IPC · Chapter XVI · Of offences affecting the human body
IPC section 366B, “Importation of girl from foreign country”, is now BNS section 141 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.
Now BNS section 141. Importing from abroad a boy under eighteen is now covered as well as a girl under twenty-one. The words “or from the State of Jammu and Kashmir” are dropped. Same punishment.
Indian Penal Code, 1860
Whoever imports into India from any country outside India or from the State of Jammu and Kashmir any girl under the age of twenty-one years with intent that she may be, or knowing it to be likely that she will be, forced or seduced to illicit intercourse with another person, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine.
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
Whoever imports into India from any country outside India any girl under the age of twenty-one years or any boy under the age of eighteen years with intent that girl or boy may be, or knowing it to be likely that girl or boy will be, forced or seduced to illicit intercourse with another person, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to ten 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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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.
The BNS repealed the IPC from 1 July 2024 (section 358(1)).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against the IPC still stand, and proceedings for them may be started, continued and enforced as if the IPC had not been repealed.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.
