IPC · Chapter VIII · Of offences against the public tranquillity

IPC section 147 in the BNS

IPC 147BNS 191(2)

IPC section 147, “Punishment for rioting”, is now BNS section 191(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From IPC 147 to BNS 191

The words are the same as in the IPC, apart from “Sanhita” for the Act’s own name and the new numbers of the sections it refers to. It now sits in BNS 191 with IPC 146, 148.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Indian Penal Code, 1860

Section 147 Punishment for rioting

Whoever is guilty of rioting, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Section 191 Rioting

The part that carries IPC 147 is marked.

(1) Whenever force or violence is used by an unlawful assembly, or by any member thereof, in prosecution of the common object of such assembly, every member of such assembly is guilty of the offence of rioting.

(2) Whoever is guilty of rioting, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

(3) Whoever is guilty of rioting, being armed with a deadly weapon or with anything which, used as a weapon of offence, is likely to cause death, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both.

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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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.

Also in BNS 191

Other IPC sections that went to the same place

IPC 146 Rioting → BNS 191(1)
IPC 148 Rioting, armed with deadly weapon → BNS 191(3)

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The BNS repealed the IPC from 1 July 2024 (section 358(1)).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against the IPC still stand, and proceedings for them may be started, continued and enforced as if the IPC had not been repealed.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.