BHARATIYA NYAYA SANHITA, 2023 - CHAPTER II – OF PUNISHMENTS

[Mr. M. GOVINDARAJAN]

New Code

The Central Government enacted Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, (‘Code’ for short) which came into effect from 01.07.2024, replacing the erstwhile Indian Penal Code, 1886.  It is an act to consolidate and amend the provisions relating to offences and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.   This Act contains 20 chapters and 358 sections.  This act is more or less similar to the erstwhile Indian Penal Code.  However, we have to accustom with the new enactment in respect of the criminal offences and punishments for the said offence.

Chapter II

Chapter II of the Code deals with the punishments that may be granted to various offences.  This chapter contains 10 sections (from Section 4 to section 13). 

Punishments

Section 4 of the Code provides the types of punishments that can be awarded in criminal cases.  This is almost similar to Section 53 of IPC.  They are-

• Death;
• Imprisonment for life;
• Imprisonment, which is of two descriptions-

• Rigorous, that is, with hard labor;
• Simple;

• Forfeiture of property;
• Fine;
• Community Service.

Commutation of sentence

Section 5 of the Code provides for the commutation of sentence.  This section is similar to Sections 54, 55 and 55A of IPC.  This section provides that the appropriate Government may, without the consent of the offender, commute any punishment under this Sanhita to any other punishment in accordance with section 474 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (‘BNSS’ for short).  Section 474 of the BNSS provides that the appropriate Government, without the consent of the person concerned, commute-

• a sentence of death, for imprisonment for life;
• a sentence of imprisonment for life, for imprisonment for a term not less than seven years;
• a sentence of imprisonment for seven years or more, for imprisonment for a term not less than three years;
• a sentence of imprisonment for less than seven years, for fine;
• a sentence of rigorous imprisonment, for simple imprisonment for any term to which that person might have been sentenced.

The expression ‘appropriate Government’ is defined as-

• Central Government in cases where the sentence is a sentence of death or is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends;
• State Government in cases where the sentence (whether of death or not) is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the State extends.

Fractions of terms of punishment

Section 6 of the Code is similar to the section 57 of IPC.  This section provides that in calculating fractions of terms of punishment, imprisonment for life shall be reckoned as equivalent to imprisonment for 20 years unless otherwise provided.

Type of sentences

The sentence may be simple or rigorous according to the nature of offence.  Section 7 of the Code provides that In every case in which an offender is punishable with imprisonment which may be of either description, it shall be competent to the Court which sentences such offender to direct in the sentence that such imprisonment shall be wholly rigorous, or that such imprisonment shall be wholly simple, or that any part of such imprisonment shall be rigorous and the rest simple.  This section is similar to that of Section 57 of IPC.

Fine

Section 8 of the Code provides for the imposition of fine etc.  This section is similar to that of Section 63 of IPC.  But Section 8 has some more provisions than that of Section 63 of IPC. 

Section 8(1) of the Code provides that where no sum is expressed to which a fine may extend, the amount of fine to which the offender is liable is unlimited, but shall not be excessive.  This sub section is similar to that of Section 63 of IPC.

Section 8(2) of the Code provides that in every case of an offence–

• punishable with imprisonment as well as fine, in which the offender is sentenced to a fine, whether with or without imprisonment;
• punishable with imprisonment or fine, or with fine only, in which the offender is sentenced to a fine,

it shall be competent to the Court which sentences such offender to direct by the sentence that, in default of payment of the fine, the offender shall suffer imprisonment for a certain term, in which imprisonment shall be in excess of any other imprisonment to which he may have been sentenced or to which he may be liable under a commutation of a sentence.

This sub section is similar to that of Section 64 of IPC.

Section 8(3) of the Code provides that the term for which the Court directs the offender to be imprisoned in default of payment of a fine shall not exceed one-fourth of the term of imprisonment which is the maximum fixed for the offence, if the offence be punishable with imprisonment as well as fine.  This sub section is similar to that of Section 65 of IPC.

Section 8(4) of the Code provides that imprisonment which the Court imposes in default of payment of a fine or in default of community service may be of any description to which the offender might have been sentenced for the offence.  This sub section is similar to that of Section 66 of IPC but it does not contain the default of community service.

Section 8(5) of the Code provides that If the offence is punishable with fine or community service, the imprisonment which the Court imposes in default of payment of the fine or in default of community service shall be simple, and the term for which the Court directs the offender to be imprisoned, in default of payment of fine or in default of community service, shall not exceed, -

• two months when the amount of the fine does not exceed Rs.5000/-;
• four months when the amount of the fine does not exceed Rs.10,000/-; and
•  one year in any other case.

This sub section is similar to that of Section 67 with some modifications in the amount of fine.

