Indian Penal Code, 1860 / Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
What the exam tests
Substantive criminal law questions turn on general exceptions, mens rea, and the precise boundary between offences of similar gravity. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, with 358 sections in 20 chapters, replaced the Indian Penal Code on 1 July 2024, and the exam expects both the new numbering and the principle behind each offence.
Core rules
- Common intention is Section 34 IPC, now Section 3(5) BNS, and binds every participant in furtherance of the shared design.
- Private defence spans Sections 96 to 106 IPC, recast as Sections 34 to 44 BNS; the force must be proportionate and the threat imminent.
- Culpable homicide is Section 299 IPC / Section 100 BNS; murder is Section 300 IPC / Section 101 BNS with its four clauses and five exceptions; punishment is Section 302 IPC / Section 103 BNS.
- Theft is Section 378 IPC / Section 303 BNS; cheating is Section 415 IPC / Section 318 BNS; defamation is Section 499 IPC / Section 356 BNS.
- New BNS offences include organised crime (Section 111), petty organised crime (Section 112), terrorism (Section 113) and murder by a group of five or more on grounds of caste, community, sex or language (Section 103(2)). Sedition is recast as Section 152; adultery is omitted.
Worked example
A stabs B in the abdomen, knowing the injury is sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. That falls within the third clause of Section 101 BNS (Section 300 IPC, thirdly) and is murder, punishable under Section 103 BNS with death or imprisonment for life, not the lesser offence of culpable homicide under Section 105 BNS.
Traps that cost marks
Applying BNS to conduct before 1 July 2024, which offends Article 20(1); confusing the punishment section with the defining section; forgetting that Exceptions 1 to 5 to murder reduce the offence to culpable homicide; and missing that common intention needs a prior meeting of minds, unlike unlawful assembly membership.