cases of negligence resulting in death.

Offender escaping or failing to report [NEW]

 Section 106(2) introduces an additional provision in sub-section (2) to section 106 of BNS, which addresses
situations where the offender escapes from the scene of the incident without reporting it to a police officer or
Magistrate after the incident. In such cases, the punishment is very severe, with a maximum term of imprisonment of
ten years with fine. [Section 106(2)]
 As the instances of hit and run cases are on the rise, a new provision under section 106(2) of BNS has been made.
Currently hit and run cases resulting in death due to reckless and negligent driving are registered u/s 304A of IPC,
with maximum penalty of two years of imprisonment. As per Delhi Road Crash Report of 2021, there were 555
cases (46.01% of total cases) where the registration number of vehicles involved in crime were unknown, signifying
hit and run cases. The Supreme Court had in several cases observed on the inadequacy of law in view of increased
vehicular accident. To address this issue, the new provision has been introduced under clause 106(2), which was
long overdue.
 Section 106(2) has been introduced to cover the hit and run accidents and to ensure reporting of accident
immediately. This has been introduced with an aim to save the victim within the critical ‘Golden Hour’ a term
introduced in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 in the year 2019.
 Punishment under section 106(2) is not attracted merely by virtue of driver escaping from the scene after the
incident to escape the wrath of bystanders who might mob-lynch him. Offence is committed only if escape from
scene is coupled with non-reporting by him to Police or Magistrate soon after the incident.

Medical practitioner [NEW]

 In case of registered medical practitioner if negligent act is done by a registered medical practitioner while
performing medical procedure, he shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may
extend to two years, and shall also be liable to fine.
 For the purposes of this sub-section, “registered medical practitioner” means a medical practitioner who possesses
any medical qualification recognised under the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 (30 of 2019) and whose
name has been entered in the National Medical Register or a State Medical Register under that Act.

34. Suicide of Child or Person of Unsound Mind, Abetment of [Section 107 of BNS/Section
305 of IPC]

Unsound mind
 Reference to “insane person”/“any idiot” in section 305 of IPC is replaced with reference to “person of unsound
mind” in BNS

35. Murder, Attempt to [Section 109 of BNS/Section 307 of IPC]

Prescribed punishment

 Under IPC, section 307 prescribed only death penalty for attempt to murder by a life-convict. For attempt to murder
by life-convict, section 109 of BNS provides for death or with imprisonment for life, which shall mean the
remainder of that person’s natural life

36. Organised Crime [Section 111 of BNS] [New]

 Section 111 of BNS is a new provision

 Section 111 provides as under:

1.
 Any continuing unlawful activity including kidnapping, robbery, vehicle theft, extortion, land grabbing,
contract killing, economic offence, cyber-crimes, trafficking of persons, drugs, weapons or illicit goods or
services, human trafficking for prostitution or ransom, by any person or a group of persons acting in
concert, singly or jointly, either as a member of an organised crime syndicate or on behalf of such
syndicate, by use of violence, threat of violence, intimidation, coercion, or by any other unlawful means to
obtain direct or indirect material benefit including a financial benefit, shall constitute an organised crime.

For the purposes of this sub-section,––

(i) “organised crime syndicate” means a group of two or more persons who, acting either singly or
jointly, as a syndicate or gang indulge in any continuing unlawful activity;

(ii) “continuing unlawful activity” means an activity prohibited by law which is a cognizable offence
punishable with imprisonment of three years or more, undertaken by any person, either singly or
jointly, as a member of an organised crime syndicate or on behalf of such syndicate in respect of
which more than one charge-sheets have been filed before a competent Court within the
preceding period of ten years and that Court has taken cognizance of such offence, and includes
economic offence;

(iii)“economic offence” includes criminal breach of trust, forgery, counterfeiting of currency- notes,
bank-notes and Government stamps, hawala transaction, mass-marketing fraud or running any
scheme to defraud several persons or doing any act in any manner with a view to defraud any
bank or financial institution or any other institution or organisation for obtaining monetary
benefits in any form.


 Whoever commits organised crime shall,—

1.
1.
 1. if such offence has resulted in the death of any person, be punished with death or
imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than ten lakh
rupees;
2. in any other case, be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than
five years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine
which shall not be less than five lakh rupees.


 Whoever abets, attempts, conspires or knowingly facilitates the commission of an
organised crime, or otherwise engages in any act preparatory to an organised crime, shall
be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years but
which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine which shall not
be less than five lakh rupees.
 Any person who is a member of an organised crime syndicate shall be punished with
imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years but which may extend to
imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than five
lakh rupees.
 Whoever, intentionally, harbours or conceals any person who has committed the offence
of an organised crime shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be
less than three years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be
liable to fine which shall not be less than five lakh rupees. This provision shall not apply
to any case in which the harbour or concealment is by the spouse of the offender.
 Whoever possesses any property derived or obtained from the commission of an
organised crime or proceeds of any organised crime or which has been acquired through
the organised crime, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be
less than three years but which may extend to imprisonment for life and shall also be
liable to fine which shall not be less than two lakh rupees.
 If any person on behalf of a member of an organised crime syndicate is, or at any time
has been in possession of movable or immovable property which he cannot satisfactorily
account for, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than
three years but which may extend to imprisonment for ten years and shall also be liable to
fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees.

37. Organised Crime, Petty [Section 112 of BNS] [New]

 Section 112 of BNS is a new provision

 Section 112 provides as under :

1.
1. Whoever, being a member of a group or gang, either singly or jointly, commits any act of theft,
snatching, cheating, unauthorised selling of tickets, unauthorised betting or gambling, selling of
public examination question papers or any other similar criminal act, is said to commit petty
organised crime. For the purposes of this sub-section “theft” includes trick theft, theft from
vehicle, dwelling house or business premises, cargo theft, pick pocketing, theft through card
skimming, shoplifting and theft of Automated Teller Machine.
2. Whoever commits any petty organised crime shall be punished with imprisonment for a term
which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to seven years, and shall also be
liable to fine.

38. Terrorist Act [Section 113 of BNS] [New]

 Section 113 of BNS is a new provision

New definition – definition of ‘terrorist act’

 Section 113 provides as under:

1.
Whoever does any act with the intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, sovereignty, security,
or economic security of India or with the intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror in the people or any
section of the people in India or in any foreign country,––

(a) by using bombs, dynamite or other explosive substance or inflammable substance or

firearms or other lethal weapons or poisonous or noxious gases or other chemicals or by any
other substance (whether biological, radioactive, nuclear or otherwise) of a hazardous nature
or by any other means of whatever nature to cause or likely to cause,—

(i)death of, or injury to, any person or persons; or

(ii)loss of, or damage to, or destruction of, property; or

(iii)disruption of any supplies or services essential to the life of the community in India or in
any foreign country; or

(iv)damage to, the monetary stability of India by way of production or smuggling or

circulation of counterfeit Indian paper currency, coin or of any other material; or

(v)damage or destruction of any property in India or in a foreign country used or intended to

be used for the defence of India or in connection with any other purposes of the Government
of India, any State Government or any of their agencies; or

(b)overawes by means of criminal force or the show of criminal force or attempts to do so or

causes death of any public functionary or attempts to cause death of any public functionary;
or

(c)detains, kidnaps or abducts any person and threatening to kill or injure such person or does
any other act in order to compel the Government of India, any State Government or the
Government of a foreign country or an international or inter-governmental organization or
any other person to do or abstain from doing any act,
commit a terrorist act.

