STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

The experience of several decades of Indian democracy called for comprehensive review of our
criminal laws including The Indian Penal Code, 1860.

The First Law Commission was constituted in the year 1834 under the Chairmanship of Lord Thomas
B. Macaulay, while The Indian Penal Code, 1860 was introduced as a substantive law relating to
offences and punishments.

Since then, the Indian society has evolved tremendously in different aspects like societal.
technological, economical and intellectual. The nature of crime is changed over last few decades.
Therefore, it was necessary to review the existing criminal laws with an aim to strengthen law and
order and to make existing laws relevant to contemporary needs of society while providing speedy
justice to all.

A Bill, namely, The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 11th August,
2023 by Shri Amit Shah, the Hon'ble Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation.

The Bill was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for its consideration. After due
deliberations the Committee submitted its report on 10th November, 2023.

Recommendations were considered by the Govt. and the revised Bills were reintroduced in the Lok
Sabha on 20th December, 2023 and in the Rajya Sabha on 21st December, 2023 respectively. After
getting approval from both houses of the Parliament successfully with required majority, The Bills
received assent of the Hon'ble President Smt. Droupadi Murmu on 25th December, 2023, and got
published in Official Gazette (extraordinary) on same day as:

"THE BHARATIYA NYAYA SANHITA, 2023" (Act No. 45 of 2023)

Few of key changes, introduced by Act are as follows:

Definitions and uniformity in language

1. BNS has removed remnants of archaic language (The references to archaic expressions such
as “lunatic”, “insane” and “idiot” have been replaced with “person with unsound mind” or
cognate terms. For example, see Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Sections 27, 28, 46 & 107;
Corresponding provision in Indian Penal Code, 1860, Section 89, 90, 108 & 305, respectively.)
or colonial references (The remnants of terms such as “Queen”, “British India”, “Justice of the
Peace”, etc. have been removed from BNS (for example, see Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023,
Section 356: Defamation; Corresponding provision in the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Section
499). Further, the definition of “Year” and “Month” has been revised from being understood
according to the “British Calendar” to the “Gregorian Calendar”; See Bharatiya Nyaya
Sanhita, 2023, Section 2(20); Corresponding provision in Indian Penal Code, 1860, Section
49.).
2. BNS also uniformly uses the term/expression “child” in place of “minor” and “child under the
age of eighteen years”, and “person with unsound mind” in place of “insane”, “lunatic”, and
“idiot”.
3. Colonial remains like "British Calendar", "Queen", "British India", "Justice of the Peace" have
been deleted.

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4. Term "Denotes" has been replaced with "means" and "that is to say" is replaced with
"namely" in Act.
5. Definition of "Child" is introduced [Sec. 2(3)]. “child” means any person below the age of
eighteen years. This has helped in providing the much-needed uniformity in the 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.
6. "Electronic and digital records" are included in the definition of "document" [Sec. 2(8)]
7. Definition of "Gender" includes "Transgender" [Sec. 2(10)]. “transgender” has been defined
to have the same meaning as under Section 2(k) of the Transgender Persons (Protection of
Rights) Act, 2019
Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, Section 2(k): “transgender person”
means a person whose gender does not match with the gender assigned to that person at
birth and includes trans-man or trans-woman (whether or not such person has undergone
sex reassignment Surgery or hormone therapy or laser therapy or such other therapy),
person with intersex variations, genderqueer and person having such socio-cultural identities
as kinner, hijra, aravani and jogta”.
8. "Court of Justice" has been replaced with "Court" [Sec. 2(5)].
9. New "Chapter V: of offences against woman and child" is introduced.

 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.

10. New "Chapter IV: of Abetment, Criminal Conspiracy and Attempt" is introduced.

 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.
 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.

11. For the first time, "community service" as one of the punishments for "petty offences" has
been provided.

BNS introduces “community service” as a punishment for certain petty offences. While no
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.” However, community
service has been prescribed only for 6 minor offences, namely, *a public servant unlawfully
engaging in trade,

*nonappearance in response to a proclamation,

*attempt to commit suicide to compel or restrain exercise of lawful power,
*petty theft (of property less than INR 5,000/- in value) upon return of the property by a first
time offender,
*misconduct in public by a drunken person, and
*defamation.
Further, the BNS is silent on the basis of sentencing community service or term to which a
person may be sentenced to community service.

