IPC · Chapter VI · Of offences against the State
IPC section 125, “Waging war against any Asiatic Power in alliance with the Government of India”, is now BNS section 153 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.
Now BNS section 153. The offence is waging war against the Government of “any foreign State at peace with the Government of India” (IPC: “any Asiatic Power in alliance or at peace”). Same punishment.
Indian Penal Code, 1860
Whoever wages war against the Government of any Asiatic Power in alliance or at peace with the Government of India or attempts to wage such war, or abets the waging of such war, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
Whoever wages war against the Government of any foreign State at peace with the Government of India or attempts to wage such war, or abets the waging of such war, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.
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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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.
The BNS repealed the IPC from 1 July 2024 (section 358(1)).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against the IPC still stand, and proceedings for them may be started, continued and enforced as if the IPC had not been repealed.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.