For the purpose of this sub-section,—

(a)“Public functionary” means the constitutional authorities or any other functionary notified
in the Official Gazette by the Central Government as public functionary;

(b)“counterfeit Indian currency” means the counterfeit currency as may be declared after
examination by an authorized or notified forensic authority that such currency imitates or
compromises with the key security features of Indian currency.

Punishment for commission of ‘terrorist act’

Whoever commits a terrorist act shall,— 1.

 1. if such offence has resulted in the death of any person, be punished with death or imprisonment
for life, and shall also be liable to fine;
2. In any other case, be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five
years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.

Analysis of BNS 2023 with IPC 1860

1. To allow India's criminal justice system (judiciary and police machinery) to prepare and
equip itself for a monumental overhaul, the three laws are reported to come into force
after some months and not immediately.
2. .Summarily, the significant changes sought to be brought in by way of the BNS include
the consolidation of certain provisions of the IPC to make it more concise (358 sections
as compared to 511 sections in the IPC); and introducing certain new offences such as
organized crime, petty organized crime, terrorist act while re- characterising sedition as
acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.
Key Takeaway in relation to Economic Offences
•While existing offences pertaining to economic crimes are not significantly changed by virtue of
the new law, the term `economic offences' has been introduced for the first time as part of the
offence of organised crime to include criminal breach of trust, forgery, counterfeiting of currency-
notes, bank-notes and Government stamps, hawala transaction, mass-marketing fraud or
running any scheme to defraud several persons or doing any act in any manner with a view to
defraud any bank or financial institution or any other institution or organisation for obtaining
monetary benefits in any form.2
Cheating
•Offences under Chapter XVII of the BNS (dealing with offences against property) largely retain
the same language as that of the IPC. One change however can be found with respect to the
offence of cheating under Section 415 and 420 of IPC (Section 318 in the BNS) which is one of
the ubiquitous provisions in the context of economic offences.
•Under Section 318 of the BNS, the existing provisions of the IPC, viz. Sections 415 (which
defines the offence of cheating), Section 417 (which provides the punishment for cheating) and
Section 420 (which provides for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the
IPC have been consolidated. Further, the new provisions sets out the various degrees of
cheating, based on the extent of injury/harm suffered by the victim viz. (i) whoever cheats will be
punishable with imprisonment up to three years, or with fine, or with both; (ii) whoever cheats
with the knowledge that he is thereby likely to cause wrongful loss to a person whose interest in
the transaction to which the cheating relates, such person was bound to protect, shall be
punishable with a term extending to five years, or with fine, or with both; (iii) if a person cheats
and dishonestly induces the person deceived to deliver any property to any person or to make,
alter or destroy the whole or any part of a valuable security, or anything which is signed or
sealed, and which is capable of being converted into a valuable security, shall be punished with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be
liable to fine.3
Criminal Breach of Trust
•The offence of criminal breach of trust, covered between Sections 405 to 409 of the IPC have
been consolidated into one section under Section 316 of the BNS,4 with the notable change
being the increase in punishment for `criminal breach of trust' (under Section 406 of the IPC)
from imprisonment of up to three years to up to five years. The punishment for criminal breach of
trust by a carrier, wharfinger, warehouse-keeper, clerk, servant (under Section 407 and 408 of
the IPC) remains as imprisonment up to seven years and by public servant, banker, merchant,
factor, attorney or agent (under Section 409 of the IPC) as imprisonment up to ten years.5
Forgery and falsification of accounts
•Certain provisions pertaining to the offence of forgery (covered between section 463 to 471 of
the IPC) have been consolidated and re-arranged. For instance, Section 468 of the IPC which
defines the offence of forgery, its punishment under Section 465 of the IPC and the offence of
forgery for the purpose of cheating under Section 468 of the IPC, have been consolidated under
Section 336 of the BNS.6 Making a false document, under Section 464 of the IPC has been re-
shuffled as Section 335 of the BNS,7 while retaining the existing
language and punishment, as does falsification of accounts under Section 477A of the IPC which
is now re-numbered in the BNS as Section 344.
•Section 466 of the IPC is in respect of forgery of record of Court or of public register etc has also
been correspondingly changed in Section 335 of the BNS, which has now expanded the scope
and ambit of the provision by including within its fold `identity documents issued by the
Government including voter identity card or Aadhar card'.
•The corresponding provision to Section 473 of the IPC (which punished the making or
possessing counterfeit seal, etc., with intent to commit forgery punishable otherwise) which is
Section 341 of the BNS, in addition to penalising the making or counterfeiting of a seal, plate or
instruments for making an impression, makes mere possession of such like instruments for
making an impression knowing the same to be counterfeit (even without any intention to commit
forgery), as an offence punishable with imprisonment upto three years and with liability to pay
fine. Section 341 of the BNS further goes on to penalize the act of fraudulently or dishonestly
using a seal or plate knowing or having reason to believe the same to be counterfeit.
Definition of movable property
•A notable change that has been made in the BNS is in respect of the definition of movable
property. The definition of movable property has now been made wider under Section 2(21) by
using the phraseology `property of every description'. The change prima facie appears to be
casting a broader and wider net allowing all descriptions of property to fall within the meaning
and scope of movable property.
Selective Analysis of the other sections of the Bill
•While the IPC provides Definitions under Chapter II Explanations, the BNS sets out the
Definitions under Chapter I Preliminary.
Types of Punishments:
•The BNS provides for Punishments under Section 4 in
Chapter II (earlier under Section 53 of Chapter III of the IPC), and types of punishments have
been expanded to include `community service'.8
Abetment, Criminal Conspiracy and Attempt:
•Covered in Chapter IV of the BNS (corresponding to Chapter V of the IPC), the most notable
change is the addition of Section 48 which deals with abetment outside India for an offence in
India which would hold a person residing in another country guilty of abetment if he/she
instigates another person situated in India to commit an offence.9
Offences Against Women and Children:
•Chapter V of the BNS seeks to substitute offences affecting the human body, under Chapter
XVI of the IPC. While `marital rape' has not been defined and/or categorized as an offence in the
BNS , two new sections have been added namely:
•Sexual intercourse by employing deceitful means, or by making a promise to marry a
woman without any intention of fulfilling the same with a punishment of imprisonment for up
to ten years, and fine. In essence, this section has been introduced with an intent to curb the
various instances of `false promise to marry'.10
b.Section 70(2): Gang rape of a woman under eighteen years of age carrying a punishment
of imprisonment for life, i.e., imprisonment for the remainder of that person's natural life, and
with fine, or death.11
Offences Affecting Human Body:
•Some of the most significant changes to the IPC have been made to the chapter pertaining
to offences affecting the human body (Chapter XVI of the IPC) which are now specified
