IPC · Chapter IX · Of offences by or relating to public servants
IPC section 168, “Public servant unlawfully engaging in trade”, is now BNS section 202 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.
Now BNS section 202. Community service is added as a punishment, alongside simple imprisonment of up to one year, or fine, or both.
Indian Penal Code, 1860
Whoever, being a public servant, and being legally bound as such public servant not to engage in trade, engages in trade, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
Whoever, being a public servant, and being legally bound as such public servant not to engage in trade, engages in trade, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both or with community service.
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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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The BNS repealed the IPC from 1 July 2024 (section 358(1)).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against the IPC still stand, and proceedings for them may be started, continued and enforced as if the IPC had not been repealed.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.
