IPC 71 vs BNS 9: Limit of punishment of offence made up of several offences
Section 71 of the Indian Penal Code is now section 9 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, in force from 1 July 2024. All of the old wording is kept; 1 word removed and 4 words added.
Struck out: only in the old section. Marked: new in the new section. Punctuation and capitals are ignored when matching words.
IPC section 71Limit of punishment of offence made up of several offences
Where anything which is an offence is made up of parts, any of which parts is itself an offence, the offender shall not be punished with the punishment of more than one of such his offences, unless it be so expressly provided. Where— anything is an offence falling within two or more separate definitions of any law in force for the time being by which offences are defined or punished; or where several acts, of which one or more than one would by itself or themselves constitute an offence, constitute, when combined, a different offence, the offender shall not be punished with a more severe punishment than the Court which tries him could award for any one of such offences. Illustrations. (a) A gives Z fifty strokes with a stick. Here A may have committed the offence of voluntarily causing hurt to Z by the whole beating, and also by each of the blows which make up the whole beating. If A were liable to punishment for every blow, he might be imprisoned for fifty years, one for each blow. But he is liable only to one punishment for the whole beating. (b) But, if, while A is beating Z, Y interferes, and A intentionally strikes Y, here, as the blow given to Y is no part of the act whereby A voluntarily causes hurt to Z, A is liable to one punishment for voluntarily causing hurt to Z, and to another for the blow given to Y.
BNS section 9Limit of punishment of offence made up of several offences
(1) Where anything which is an offence is made up of parts, any of which parts is itself an offence, the offender shall not be punished with the punishment of more than one of such his offences, unless it be so expressly provided. (2) Where— (a) anything is an offence falling within two or more separate definitions of any law in force for the time being by which offences are defined or punished; or (b) several acts, of which one or more than one would by itself or themselves constitute an offence, constitute, when combined, a different offence, the offender shall not be punished with a more severe punishment than the Court which tries him could award for any one of such offences. Illustrations. (a) A gives Z fifty strokes with a stick. Here A may have committed the offence of voluntarily causing hurt to Z by the whole beating, and also by each of the blows which make up the whole beating. If A were liable to punishment for every blow, he might be imprisoned for fifty years, one for each blow. But he is liable only to one punishment for the whole beating. (b) But, if, while A is beating Z, Y interferes, and A intentionally strikes Y, here, as the blow given to Y is no part of the act whereby A voluntarily causes hurt to Z, A is liable to one punishment for voluntarily causing hurt to Z, and to another for the blow given to Y.
Text of both sections from India Code, as in our Bare Acts library. Footnotes and amendment notes are on the section pages. Find any other section with the section converter.