under Chapter VI of the BNS. While largely retaining the description of existing offences, the
BNS has sought to increase the quantum of punishment for some of them. A few notable
changes include:
•The punishment for murder is now specified under Section 103 of the BNS. In Section
103(2) of the BNS, a new offence has been introduced i.e., an offence of murder by a group
of five or more persons acting in concert to commit murder on the ground of race, caste or
community, sex, place of birth, language, personal belief or any other similar ground, each
member of such a group shall be punishable with death, or with imprisonment for life, and
shall also be liable to fine.12
•Organised Crime: Section 111 of the BNS introduces another new offence of
`Organised Crime' to be any continuing unlawful activity including kidnapping, robbery,
vehicle theft, extortion, land grabbing, contract killing, economic offence, cyber-crimes,
trafficking of persons, drugs, weapons or illicit goods or services, human trafficking for
prostitution or ransom, by any person or a group of persons acting in concert, singly or
jointly, either as a member of an organised crime syndicate or on behalf of such syndicate,
by use of violence, threat of violence, intimidation, coercion, or by any other unlawful means
to obtain direct or indirect material benefit including a financial benefit . Punishment is varied
depending on the level involvement of the person involved in the offences with death or
imprisonment for life being prescribed where the offence has caused death, at its highest.13
Section 112 of the BNS covers petty organised crime or organised crime in general.14
•The abovesaid definition of Organised Crime also seeks to introduce within it, the concept
of "economic offences".15
•Further, through Section 113 of the BNS, the offence of a `terrorist act' has been
introduced.
•Section 106 of the BNS which corresponds to Section 304A of the IPC (which pertains to
causing death by negligence) now provides a relatively more stringent punishment than the
erstwhile provision which only provided for imprisonment extendable upto two years or fine
or both. Section 106 of the BNS now seeks to impose a penalty constituting imprisonment of
upto five years and fine. An exception however has been carved out in the provision for an
act has been done by a medical practitioner while performing medical procedure. In such an
event, he shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may
extend upto two years with fine.
•Further, a new sub-provision has been introduced under the BNS, Section 106(2) of the
BNS that makes escaping from the site without reporting such rash act not amounting to
culpable homicide leading to the death of a person, to a police officer or a Magistrate,
punishable with imprisonment extendable to ten years and fine.
Offences Against the State
16.Under Chapter VII of the BNS, a significant addition is re-characterization of the offence of
sedition (under Section 124A of the IPC) as acts endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of
India, for which imprisonment for life or up to seven years and fine has been prescribed. The
new section increases maximum punishment from seven years to life imprisonment. While
Section 124A of the IPC punished a person who brings or attempts to bring into hatred or
contempt or excites disaffection towards the Government established by law in India, the new
Section appears to expand the scope of the gravity of the offence by including within it the act of
also using electronic communication or use of financial means, (apart from the existing language
in Section 124A of the IPC) any `subversive activities', feelings of `separatist activities' or
endangers `sovereignty or unity and integrity of India'.16
Offences Relating to Coin, Currency, Notes, Bank Notes, and Government Stamps
16.The BNS provides for the same provisions in Chapter X (earlier provided under Chapter XVIII
of the IPC). The most notable change is the addition `coin and government stamps' in addition to
currency, notes and bank notes. Furthermore, the act of counterfeiting government stamps and
coins has been defined under Section 178 of the BNS.17
Offences Against Public Tranquillity
16.A notable introduction in Chapter XI of the BNS (earlier provided under Chapter VIII of the
IPC) laying out offences against public tranquillity is the inclusion of `electronic communication'
which is mentioned in the following provisions:
16.Section 196: Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race,
place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of
harmony by spoken/written words, visible representations or through electronic
communication.18
17.Section 197: Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration by visible
representations or through electronic communication.19
Criminal Defamation
16.Sections 499 of the IPC defined the offence of `defamation' Section 500 prescribed the
punishment for the same of a maximum term of imprisonment of two years, or fine, or both.
Under Section 356 of the BNS, Sections 499 and 500 have been consolidated and the
punishment of community service has been added for the offence of defamation.20
Other relevant modifications proposed in the Bill
•Section 304 of the BNS introduces the offence of snatching which states that "Theft is
"snatching" if, to commit theft, the offender suddenly or quickly or forcibly seizes or secures or
grabs or takes away from any person or his possession any moveable property."21
16.Certain offences particularly in relation to Offences relating to Elections (Chapter IX of the
BNS corresponding to IXA of the IPC; Offences By or Relating to Public Servants (Chapter XII of
the BNS corresponding to Chapter IX of the IPC); Contempt of Lawful Authority of Public
Servants (Chapter XIII of the BNS corresponding to Chapter X of the IPC) have not been
modified in substance but the BNS seeks to increase the quantum of punishment for certain
specified offences. Notably, under Chapter XIII of the BNS, the
attempt to commit suicide to compel or restraint exercise of lawful power is sought to be included
as an offence.22
•Significantly, Sections 377 (Unnatural Offences) and 497 (Adultery) of the IPC continue to
remain omitted from the BNS seemingly as a consequence of recent judgements passed by the
Supreme Court in relation thereto despite the recommendations of the Standing Committee to
retain both the provisions.
•Under Section 351 of the BNS, the offence of criminal intimidation has been clarified to include
a threat `by any means' which in effect would expand the meaning of the ways in which a threat
may be carried out by a person threatening injury to person, reputation or property under this
provision. Intimidation is also a means of carrying out an organised crime under Section 111 of
BNS.
•Section 209 of the BNS provides for punishment for proclaimed offenders who are so declared
under Section 84 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 ("BNSS").
Notably, owing to the corresponding changes under Section 84 of the BNSS only offenders who
have committed an offence punishable with imprisonment for a period of ten years or more, or
life imprisonment or death, may be punished as proclaimed offenders under the BNS.
Conclusion
•With BNS receiving the Presidential assent besides the BNSS (successor to CrPC) and the
Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (successor to the Evidence Act), there is an expectation that
the administration of criminal justice in the country will enter into a new era. Introduction of
certain new offences that have been made in the BNS are a result of the technological
advancements as well as societal changes that have transpired over the past few years. The
increased punishments particularly for certain serious offences seems to be with the objective of
acting a deterrent. However, certain additions mainly concerning offences against the state,
public tranquillity etc. also widen the potential for abuse and ought to be exercised with extreme
caution and circumspection.

.
BHARATIYA NYAYA SANHITA,
2023
Further analysis

KEY CHANGES INTRODUCE

D IN THE BNS:

Consolidation of provisions
BNS has streamlined and consolidated
the provisions under IPC, only containing
358 sections, compared to 511 sections
under the IPC.

