IPC · Chapter X · Of contempts of the lawful authority of public servants

IPC section 172 in the BNS

IPC 172BNS 206

IPC section 172, “Absconding to avoid service of summons or other proceeding”, is now BNS section 206 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From IPC 172 to BNS 206

Now BNS section 206, with the two cases set out as clauses (a) and (b). Maximum fines rise from ₹500 to ₹5,000 and, where the summons is to attend or produce something in a Court, from ₹1,000 to ₹10,000. Imprisonment is unchanged.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Indian Penal Code, 1860

Section 172 Absconding to avoid service of summons or other proceeding

Whoever absconds in order to avoid being served with a summons, notice or order proceeding from any public servant legally competent, as such public servant, to issue such summons, notice or order, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both;

or, if the summons or notice or order is to attend in person or by agent, or to produce a document or an electronic record in a Court of Justice, with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Section 206 Absconding to avoid service of summons or other proceeding

(a) shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month, or with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees, or with both;

(b) where such summons or notice or order is to attend in person or by agent, or to produce a document or an electronic record in a Court shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees, 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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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.

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The BNS repealed the IPC from 1 July 2024 (section 358(1)).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the IPC still stand, and proceedings for them may be started, continued and enforced as if the IPC had not been repealed.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