IPC · Chapter XVI · Of offences affecting the human body

IPC section 302 in the BNS

IPC 302BNS 103(1)

IPC section 302, “Punishment for murder”, is now BNS section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From IPC 302 to BNS 103

The words are the same as in the IPC, apart from “Sanhita” for the Act’s own name and the new numbers of the sections it refers to.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Indian Penal Code, 1860

Section 302 Punishment for murder

Whoever commits murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Section 103 Punishment for murder

The part that carries IPC 302 is marked.

(1) Whoever commits murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.

(2) When a group of five or more persons acting in concert commits murder on the ground of race, caste or community, sex, place of birth, language, personal belief or any other similar ground each member of such group shall be punished with death or with imprisonment for life, 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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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The BNS repealed the IPC from 1 July 2024 (section 358(1)).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against the IPC still stand, and proceedings for them may be started, continued and enforced as if the IPC had not been repealed.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.