 This has been achieved by consolidating

various provisions relating to the same
offences, such as Section 317 of BNS
consolidates all the provisions relating to
stolen property under IPC, which were set
out in Sections 410 to 414
 BNS has consolidated similar provisions or provisions relating to similar offences in one place. Such as, all three
inchoate offences, i.e., “attempt”, “abetment” and “conspiracy”, have been brought together under Chapter IV of the
BNS. Earlier, “abetment” and “conspiracy” were covered from Section 109 to 120 and 120A & 120B in the IPC, and
“attempt” was under Section 511 of IPC.

Definitions and uniformity in language

 BNS has removed remnants of archaic language or colonial references.
4 5

 BNS also uniformly uses the term/expression “child” in place of “minor” and “child under the age of eighteen years”,
6

and “person with unsound mind” in place of “insane”, “lunatic”, and “idiot”.
Abetment, conspiracy and attempt

 Abetment outside India for an offence committed or to be committed in India has also been criminalised under
Section 48 of BNS. This expands the extra-territorial applicability of the BNS.

Offences against property

 Definition of the offence of “theft” has been expanded to include theft of vehicle, theft from vehicle, theft of
government property, idol, or icon from a place of worship. 7

 Offence of “snatching” has been introduced under Section 304 of BNS. Theft will only amount to snatching if the theft
is carried out in a sudden, quick or forcible manner.

Offences against women and children

 All the offences against women and children have been brought under Chapter V of the BNS, which is followed by
the offences affecting human body in Chapter VI.

 Various offences against women have been made gender-neutral in relation to the perpetrator, i.e., all genders can
be penalised for committing offences. 8

Offences against human body

 The offence of attempt to commit suicide has been removed from the BNS. However, a new section has been added
which criminalises the attempt to commit suicide to compel or restrain exercise of lawful power by a public servant. 9

 A sub-category of culpable homicide has been introduced under Section 103 of the BNS, relating to mob-lynching. It
criminalises and provides punishment for murder and/or grievous hurt by “group of five or more persons” based on
victim’s “race, caste or community, sex, place of birth, language, personal belief or any other similar ground”. 10

Organised crimes and terrorist acts

 New offences of “organised crime” and “petty organised crime” have been introduced under the BNS. This is the
11 12

first time “organised crime” has been recognised as an offence in a central legislation, which was so far regulated
under state legislations such as Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 and Gujarat Control of Terrorism
and Organised Crime Act, 2015.
 Similarly, “terrorist act” has been criminalised under the general criminal statute for the first time. “Terrorist act” has
13

been criminalised under special statutes such as Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Offences against State
 Section 124A of the IPC, which criminalised sedition, has been deleted. However, BNS has introduced a new offence
in the same vein as sedition, namely, “acts endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India”. 14

Offences against public tranquillity

 Section 197(1)(d) of BNS criminalises the act of making or publishing false or misleading information which
jeopardises the sovereignty, unity and integrity or security of India.

Key changes in punishments

 For the first time in India, community service has been introduced as a punishment for certain offences under
Section 4(f) of BNS. However, the same is limited to only six offences at the moment, namely, a public servant
unlawfully
engaging in trade, non-appearance in response to a proclamation, attempt to commit suicide to compel or restrain
15 16

exercise of lawful power, petty theft (of property less than INR 5,000/- in value) upon return of the property by a first
17

time offender, misconduct in public by a drunken person, and defamation.

18 19 20

The BNS also seeks to balance the reformative and deterrent approach to punishment. For example, for the
offence of theft, community service has been prescribed as the punishment in case of first-time offence, where the
stolen property was less than five thousand rupees in value, and has been restored. However, in cases of second
21

or subsequent convictions for the offence of theft, harsher punishments have been prescribed. 22

Mandatory minimum punishment introduced for certain offences as a deterrent. Some such offences are organised
crime and its related offences, terrorist act, personating a public servant, theft, dacoity, dishonest
23 24 25 26 27

misappropriation of property and dishonest or fraudulent removal or concealment of property to prevent distribution
28

amongst the creditors, etc. 29

Imprisonment terms and/or fines have been enhanced for various offences. Some such offences are rioting, giving 30

false information with the intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to cause injury to another
person, destruction of document or electronic record to prevent its production as evidence, adulteration of
31 32

drug, sale of drug as a different drug or preparation, absconding to avoid service of summons, preventing service
33 34 35

of summons, etc.
36

Summary trial for certain offences

Offences such as theft of property not exceeding twenty thousand rupees in value, criminal intimidation, or
offences relating to stolen property not exceeding twenty thousand rupees in value can be tried summarily in certain
cases.

Positives from the BNS

Some of the changes introduced in the BNS are commendable, such as the use of technology and bringing it
within the ambit of the penal statutes (by updating the definitions of certain offences), maintaining uniformity in the
use of defined terms throughout the BNS, introduction of community service as punishment for petty offences.
However, creating the necessary judicial infrastructure, and training of the personnel such as, magistrates and
police officers, will be key in the implementation of these statutes.

Further, deletion of sedition shows that the Government is cognizant of the will of the general public. Deletion of
37

sedition as an offence indicates a break away from the colonial origins of the Indian criminal law system.

The introduction of community service as punishment for certain offences is a step in the right direction towards
the reformative approach to punishment

A DETAILED COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE PROVISIONS OF BNS VIS-À-

VISTHE CORRESPONDING PROVISIONS OF THE IPC CAN BE FOUND BELO
W:
No. of BNS Provisions in
S. Provisions IPC
Corresponding Comments

Applicability, definitions, and interpretation of the BNS

1. Section Sections 1 to 5 The applicability of BNS is mostly similar to the provisions of the
1 IPC.

2. Section Sections 6 to The BNS has consolidated and provided all the definitions for the
2
52A. terms used therein under Section 2. BNS also defines terms such as
“child”,
 “transgender”, etc. which were undefined under the
IPC.
A “child” has been defined as any person below the age of eighteen
years. This has helped in providing the much-needed uniformity in the
44

penal code. IPC had employed various different terms, such as “minor” or
“child under the age of eighteen years”. The BNS has replaced all
references to a “minor” or “child under the age of eighteen years” with
“child”, as defined in the BNS.
Further, “transgender” has been defined to have the same meaning as
45

under Section 2(k) of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act,

2019.46

Definition of “India” under Section 18 of IPC has been removed under the
BNS, which defined India to exclude the State of Jammu and Kashmir. 47

Section 2(39) also consolidates all the definitions borrowed from the
Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) in the IPC, and provides that
all word and expressions used but not defined in BNS, but which are
defined in the IT Act, shall have the same meaning as the defined under
the IT Act. This will help in not only streamlining the statute, but also help
48

in avoiding ambiguity in relation to undefined terms used in the BNS.