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 12. New offence of "Terrorist Act" has been added [Sec. 113].
 Section 113 defines and criminalises the offence of “terrorist act”. This is the first time “terrorist
act” has been criminalised in a general statute, separate from the specialised legislations such as
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (“UAPA”).
 Explanation.—For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that the officer not below the rank
of Superintendent of Police shall decide whether to register the case under this section or under
the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
 Issues of Overlap with UAPA (General Law later in time, prevails over the earlier Special Law if it
clearly and directly supersedes the said Special Law, R S Raghunath v State of Karnataka 1991 SC)
13.
14. Offence as "organised crime" has been added [Sec. 111].

For the first time, BNS has introduced “organised crime” as an offence under a central law. Until
now, “organised crime” has only been governed by special legislations introduced by the states,
Offence of “organised crime” requires any “continuing unlawful activity” such as kidnapping,
robbery, 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 syndicate, by use of violence, threat of violence,
intimidation, coercion or other unlawful means to obtain “direct or indirect material benefit
including financial benefit”.

15. "Petty organised crime" as offence has been added [Sec. 112].

BNS also creates another category of offence, namely, “petty organised 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.

16. "Snatching" as offence has been added [Sec. 304(2)].

17. "Act endangering the sovereignty, integrity and unity of India" has been added as offence
[Sec. 152].
18. In the definition of "Grievous Hurt", the number of days has been reduced from "20 days" to
"15 days".
19. 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.

20. 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”
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),

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 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 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

Missed opportunities

 While community service has been introduced as a punishment under the BNS, it is limited to only six
petty offences at the moment. Further, there are no guidelines or parameters to decide the manner and
term for the punishment of community service.
 BNS missed the opportunity to decriminalise various offences, which can be considered as civil
disputes. This was recommended by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2007, in their Report of the
Committee on Draft National Policy on Criminal Justice.
 The offence of defamation under Section 356 of the BNS could have been left out, to be dealt as a civil
dispute inter se the relevant parties.
 The new criminal statutes also missed the opportunity to introduce non-trial resolutions. Non-trial
resolutions help saving resources that would have been spent on the trial, and often lead to hefty
financial settlements. This is a prevalent concept in many western countries, such as United States of
America and United Kingdom. To introduce non-trial resolutions, BNS could have classified certain
economic offences, such as bribery, cheating, dishonest removal or concealment of property, making
false documents, etc., to be eligible for such process.
 BNS retains the minimum age of criminality as seven years (twelve years if the child is found to not have
the ability to understand the nature and consequences of their actions). This is much lower than the
minimum age of criminality in other jurisdictions. Further, this is also contrary to the Report of the
Committee on the Rights of the Child, United Nations, which recommended setting the minimum age of
criminal responsibility at twelve years.
 Various provisions of the BNS overlap with special laws, such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)
Act, 1967, the state legislations on organised crimes, such as Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime
Act, 1999 and Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Act, 2015. This means that there
exists parallel procedures and mechanisms to try such offences. This leads to increase in the burden of
compliances and costs. Further, this also adds to uncertainty in proceedings when trying such offences.

While the BNS has both positives and negatives, just like any new statute, it will have to be tested on the anvil of
judicial scrutiny by courts.

Therefore, twenty new offences have been added in "The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Act, 2023"
Nineteen provisions that existed in Indian Penal Code, 1860 have been omitted. In thirty-three
offences, the punishment of imprisonment has been enhanced. In twenty-three offences, the
mandatory minimum punishment has been introduced. Community Service has been introduced as
additional punishment for few offences. The fines and punishments for various offences have also
been suitably enhanced.

Therefore, Act seek to achieve its objectives of fulfilling democratic aspiration of people and to
ensure speedy justice and the simplification of functioning of legal system successfully.

S.N BNS IPC Particulars

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O sections Sections
Applicability, definitions, and interpretation of the BNS
Section 1 Sections 1 to 5 The applicability of BNS is mostly similar to the
provisions of the IPC.
Section 2 Sections 6 to 52A  The BNS has consolidated and provided all
the definitions for the 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.
Further, “transgender” has been defined to
have the same meaning as under Section
2(k) of the Transgender Persons (Protection
of Rights) Act, 2019.
 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.
 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.
Section 3 Sections 6, 7, 27, 32, Section 3 provides the general explanation on
34 to 38 the interpretation of various 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
Sections 4 Sections 53 to 55A, 57,  Section 4 of BNS, which provides the various
to 13 60, 63 to 75 punishments available under the statute,
largely mirrors Section 53 of the IPC.
 BNS introduces “community service” as a
punishment for certain petty offences. While
no 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.” However, community
service has been prescribed only for 6 minor
offences, namely, *a public servant
unlawfully engaging in trade,
*nonappearance in response to a
proclamation,
*attempt to commit suicide to compel or

