Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
Section 17, BNS: Act done by a person justified, or by mistake of fact believing himself justified, by law
Section 17 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in the Act's own words, with the IPC provision it replaces.
What it replaces
| BNS provision | IPC provision | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| Section 17 | Section 79 | corresponds |
From the Bureau of Police Research and Development's official comparison summary (source below). The whole table: IPC to BNS.
The section
17. Act done by a person justified, or by mistake of fact believing himself justified, by law.
Nothing is an offence which is done by any person who is justified by law, or who by reason of a mistake of fact and not by reason of a mistake of law in good faith, believes himself to be justified by law, in doing it. Illustration A sees Z commit what appears to A to be a murder. A, in the exercise, to the best of his judgment exerted in good faith, of the power which the law gives to all persons of apprehending murderers in the fact, seizes Z, in order to bring Z before the proper authorities. A has committed no offence, though it may turn out that Z was acting in self-defence.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
- India Code: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, section 17 (read 1 September 2026)
- Bureau of Police Research and Development: comparison summary, BNS to IPC (read 1 September 2026)