3. Section Sections 6, 7, Section 3 provides the general explanation on the

3
interpretation of various 27, 32, 34 to 38 expressions used in the BNS. No
material changes have been made while
incorporating the corresponding provisions of the IPC in the BNS.
Punishments under the BNS

Section 4 of BNS, which provides the various punishments available

4. Sections 4 Sections 53 to
to 13 55A, 57, 60, 63 under the statute, largely mirrors Section 53 of the IPC. BNS introduces
to 75 “community service” as a punishment for certain petty offences. While no49

definition is given in the BNS, “community service” has been defined in

the BNSS as “the work which the Court may order a convict to perform as
a form of punishment that benefits the community, for which he shall not
be entitled to any remuneration.” This introduces a reformative approach
50

in the punishment scheme under BNS.

However, community service has been prescribed only for 6 minor
offences, namely, a public servant unlawfully engaging in trade, non- 51

appearance in response to a proclamation, attempt to commit suicide to

52

compel or restrain exercise of lawful power, petty theft (of property less
53

than INR 5,000/- in value) upon return of the property by a first time
offender, misconduct in public by a drunken person, and
54 55

defamation. Further, the BNS is silent on the basis of sentencing

56

community service or term to which a person may be sentenced to

community service.
Section 8 of BNS embodies Sections 63 to 70 of the IPC. It provides
imprisonment in cases where a person defaults in payment of fine or in
community service. The monetary thresholds for the maximum fine have
57

been enhanced in light of the enhancements in the fines across the BNS. 58
General exceptions in case of offences committed under the
BNS

5. Sections Sections 76 to These sections provide the general exceptions, whereby certain acts or
14 to 33 95 acts of certain persons would not be offences under the BNS. These
are broadly similar to the general exceptions under the IPC.

These sections provide the general exception of right to private defence

Sections 96 to
6. Sections
106 and are broadly similar to the provisions of the IPC. However, Sections
34 to 44
41 and 43 replace the word “by night” with “after sunset and before
59

sunrise”, in relation to housebreaking and right of private defence of

property. 60

Inchoate offences: Abetment, Criminal Conspiracy and

Attempt

7. Sections Sections 107 to These sections define and provide the punishment for abetment of
an
45 to 60 108, 108A, 109 offence under the BNS. to 120.
In a first, Section 48 of the BNS criminalises abetment outside India for
commission of offences in India. Thus, person(s) outside India may also be held liable for
abetting commission of offences in India.

The punishment for abetment of commission of an offence by public or

by more than 10 persons has been increased to imprisonment of either
description up to 7 years, and also fine. Under IPC, the punishment for
61

the same offence was imprisonment up to 3 years, or fine, or both. 62

Section 61 of BNS define and provide punishment for the offence of

8. Sections Sections 120A,
criminal conspiracy. 63

61 and 62 120B and 511

Section 62 of BNS provides punishment for attempting to commit
offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment. 64

No material changes have been made in this

regard.

Organised crimes and terrorist acts

For the first time, BNS has introduced “organised crime” as an offence
9. Sections
under a central law. Until now, “organised crime” has only been governed
65

-N/A- 111 to 112

by special legislations introduced by the states, such as the Maharashtra
Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (“MCOCA”), Gujarat Control of
Terrorism and Organised Crime Act, 2015 (“GCTOCA”), etc. The BNS
draws heavily from these state legislations. Offence of “organised crime”
requires any “continuing unlawful activity” such as kidnapping, robbery,
66

extortion, land grabbing, contract killing, economic offences, cyber-crime,

etc., by any person or group of persons acting in concert, singly or jointly,
as a member of an “organised crime syndicate” or on behalf of the
67

syndicate, by use of violence, threat of violence, intimidation, coercion or

other unlawful means to obtain “direct or indirect material benefit including
financial benefit”. However, the definition of “organised crime” is vague as
it uses phrases such as “land grabbing”, “contract killing” and “cyber-
crimes”, which have not been defined under the BNS. Further, while the
term
 “economic offences” has been defined in Explanation (iii) to Section
111(1), it uses the phrases such as “hawala transactions” and “mass-
marketing fraud”, which have not been defined under the BNS.
Pursuant to the comments of the Parliamentary Standing Committee
(“PSC”), some modifications were made to these provisions. One of the
68

comments in the PSC Report on BNS was that the provision did not
differentiate between the actual commission of “organised crime” and an
attempt to commit it and recommended a separate penal provision for the
same. This was incorporated in the BNS, under Section 111(3). However,
69

the punishment provided for attempt to commit “organised crime” is the

70

same as the punishment for commission of “organised crime” which does

not result in the death of any person. Therefore, there is no practical
71

difference between the commission of actual offence and the attempt to

commit the same.
BNS also creates another category of offence, namely, “petty organised
crime”, which is distinct from the “organised crime” discussed above. This
72

does not find any mention in the existing state legislations such as
MCOCA or GCTOCA. Unlike “organised crime”, Section 112 does not
prescribe the requirements of “continuing unlawful activity” or obtaining
“direct or indirect material benefit” from the crime. “Petty organised crime”
has been defined as acts of theft, snatching, cheating, unauthorised selling
of tickets, unauthorised betting or gambling, selling of public examination
question papers or other similar criminal activities, committed by person,
being a member of a group or a gang. Just like “organised crime”, “petty
organised crime” also suffers from ambiguity due to the use of undefined
terms such as “pick pocketing”, “card skimming”, etc. Moreover, Section
112 also criminalises “other similar criminal activities”. Thus, the scope of
offences covered under “petty organised crime” remains unbound.
However, offences such as theft and snatching have already been
73 74

criminalised under BNS. Therefore, the interplay of Sections 112, 303 and
304 will have to be seen.

Section 113 defines and criminalises the offence of “terrorist act”. This is
10. -N/A-
the first time “terrorist act” has been criminalised in a general statute,
Section
separate from the specialised legislations such as Unlawful Activities
113
(Prevention) Act, 1967 (“UAPA”).
“Terrorist act” has been defined as any act done with the intent to threaten
or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, sovereignty, or economic security of
India, or with the intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror in people or
any section of people in India or in a foreign country. Just like
75

UAPA, Section 113 recognises ordinary crimes (such as causing or likely

76

to cause death or injury, damage or destruction of property, use of

77 78

criminal force, etc.) as “terrorist acts”, if done with a specific intent, as

79

described above. 80

Any person found guilty of committing terrorist acts shall be punished with
death or imprisonment for life, and also a fine, if such acts resulted in
death of any person, or with imprisonment for a term not less than five
81

years,
 but extendable up to life imprisonment, and also fine, in all other cases.
82

This is identical to the punishment for committing a terrorist act under the
UAPA. Similarly, both BNS and UAPA prescribe identical
83

punishments for other offences relating to terrorist acts, such as

conspiring, attempting to commit or abetting terrorist acts, organising
84

terrorist camps, being member of organisation involved in terrorist

85

acts, voluntarily harbouring or concealing any person known to have

86

committed a terrorist act, and knowingly possessing any property derived

87

or obtained from terrorist acts.

