IPC · Chapter V · Of abetment

IPC section 118 in the BNS

IPC 118BNS 58

IPC section 118, “Concealing design to commit offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life”, is now BNS section 58 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From IPC 118 to BNS 58

Now BNS section 58, with the same punishments. “Illegal omission” becomes “omission”, and the side-headings are dropped.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Indian Penal Code, 1860

Section 118 Concealing design to commit offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life

Whoever intending to facilitate or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby facilitate the commission of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life, voluntarily conceals by any act or illegal omission, or by the use of encryption or any other information hiding tool, the existence of a design to commit such offence or makes any representation which he knows to be false respecting such design, if offence be committed; if offence be not committed.—shall, if that offence be committed, be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or, if the offence be not committed, with imprisonment of either description, for a term which may extend to three years; and in either case shall also be liable to fine.

A, knowing that dacoity is about to be committed at B, falsely informs the Magistrate that a dacoity is about to be committed at C, a place in an opposite direction, and thereby misleads the Magistrate with intent to facilitate the commission of the offence. The dacoity is committed at B in pursuance of the design. A is punishable under this section.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Section 58 Concealing design to commit offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life

(a) if that offence be committed, be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years; or

(b) if the offence be not committed, with imprisonment of either description, for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Illustration.

The texts are India Code’s. The amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown. The PDFs linked below carry the full history.

Old law or new?

Which one applies to a case

The BNS repealed the IPC from 1 July 2024 (section 358(1)). The repeal does not reach back: under section 358(2), penalties and punishments incurred for offences committed against the IPC still stand, and proceedings for them may be started, continued and enforced as if the IPC had not been repealed. An act done before 1 July 2024 is therefore dealt with under the IPC section; an act done on or after that date, under the BNS.