IPC · Chapter XIV · Of offences affecting the public health, safety, convenience, decency and morals
IPC section 276, “Sale of drug as a different drug or preparation”, is now BNS section 278 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.
Now BNS section 278. The maximum fine rises from ₹1,000 to ₹5,000; imprisonment stays at up to six months.
Indian Penal Code, 1860
Whoever knowingly sells, or offers or exposes for sale, or issues from a dispensary for medicinal purposes, any drug or medical preparation, as a different drug or medical preparation, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description 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
Whoever knowingly sells, or offers or exposes for sale, or issues from a dispensary for medicinal purposes, any drug or medical preparation, as a different drug or medical preparation, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to five 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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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.
The BNS repealed the IPC from 1 July 2024 (section 358(1)).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against the IPC still stand, and proceedings for them may be started, continued and enforced as if the IPC had not been repealed.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.