88

As the UAPA is a special statute, it ought to take precedent over the BNS
in relation to the offence of terrorist act. However, the BNS has
empowered the officers not below the rank of Superintendent of Police to
decide whether to register the case for terrorist acts under UAPA or
BNS. Depending upon which statute has been invoked, the procedure for
89

the trial shall be governed by BNSS, or the procedure under the UAPA. 90

Offences against the State

11. Sections Sections 121 to One of the most crucial changes in offences against the state has been the
147 to 158 130 deletion of the offence of sedition.
91

However, BNS has introduced a new offence in the same vein as sedition,
namely, “acts endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of
India”. Section 152 penalises persons who excite or attempt to excite,
92

secession or armed rebellion or subversive activities, or encourage

feelings of separatist activities or endanger sovereignty or unity and
integrity of India or indulges in or commits any such act.

Section 152 also expressly includes the words “purposely or knowingly”,

explicitly including the mens rea requirement for being held guilty for this
offence.

However, this provision does not specify or define the scope of activities
which have been criminalised, which remain vague. This may have to
judicially tested once the BNS comes into force especially with the
objective to safeguard and balance the freedom of speech and expression
with public order.

For instance, the dictionary definition of “subversive” or “to subvert” are

intrinsically linked to the idea of any action that challenges or undermines
an established authority. This definition is extremely broad. Therefore, in
93

absence of any set definition, one can only guess what nature of activities
may be considered “subversive” under this provision, or the degree or
extent of harm that may occur before an activity can be considered to be
“subversive”. This would have to be read with the explanation to Section
152 which carves an exception for comments expressing disapprobation of
actions of the government for bringing a change in the same through lawful
means without exciting or attempting to excite the activities described in
the section.
We have seen in the past that the Supreme Court has struck down
 provisions or elements of a provision which are vague in nature. 94

Further, Section 152 of the BNS expands the scope of the harm. Under
Section 124A of the IPC, only actions that excited or attempted to excite
hatred towards the “Government established by law in India” were
criminalised. However, Section 152 criminalises all actions that endanger
the sovereignty or unity and integrity of India or encourages separatist
activities. This expands the scope of harm from actions against the
“Government established by law” to a generic reference to “India”.

Section 152 also recognises electronic communication or use of financial

means as acts that are criminalised under this provision. However, no
thresholds have been laid out to determine what extent of electronic
communication or use of financial means would attract this provision.

Further, the offences against allied states of India (such as waging war or 95

committing depredation on territories ) have been expanded from

96

commission of such offences against “Asiatic Powers” to “Government of

foreign states at peace with the Government of India”.

No other material changes have been made to these provisions.

Offences against public tranquillity such as unlawful assembly,

rioting, affray, etc.
BNS introduces an additional ground while dealing with imputations,
12. Sections Sections
assertions prejudicial to national integration; i.e., making or publishing
97

141 to 189 to 197 153,

false or misleading information which jeopardises the sovereignty,
153A,
unity and integrity or security of India.
153B, 154 to
160 Section 197 of the BNS includes electronic communication for commission
of offences thereunder.

The scope of the applicability of this provision is also uncertain, which may
also impact any publisher of any such “false or misleading information”.

However, its implementation and effectiveness would depend on the

interpretation of what constitutes “false or misleading” information
“jeopardising the sovereignty, unity and integrity or security of India”. The
Bombay High Court is currently considering the constitutional validity of
the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media
Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023 in the case of Kunal Kamra v.
Union of India. Rule 3(1)(b)(v) of these rules also refers similar phrases
98

such as “false” and “misleading” for issuing directions for blocking of

information identified by the government.

Contempt of lawful authority of public servants

13. Sections Sections 172 to Chapter XIII of the

BNS deals with the offences relating to contempt of 206 to 226 174,
to 190 absconding
174A, to avoid
175 lawful serviceof
authority ofpublic
summons, omission
servants. to produce
This include documents
offences such
by
as persons legally bound to produce the same, furnishing false
information,
refusing to sign statements, etc. This corresponds to Chapter X of the IPC.

One new provision has been added under this Chapter. Section 226 of
BNS criminalises attempt to commit suicide to compel or restrain exercise
of lawful power by a public servant. A person guilty under Section 226 shall
be punished with a simple imprisonment for a term up to one year, or with
fine, or both, or with community service.

Other changes include enhanced punishments for offences such as in

cases of absconding to avoid or preventing service of summons, non-
99 100

attendance in obedience to an order from public servant, etc., where the

101

fine amounts have increased from five hundred rupees to five thousand
rupees, and one thousand rupees to ten thousand rupees, respectively.
Similarly, the fines for furnishing false information, refusing oath when
102

required by public servant and refusing to answer to public

103

servant have from one thousand rupees to five thousand rupees. Fine for
104

refusing to sign a statement has been enhanced from five hundred

105

rupees to three thousand rupees.

Section 209 of BNS provides alternative punishment of community
106

service for failing to appear in response to a proclamation for absconding

persons under Section 84(1) of the BNSS, in additional to the
imprisonment for a term up to three years, or fine, or both.
Section 217 of the BNS enhances the punishment for providing false
107

information with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to
cause injury to another person. The punishment has been enhanced to
imprisonment of either description for a term of up to one year, or fine up to
ten thousand rupees, or both. 108

Section 221 of BNS has enhanced the punishment for the offence of
109

obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions. The offence is

now punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term up to
three months, or with fine up to two thousand five hundred rupees, or with
both.
Section 222 of BNS embodies Section 187 of the IPC, which penalised
110

the offence of omitting to assist public servant when bound by law to give
such assistance. BNS has enhanced the fine from two hundred rupees to
two thousand five hundred rupees. However, in case where such
assistance has been demanded by the public servant, who is legally
competent to make such demand for the purpose of executing any process
issued by court or to prevent commission of the offences listed in Section
222(b), the fine has been enhanced from five hundred rupees to five
thousand rupees. 111

Lastly, Section 223 of BNS (which embodies Section 188 of IPC) has
112

enhanced the punishment for the offence of disobeying the order duly
promulgated by a public servant. The punishment has been enhanced
from imprisonment up to one month or fine up to two hundred rupees, to
imprisonment up to six months or fine up to two thousand five hundred
rupees, if such disobedience causes or tends to cause obstruction,
annoyance or injury, or risk of obstruction, annoyance or injury, to any
 person. However, in case such disobedience causes or tends to cause
113

danger to human life, health, safety, or causes or tends to cause a riot or

affray, punishment has been enhanced from imprisonment up to six
months or fine up to one thousand rupees, to imprisonment up to one
year or fine up to five thousand rupees.114

False evidence and offences against public justice

14. Sections Sections 191 to Chapter XIV of the BNS defines and provides punishments for
227 to 269 offences
195, 195A, 196 against public justice, such as giving or fabricating false
to 216, 216A, evidence, harbouring offenders, obtaining decrees for sum not
217 to 225, due, etc. This corresponds to Chapter XI of the IPC.
225A, 225B,
227 to 229, The provisions under this Chapter are largely similar to the
229A provisions under IPC, with only enhanced punishments for various
offences thereunder.

