IPC · Chapter XIV · Of offences affecting the public health, safety, convenience, decency and morals
IPC section 281, “Exhibition of false light, mark or buoy”, is now BNS section 283 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.
Now BNS section 283, and fine is no longer an alternative: exhibiting a false light, mark or buoy is punishable with up to seven years and a fine of at least ₹10,000 (IPC: up to seven years, or fine, or both).
Indian Penal Code, 1860
Whoever exhibits any false light, mark or buoy, intending or knowing it to be likely that such exhibition will mislead any navigator, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or with fine, or with both.
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
Whoever exhibits any false light, mark or buoy, intending or knowing it to be likely that such exhibition will mislead any navigator, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and with fine which shall not be less than ten thousand rupees.
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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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The BNS repealed the IPC from 1 July 2024 (section 358(1)).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against the IPC still stand, and proceedings for them may be started, continued and enforced as if the IPC had not been repealed.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.
