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Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Section 1, BNS: Short title, commencement and application

Pundora · Published 3 October 2026

Section 1 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in the Act's own words, with the IPC provision it replaces.

What it replaces

BNS provisionIPC provisionRelation
Section 1(1)Section 1corresponds
Section 1(2)—new in the BNS
Section 1(3)Section 2corresponds
Section 1(4)Section 3corresponds
Section 1(5)Section 4corresponds
Section 1(6)Section 5corresponds

From the Bureau of Police Research and Development's official comparison summary (source below). The whole table: IPC to BNS.

The section

1. Short title, commencement and application.

(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.

The text is India Code's consolidated text as loaded into Pundora's statute corpus on 1 September 2026. A section quoted in a draft checked by Pundora is checked against this text.

Sources

  1. India Code: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, section 1 (read 1 September 2026)
  2. Bureau of Police Research and Development: comparison summary, BNS to IPC (read 1 September 2026)

The Act's own words, from India Code. If the text here differs from the Gazette, the Gazette governs; write to contact@pundora.in and it will be corrected and dated.