Section 229 of the BNS embodies Section 193 of the IPC, which provided
punishment for false evidence. If a person intentionally gives or fabricates
false evidence to be used in any stage of judicial proceeding, the BNS now
provides a maximum fine of up to ten thousand rupees. In all other cases
115

where a person gives or fabricates false evidence, the BNS provides a

maximum fine of up to five thousand rupees. Similarly, BNS now also
116

provides a maximum fine of up to fifty thousand rupees for giving or

fabricating false evidence with the intent to procure conviction in a capital
offence, and up to five thousand rupees for intentional omission to give
117

information of offence by person bound to inform. 118

Punishments for destruction of document or electronic record to prevent its

production as evidence and fraudulent removal or concealment of
119

property to prevent its seizure as forfeited or in execution has been

120

enhanced from imprisonment up to two years or fine (without any

maximum limit), to imprisonment up to three years or fine up to five
thousand rupees. BNS also provides enhanced punishment for false
charge of offence made with intent to injure. If a person institutes or
causes to be instituted any criminal proceeding against a person, knowing
that there is no just or lawful ground for the same, punishment has been
enhanced from imprisonment up to two year or fine (without any maximum
limit) to imprisonment up to five years, or fine up to two lakh rupees. 121

However, if such false charge is of an offence punishable with death,

imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for ten years or upwards, the
imprisonment has been enhanced from seven years to ten years. 122

The fine for intentional insult or interruption to public servant sitting in

judicial proceeding has been enhanced from one thousand rupees to five
thousand rupees. 123

Offences affecting the public health, safety, convenience, decency

and morals
15. Sections 268 to Chapter XV of the BNS deals with offences affecting the public
Sections health,
270 to 297 294, 294A safety, convenience, decency and morals, such as public nuisance,
negligent or malignant act to spread diseases, adulteration of food, drink,
drugs, rash driving, etc. This Chapter corresponds to Chapter XIV of IPC.
Section 290 of BNS deals with the offence of negligent conduct with
124

respect to pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings, etc. While the

IPC only provided punishments for negligent conduct in pulling down or
repairing buildings, BNS has expanded the scope of this offence by
including the construction of building within its ambit. Further, the
punishment has been enhanced to imprisonment of either description for a
term up to six months, or fine up to five thousand rupees, or both. 125

Another material change has been in Section 294 of BNS. Section 294
126

deals with sale, letting for hire, distribution, exhibition or circulation of

obscene books, pamphlets, drawings, paintings, figures, etc. In addition to
the physical/conventional display of these items, BNS now explicitly
criminalises the display of such items in electronic form. Further, the
punishment for this offence has also been enhanced. In case of a first
offence, a person shall be punished with imprisonment of either description
for a term up to two years, and with fine up to five thousand rupees. In 127

case of second or subsequent offences, a person shall be punished with

imprisonment of either description for a term up to five years, and with fine
up to ten thousand rupees. 128

Section 295 of BNS specifically deals with sale of obscene objects to

129

child. IPC criminalised the sale of obscene objects to young adult under the
age of twenty years. However, BNS has used the term “child”, which has
130

been defined as a person under the age of eighteen years. 131

BNS has enhanced the maximum fine amount from one thousand rupees
to five thousand rupees for adulteration of food or drink intended for
sale, sale of noxious food or drink, sale of adulterated drugs, sale of
132 133 134

drug as a different drug or preparation, conveying person by water for

135

hire in unsafe or overloaded vessel, negligent conduct with respect to

136

poisonous substance, explosive substance, machinery and

137 138 139

animals. 140

BNS enhances the fine from two hundred rupees to one thousand rupees
for public nuisance for cases which have not been provided under this
Chapter. 141

BNS now also provides a maximum fine of five thousand rupees and one
thousand rupees for the continuance of nuisance after injunction against
the nuisance, and obscene acts and songs, respectively.
142 143

Section 297 of BNS deals with the offence of keeping a lottery office. No
144

changes in punishment has been made for keeping any office or place for
the purpose of drawing lottery, not being state lottery. However, the 145

punishment for publishing any proposal to pay any sum, or to deliver any
goods, or to do or forbear from doing anything for the benefit of any person,
on any event or contingency relative or applicable to the drawing of any
ticket, lot, number or figure in any such lottery, has been enhanced to a fine
up to five thousand rupees. 146
Offences against property

16. Sections Sections 378 to These sections deal with the offence of
303 to 307 382 theft.
The offence of theft has been defined in Section 303(1) of the
BNS. Further, the punishment for theft has been consolidated within sub-
147

section (2) of Section 303 of the BNS. Section 303(2) of BNS also
148

provides separate punishment for second or subsequent convictions for

theft. In such a case, a person shall be punished with rigorous
imprisonment for a term not less than one year, but which may extend to
five years with fine. Thus, BNS introduces mandatory minimum
punishment for such offences. Moreover, in cases where the value of the
stolen property is less than five thousand rupees, the property has been
restored and the person has been convicted for the first time, they shall be
punished with community service. 149

In a first, Section 304 of BNS defines the offence of ‘snatching’. Theft

would be snatching “if in order to commit theft, the offender suddenly or
quickly or forcibly seizes or secures or grabs or takes away from any
person or from his possession any movable property.” Therefore, theft
150

will only amount to snatching if the theft is carried out in a sudden, quick or
forcible manner. Any person found guilty of snatching shall be punished
imprisonment of either description for a term up to three years and shall
also be liable for a fine. 151

Section 305 of BNS has also enhanced the scope of the offence of theft in
a dwelling house by including “means of transport or place of worship”. 152

17. Sections 383 to Section 308 of BNS has consolidated all the provisions relating to the
389 offence of extortion. Section 308(1) of BNS defines the offence of
153

Section
“extortion”. Additional illustration (e) has been added. Illustration (e)
308
provides an example of extortion through electronic messages, to bring
the definition of the offence up to date with the latest technologies.
Section 308(2) of BNS provides the punishment for the offence of
154

extortion. The punishment has been enhanced to imprisonment of either

description for a term up to seven years, or fine, or both.

18. Sections Sections 390 to These sections have consolidated the various provisions in relation to
309 to 313 402 robbery and dacoity.

Section 310(3) of BNS has enhanced the punishment for dacoity with murder to death,
155

or imprisonment for life, or rigorous imprisonment for a term not less than ten years, and
also fine. Thus, BNS introduces mandatory minimum punishment for such offences.

