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CHAPTER I PRELIMINARY

Section 1: Short title, commencement and application

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

(1) This Act may be called the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

(2) It shall come into force on such date1 as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Sanhita.

(3) Every person shall be liable to punishment under this Sanhita and not otherwise for every act or omission contrary to the provisions thereof, of which he shall be guilty within India.

(4) Any person liable, by any law for the time being in force in India, to be tried for an offence committed beyond India shall be dealt with according to the provisions of this Sanhita for any act committed beyond India in the same manner as if such act had been committed within India.

(5) The provisions of this Sanhita shall also apply to any offence committed by—

(a) any citizen of India in any place without and beyond India;

(b) any person on any ship or aircraft registered in India wherever it may be;

(c) any person in any place without and beyond India committing offence targeting a computer resource located in India.

Explanation.—In this section, the word “offence” includes every act committed outside India which, if committed in India, would be punishable under this Sanhita.

Illustration.

A, who is a citizen of India, commits a murder in any place without and beyond India. He can be tried and convicted of murder in any place in India in which he may be found.

(6) Nothing in this Sanhita shall affect the provisions of any Act for punishing mutiny and desertion of officers, soldiers, sailors or airmen in the service of the Government of India or the provisions of any special or local law.

Footnotes in the official text

  1. 1.1st day of July, 2024, except the provision of sub-section (2) of section 106, vide notification No. S.O. 850(E), dated, 23rd February, 2024, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3(ii).

Corresponding IPC provision

As given in the correspondence table of the National Crime Records Bureau (Ministry of Home Affairs). Read both texts before relying on it. NCRB table

1(1)1. Title and extent of operation of the Code.
1(2)New Section
1(3)2. Punishment of offences committed within India.
1(4)3. Punishment of offences committed beyond, but which by law may be tried within, India.
1(5)4. Extension of Code to extra-territorial offences.
1(6)5. Certain laws not to be affected by this Act.

Questions on this section

4 questions in 16 of our papers cite Section 1. Try these from the free papers:

  1. 1. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 came into force on which date?

  2. 2. Under Section 1(5)(c) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Sanhita applies to any person in any place without and beyond India who commits an offence targeting which of the following?

  3. 3. By notification S.O. 850(E) dated 23 February 2024, the Central Government appointed 1 July 2024 as the date on which the provisions of the BNS would come into force, except one provision. Which provision was excluded?

Practise questions on Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita