Major IPC Offences Not Included in BNS

Introduction 

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) came into effect on 1st July 2024, replacing the over 160-year-old Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC). This new legislation introduces several significant changes, including newly defined offences, revised forms of punishment, removal of certain outdated offences, and an expanded scope of legal definitions. 

• Additionally, the BNS has been streamlined to be more concise than the IPC. While the IPC comprised 511 sections, the BNS 2023 has been reduced to just 358 sections. 

Offences Not Included in BNS 

The following major offences, which were previously part of IPC, have not been included in the BNS. However, this is not an exhaustive list of omissions as several other provisions have also been revised, restructured, or removed as part of the overall reform. 

• Adultery  
• Sedition  
• Sexual intercourse against the order of nature  
• Attempt to commit suicide  
• Thug

Adultery (Section 497 of IPC) 

About: 

• Section 497of IPC criminalized adultery. 
• It imposed culpability on a man who engages in sexual intercourse with another man’s wife. 
• Adultery was punishable with a maximum imprisonment of five years. 
• Women though were exempted from prosecution. 
• This section was inapplicable when a married man engaged in sexual intercourse with an unmarried woman. 
• The object of this section was to protect the sanctity of marriage. 

Legal Provision: 

• This Section can be read as follows: 
  • Whoever has sexual intercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of that man, such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape, is guilty of the offence of adultery, and shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both. In such a case the wife shall not be punishable as an abettor. 

Decriminalization: 

• A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the case of Joseph Shine v. Union of India (2018) held that adultery is not a crime and struck it off the IPC. 
• It however clarified that adultery would continue to remain a civil wrong and a valid ground for divorce.

Sedition (Section 124A of IPC) 

• This Section was inserted in 1870 by an amendment introduced by James Stephen when it felt the need for a specific section to deal with the offence. 
• Section 124A of IPC defines sedition as an offence committed when "any person by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law in India". 
  • Disaffection includes disloyalty and all feelings of enmity. However, comments without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, will not constitute an offence under this section. 
• It is a non-bailable Offence.  
• Punishment under Section 124A ranges from imprisonment up to three years to a life term, to which a fine may be added.

Sexual Intercourse Against the Order of Nature (Section 377 of IPC) 

About: 

• Section 377 of the IPC, deals with "unnatural offences," defining it as voluntary carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman, or animal. 
• This archaic provision effectively criminalized consensual homosexual acts between adults in private. 
• The section's vague language and lack of clear definition of "against the order of nature" have led to much debate and interpretation by the judiciary.

Essentials of Unnatural Offences: 

• A person had carnal (sexual) intercourse with a man, woman, or animal. 
• Such intercourse was against the natural order. 
• The act was done voluntarily.

Types of Unnatural Offences: 

• Lesbianism (female homosexuality) 
• Bestiality (sexual intercourse with animals) 
• Sodomy/buggery (anal intercourse with a man or woman).

Decriminalization: 

• The Supreme Court in the case of Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (2018) decriminalized homosexuality by striking off parts of Section 377 of the IPC which were held violative of Fundamental Rights of LGBTQ Community.

Attempt to Commit Suicide (Section 309 of IPC) 

About:  

• This Section states that whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act towards the commission of such offence, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine, or with both. 
• The term suicide has not been defined anywhere in the IPC. 
  • Suicide is the human act of self-infliction or self-intentional cessation.

Essential Elements: 

• The person must have been unsuccessful in an attempt to commit suicide. 
• The person does any act towards the commission of suicide. 
• The act of attempt must be intentional and not my mistake or accident.

Thug (Sections 310 & 311 of IPC)

About:  

• As per Section 310 of IPC, whoever, at any time after the passing of this Act, shall have been habitually associated with any other or others for the purpose of committing robbery or child-stealing by means of or accompanied with murder, is a thug.

Essentials:  

• Thugs are robbers and dacoits, but all robbers and dacoits are not thugs. 
• Thugs committed robbery or dacoity or kidnapping are always accompanied with murder. 
• Killing of the victim is an essential element of thug. 

Punishment: 

• Section 311 of IPC deals with the punishment for the offence of thug. 
• It states that whoever is a thug, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.

Conclusion

The omissions made in the BNS reflect a conscious effort to modernize India's criminal justice system by eliminating outdated, redundant, and unconstitutional provisions from the IPC. Many of these offences were either declared unconstitutional by courts, rendered obsolete by changing social norms, or subsumed under broader, more contemporary legal frameworks.