5
 restrain exercise of lawful power,
*petty theft (of property less than INR
5,000/- in value) upon return of the property
by a first time offender,
*misconduct in public by a drunken person,
and
*defamation.
Further, the BNS is silent on the basis of
sentencing 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 been enhanced in light of the
enhancements in the fines across the BNS.
General exceptions in case of offences committed under the BNS
Sections 14 Sections 76 to 95 These sections provide the general exceptions,
to 33 whereby certain acts or acts of certain persons
would not be offences under the BNS. These are
broadly similar to the general exceptions under
the IPC.
Sections 34 Sections 96 to 106  These sections provide the general exception
to 44 of right to private defence and are broadly
similar to the provisions of the IPC.
 However, Sections 41 and 43 replace the
word “by night” with “after sunset and
before sunrise”, in relation to housebreaking
and right of private defence of property
Inchoate offences: Abetment, Criminal Conspiracy and Attempt
Sections 45 Sections 107 to 108,  These sections define and provide the
to 60 108A, 109 to 120. punishment for abetment of an offence
under the BNS.
 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 the same offence was
imprisonment up to 3 years, or fine, or both.
Sections 61 Sections 120A, 120B  Section 61 of BNS define and provide
and 62 and 511 punishment for the offence of criminal
conspiracy.

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  Section 62 of BNS provides punishment for
attempting to commit offences punishable
with imprisonment for life or other
imprisonment.
No material changes have been made in this
regard.
Organised crimes and terrorist acts
Sections NA  For the first time, BNS has introduced
111 to 112 “organised crime” as an offence under a
central law. Until now, “organised crime” has
only been governed by special legislations
introduced by the states, Offence of
“organised crime” requires any “continuing
unlawful activity” such as kidnapping,
robbery, 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 syndicate, by use of violence, threat of
violence, intimidation, coercion or other
unlawful means to obtain “direct or indirect
material benefit including financial benefit”.
 BNS also creates another category of
offence, namely, “petty organised 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 criminalised under BNS. Therefore, the
interplay of Sections 112, 303 and 304 will
have to be seen.

Section 113 NA  Section 113 defines and criminalises the

offence of “terrorist act”. This is the first
time “terrorist act” has been criminalised in
a general statute, separate from the
specialised legislations such as Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (“UAPA”).

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  Explanation.—For the removal of doubts, it
is hereby declared that the officer not below
the rank of Superintendent of Police shall
decide whether to register the case under
this section or under the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act, 1967.
 Issues of Overlap with UAPA (General Law
later in time, prevails over the earlier Special
Law if it clearly and directly supersedes the
said Special Law, R S Raghunath v State of
Karnataka 1991 SC)
Offences against the State
Sections Sections 121 to 130  BNS has introduced a new offence in the
147 to 158 same vein as sedition, namely, “acts
endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity
of India”.
 The Section 124 A relating to sedition was
argued to be misused and has been deleted
in the BNS, 2023. Even though the Law
Commision of India in it’s 279th Report has
argued for retaining the provision.
 The Supreme Court of India, in S.G.
Vombatkere v. Union of India on May 11,
2022, had directed all State governments
and the central government to keep in
abeyance all pending trials, appeals, and
proceedings with regard to Section 124A IPC,
as prima facie it felt that this Section was not
in tune with the current social milieu.
 A new section on acts of secession, armed
rebellion, subversive activities, separatist
activities or endangering sovereignty or
unity and integrity of India has been added
and made punishable under Section 152 in
BNS, 2023. In this section, exciting or
attempt to excite any of the acts mentioned
hereinabove is made punishable with
imprisonment extendable to seven years or
imprisonment for life.
 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

8
 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 committing
depredation on territories) have been
expanded from commission of such offences
against “Asiatic Powers” to “Government of
foreign states at peace with the Government
of India”.
Offences against public tranquillity such as unlawful assembly, rioting, affray, etc
Sections Sections 141 to 153,  BNS introduces an additional ground while
189 to 197 153A, 153B, 154 to 160 dealing with imputations, assertions
prejudicial to national integration; i.e.,
making or publishing false or misleading
information which jeopardises the
sovereignty, unity and integrity or security of
India.
 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 such
as “false” and “misleading” for issuing
directions for blocking of information
identified by the government.
Contempt of lawful authority of public servants
Sections Sections 172 to 174,  Chapter XIII of the BNS deals with the
206 to 226 174A, 175 to 190 offences relating to contempt of lawful
authority of public servants. This includes