Section 8(6) (a) of the Code provides that the imprisonment which is imposed in default of payment of a fine shall terminate whenever that fine is either paid or levied by process of law.  This sub section is similar to that of Section 68 of IPC.

Section 8(6)(b) of the Code provides that if, before the expiration of the term of imprisonment fixed in default of payment, such a proportion of the fine be paid or levied that the term of imprisonment suffered in default of payment is not less than proportional to the part of the fine still unpaid, the imprisonment shall terminate.  This sub section is similar to that of Section 69 of IPC.

In this sub section one illustration is given.  A is sentenced to a fine of Rs.1000/- and to four months’ imprisonment in default of payment.

• If Rs.750/- of the fine be paid or levied before the expiration of 1 month of the imprisonment, A will be discharged as soon as the first month has expired.
• If Rs.750/- be paid or levied at the time of the expiration of the first month, or at any later time while A continues in imprisonment, A will be immediately discharged.
• If Rs.500/- of the fine be paid or levied before the expiration of 2 months of the imprisonment, A will be discharged as soon as the two months are completed.
• If Rs.500/- be paid or levied at the time of the expiration of those 2 months, or at any later time while A continues in imprisonment, A will be immediately discharged.

Section 8(9) provides that the fine, or any part thereof which remains unpaid, may be levied at any time within 6 years after the passing of the sentence, and if, under the sentence, the offender be liable to imprisonment for a longer period than 6 years, then at any time previous to the expiration of that period; and the death of the offender does not discharge from the liability any property which would, after his death, be legally liable for his debts.  This sub section is similar to that of Section 70 of IPC.

Limit of punishment

Section 9(1)  of the Code provides that where anything which is an offence is made up of parts, any of which parts is itself an offence, the offender shall not be punished with the punishment of more than one of such his offences, unless it be so expressly provided. Section 9(2) of the Code provides that where-

• anything is an offence falling within two or more separate definitions of any law in force for the time being by which offences are defined or punished; or
• several acts, of which one or more than one would by itself or themselves constitute an offence, constitute, when combined, a different offence, the offender shall not be punished with a more severe punishment than the Court which tries him could award for any one of such offences.

Two illustrations are given in the Code to this section as detailed below-

1. A gives Z 50 strokes with a stick. Here A may have committed the offence of voluntarily causing hurt to Z by the whole beating, and also by each of the blows which make up the whole beating. If A were liable to punishment for every blow, he might be imprisoned for 50 years, one for each blow. But he is liable only to one punishment for the whole beating.
2. But, if, while A is beating Z, Y interferes, and A intentionally strikes Y, here, as the blow given to Y is no part of the act whereby A voluntarily causes hurt to Z, A is liable to one punishment for voluntarily causing hurt to Z, and to another for the blow given to Y.

This section is similar to that of Section 71 of IPC.

Guilty of one of several offences

Section 10 of the Code provides that  in  cases in which judgment is given that a person is guilty of one of several offences specified in the judgment, but that it is doubtful of which of these offences he is guilty, the offender shall be punished for the offence for which the lowest punishment is provided if the same punishment is not provided for all.  This section is similar to that of Section 72 of IPC.

Solitary of confinement

Section 11 of the Code provides that whenever any person is convicted of an offence for which under this Sanhita the Court has power to sentence him to rigorous imprisonment, the Court may, by its sentence, order that the offender shall be kept in solitary confinement for any portion or portions of the imprisonment to which he is sentenced, not exceeding three months in the whole, according to the following scale-

• a time not exceeding one month if the term of imprisonment shall not exceed six months;
• a time not exceeding two months if the term of imprisonment shall exceed six months and shall not exceed one year;
• a time not exceeding three months if the term of imprisonment shall exceed one year.

This section is similar to that of the section 73 of IPC.

Limit of solitary confinement

Section 12 of the Code provides that in executing a sentence of solitary confinement, such confinement shall in no case exceed 14 days at a time, with intervals between the periods of solitary confinement of not less duration than such periods; and when the imprisonment awarded shall exceed 3 months, the solitary confinement shall not exceed 7 days in any one month of the whole imprisonment awarded, with intervals between the periods of solitary confinement of not less duration than such periods.  This section is similar to that of Section 74 of IPC.

Enhanced punishment

Section 13 of the Code provides that Whoever, having been convicted by a Court in India, of an offence punishable under Chapter X (of offences relating to coin, currency notes, bank notes or Government notes or Chapter XVII (of offences against properties) of this Sanhita with imprisonment of either description for a term of three years or upwards, shall be guilty of any offence punishable under either of those Chapters with like imprisonment for the like term, shall be subject for every such subsequent offence to imprisonment for life, or to imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years.  This section is similar to that of Section 75 of IPC.