19. Sections Sections 403 to These sections deal with the criminal misappropriation of
314 to 315 404 property.
Section 314 of BNS has enhanced the punishment for dishonest
156

misappropriation of property to imprisonment of either description for a

term not less than six months, but may extend up to two years, and
fine.
 Thus, BNS introduces mandatory minimum punishment for such

offences. No other material changes have been made to these

provisions.
20. Sections 405 to Section 316 of BNS has consolidated all the provisions relating to the
Section 409 offence of criminal breach of trust. The punishment for criminal breach of
316 trust has been enhanced to imprisonment of either description for a term
up to five years, or fine, or both. 157

No other material changes have been made to these

provisions.

21. Sections 410 to Section 317 of BNS has consolidated all the provisions for the offences
Section 414 relating to stolen property.
317 Section 317(1) of BNS has added the offence of cheating as one of the methods of
158

acquiring a stolen property, in addition to theft, extortion and robbery.

No other material changes have been made to these

provisions.
These sections deal with the offence related to cheating. Section
22. Sections Sections 415 to
318(2) of BNS enhances the punishment for cheating to imprisonment of
159

318 to 319 420

either description for a term up to three years, or fine, or both.
Similarly, Section 318(3) of BNS enhances the punishment for cheating
160

with knowledge that wrongful loss may be caused to the person whose
interest the offender is bound to protect. The enhanced punishment is
imprisonment of either description for a term up to five years, or fine, or
both.161

Section 319 of BNS deals with the offence of cheating by personation.

162

Section 319(2) of the BNS enhances the punishment for cheating by

163

personation to imprisonment of either description for a term up to five

years, or fine, or both.

No other material changes have been made to these

provisions.

23. Sections Sections 421 to These sections deal with the offences relating to fraudulent deeds and
320 to 323 424 disposition of property.

Section 320 of BNS has enhanced the punishment for the offence of dishonest or
164

fraudulent removal or concealment of property to prevent distribution among creditors. The

enhanced punishment is imprisonment of either description for a term not less than six
months, but which may extend up to two years, or fine, or both. Thus, BNS introduces
mandatory minimum punishment for such offences. 165

The punishments for dishonest or fraudulent execution of deed of transfer

containing false statement of consideration and dishonest or fraudulent removal or
166

concealment of property have been enhanced from a term of imprisonment from up to two
167

years to three years, in addition to fine.

 No other material changes have been made to these
provisions.

24. Sections Sections 425 to These sections deal with the offences relating to
mischief.
324 to 328 440 Section 324 defines and provides the punishment for mischief. The
168 169

punishment has been enhanced to imprisonment of either description for

a term up to six months, or fine, or both. 170

Section 324(3) adds a new provision and provides punishment for

committing mischief and thereby causing loss or damage to any property
including property of Government or Local Authority. Any person found
guilty under Section 324(3) shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term up to one year, or fine, or both.

Sub-sections (4) and (5) of Section 324 of the BNS provide for the
171

revised monetary threshold of the loss and damage to property caused by

mischief for ascertaining the punishment.
Section 326 of BNS consolidates various provisions under IPC that dealt
172

with mischief by injury, inundation, fire or explosive substance, etc.

Section 326(f) of BNS has removed the monetary threshold in relation to
173

the property subject to mischief. Section 435 of IPC provided punishment

only in relation to mischief causing damage to any property to the amount
of one hundred rupees or upwards, and in case of agricultural produce,
ten rupees or upwards.

25. Sections Sections 441 to These sections deal with the offences relating to criminal
329 to 334 trespass.
443, 445, 447
to 462 Section 329 has consolidated the provisions on criminal trespass, house-
174

trespass and the punishment for criminal trespass and house-

175 176

trespass. 177

Section 329(3) has enhanced the punishment for criminal trespass to

imprisonment of either description for a term up to three months, or fine up
to five thousand rupees, or both. 178

Similarly, Section 329(4) has enhanced the punishment for house-

trespass
to imprisonment of either description for a term up to one year, or fine up
to five thousand rupees, or both. 179

Section 330 of BNS defines lurking house-trespass and house breaking. 180

The term “night” in Section 331 in relation to house-trespass and

house breaking have been replaced with “after sunset and before
sunrise”.

Offences relating to document and to property marks

335 to 344 477, 477A making

26. a false document, forgery, forgery
Sections of court
Sections 463 torecords,
These sections
deal with the offences
valuable security, etc. relating to document, such as

Section 337 of BNS now specifically provides that the forgery of identity
181
 documents issued by Government, including voter identity card or Aadhaar
Card is a punishable offence.
Section 341 of BNS consolidates the provisions relating to making or
182

possessing counterfeit seal, etc., with intent to commit forgery punishable

under Section 338 of BNS. Section 341 also introduces two new
provisions, namely Section 341(3) and (4).

Section 341(3) of BNS provides punishment for possessing any seal, plate
or other instrument knowing the same to be counterfeit. The punishment
for the same is imprisonment of either description for a term up to three
years, and also fine.

Section 341(4) provides that whoever, fraudulently or dishonestly uses as

genuine, any seal, plate or other instrument, knowing or having reasons to
believe the same to be counterfire shall be punished in the same manner
as if he had made or counterfeited such seal, plate or instrument.183

Criminal intimidation, insult, annoyance, defamation, etc.

27. Sections Sections 503 to These sections deal with criminal intimidation, insult, annoyance,
351 to 355 etc.
508, 510
Section 353 of BNS provides the punishment for statements conducing to
184

public mischief. In addition to statements, rumours or reports, Section 353

now also criminalises making, publishing or circulating “false information”.
Further, to keep up with the advancing technology, Section 353 specifically
criminalises the making, publishing or circulating of such statement, false
information, rumour, or report through electronic means.

28. Sections 499 to This section consolidates the provisions relating to the offence of
502 defamation. In addition to the punishment of simple imprisonment for a
Section
term up to two years, or fine, or both, Section 356(2) of BNS also
185

356
prescribes community service as an alternative punishment for
defamation. This is one of the six offences that are punishable by
community service under the BNS.
 Concluding remarks

•The establishment of the New Bharatiya Nyaya Sahita marks a

significant milestone in the evolution of our legal system.

•This initiative embodies a commitment to modernize and streamline

judicial processes, ensuring greater accessibility, efficiency, and
fairness in the administration of justice.

•By harnessing technological advancements and adopting innovative

approaches, the New Bharatiya Nyaya Sahita aims to enhance
transparency, accountability, and public trust in the legal system.

•Moreover, this initiative is poised to address longstanding challenges

such as case backlog, procedural delays, and resource constraints,
thereby facilitating timely resolution of disputes and delivery of justice
to all citizens.

•Through collaborative efforts between judiciary, legal professionals,

and stakeholders, the New Bharatiya Nyaya Sahita seeks to foster a
culture of continuous improvement and adaptability in the legal
landscape.

•As we embark on this transformative journey, it is imperative to

uphold the principles of fairness, equality, and the rule of law.

•The success of the New Bharatiya Nyaya Sahita hinges on effective

implementation, robust governance mechanisms, and sustained
engagement with all stakeholders.

•By embracing innovation while upholding core legal values, we can

realize the vision of a more accessible, efficient, and equitable justice
system for all citizens of our nation.