The law › BNS

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Section 80, BNS: Dowry death

Pundora · Published 3 October 2026

Section 80 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 80Section 304Bcorresponds

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

The section

80. Dowry death.

(1) Where the death of a woman is caused by any burns or bodily injury or occurs otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of her marriage and it is shown that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry, such death shall be called “dowry death”, and such husband or relative shall be deemed to have caused her death. Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-section, “dowry” shall have the same meaning as in section 2 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 (28 of 1961). (2) Whoever commits dowry death shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than seven years but which may extend to imprisonment for life.

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 80 (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.