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

IPC section 181 in the BNS

IPC 181BNS 216

IPC section 181, “False statement on oath or affirmation to public servant or person authorised to administer an oath or affirmation”, is now BNS section 216 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From IPC 181 to BNS 216

Now BNS section 216, with the same offence and punishment.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Indian Penal Code, 1860

Section 181 False statement on oath or affirmation to public servant or person authorised to administer an oath or affirmation

Whoever, being legally bound by an oath or affirmation to state the truth on any subject to any public servant or other person authorized by law to administer such oath or affirmation, makes, to such public servant or other person as aforesaid, touching that subject, any statement which is false, and which he either knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Section 216 False statement on oath or affirmation to public servant or person authorised to administer an oath or affirmation

Whoever, being legally bound by an oath or affirmation to state the truth on any subject to any public servant or other person authorised by law to administer such oath or affirmation, makes, to such public servant or other person as aforesaid, touching that subject, any statement which is false, and which he either knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to 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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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.

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The BNS repealed the IPC from 1 July 2024 (section 358(1)).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the IPC still stand, and proceedings for them may be started, continued and enforced as if the IPC had not been repealed.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