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 offences such as absconding to avoid service
of summons, omission to produce
documents by 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-attendance in obedience to
an order from public servant, etc., where the
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 required by
public servant and refusing to answer to
public servant have from one thousand
rupees to five thousand rupees. Fine for
refusing to sign a statement has been
enhanced from five hundred rupees to three
thousand rupees.
 Section 209 of BNS provides alternative
punishment of community 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 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
 Section 221 of BNS has enhanced the
punishment for the offence of obstructing
public servant in discharge of public
functions. The offence is now punishable
with imprisonment of either description for

10
 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 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.
 Lastly, Section 223 of BNS (which embodies
Section 188 of IPC) has 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 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
False evidence and offences against public justice
Sections Sections 191 to 195,  Chapter XIV of the BNS defines and provides
227 to 269 195A, 196 to 216, punishments for offences against public
216A, 217 to 225, justice, such as giving or fabricating false
225A, 225B, 227 to evidence, harbouring offenders, obtaining
229, 229A decrees for sum not due, etc. This
corresponds to Chapter XI of the IPC.
 The provisions under this Chapter are largely
similar to the provisions under IPC, with only
enhanced punishments for various offences
thereunder

Offences affecting the public health, safety, convenience, decency and morals

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 Offences against property
Sections Sections 378 to 382  These sections deal with the offence of
303 to 307 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-section (2) of Section 303 of the
BNS. Section 303(2) of BNS also 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.
 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 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
 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”
Section 308 Sections 383 to 389  Section 308 of BNS has consolidated all the
provisions relating to the offence of
extortion. Section 308(1) of BNS defines the
offence of “extortion”. Additional illustration
(e) has been added. Illustration (e) 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 extortion. The

12
 punishment has been enhanced to
imprisonment of either description for a
term up to seven years, or fine, or both.
Sections Sections 390 to 402  These sections have consolidated the
309 to 313 various provisions in relation to robbery and
dacoity.
 Section 310(3) of BNS has enhanced the
punishment for dacoity with murder to
death, 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.
Sections Sections 403 to 404  These sections deal with the criminal
314 to 315 misappropriation of property.
 Section 314 of BNS has enhanced the
punishment for dishonest 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
Section 316 Sections 405 to 409  Section 316 of BNS has consolidated all the
provisions relating to the offence of criminal
breach of trust. The punishment for criminal
breach of trust has been enhanced to
imprisonment of either description for a
term up to five years, or fine, or both.
Section 317 Sections 410 to 414  Section 317 of BNS has consolidated all the
provisions for the offences relating to stolen
property.
 Section 317(1) of BNS has added the offence
of cheating as one of the methods of
acquiring a stolen property, in addition to
theft, extortion and robbery.
 No other material changes have been made
to these provisions.

Sections Sections 415 to 420  These sections deal with the offence related
318 to 319 to cheating.
 Section 318(2) of BNS enhances the
punishment for cheating to imprisonment of
either description for a term up to three
years, or fine, or both.
 Similarly, Section 318(3) of BNS enhances
the punishment for cheating with knowledge
that wrongful loss may be caused to the
person whose interest the offender is bound

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 to protect. The enhanced punishment is
imprisonment of either description for a
term up to five years, or fine, or both.
 Section 319 of BNS deals with the offence of
cheating by personation. Section 319(2) of
the BNS enhances the punishment for
cheating by 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.
Sections Sections 421 to 424  These sections deal with the offences
320 to 323 relating to fraudulent deeds and disposition
of property.
 Section 320 of BNS has enhanced the
punishment for the offence of dishonest or
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.
 The punishments for dishonest or fraudulent
execution of deed of transfer containing
false statement of consideration and
dishonest or fraudulent removal or
concealment of property have been
enhanced from a term of imprisonment
from up to two years to three years, in
addition to fine.
 No other material changes have been made
to these provisions
Sections Sections 425 to 440  These sections deal with the offences
324 to 328 relating to mischief.
 Section 324 defines and provides the
punishment for mischief. The punishment
has been enhanced to imprisonment of
either description for a term up to six
months, or fine, or both.
 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

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 BNS provide for the 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 with mischief
by injury, inundation, fire or explosive
substance, etc.
 Section 326(f)of BNS has removed the
monetary threshold in relation to 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.
Sections Sections 441 to 443,  These sections deal with the offences
329 to 334 445, 447 to 462 relating to criminal trespass. Section 329 has
consolidated the provisions on criminal
trespass, house-trespass and the
punishment for criminal trespass176 and
house-trespass.
 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.
 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.
 Section 330 of BNS defines lurking house-
trespass and house breaking. The term
“night” in Section 331 in relation to house-
trespass and house breaking have been
replaced with “after sunset and before
sunrise”.
Criminal intimidation, insult, annoyance, defamation, etc.

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