5.5 Criminal Force & Assault, Mischief, Criminal Trespass, Defamation & Criminal Intimidation
Key Takeaways
- Assault under Section 130 BNS is complete on a gesture or preparation that causes apprehension of criminal force; actual contact converts it into criminal force under Section 129, so every use of criminal force contains an assault but not every assault involves criminal force.
- Section 131 BNS punishes assault or criminal force otherwise than on grave and sudden provocation with imprisonment up to three months, or fine up to one thousand rupees, or both, while Section 132 raises the ceiling to two years where the victim is a public servant in the execution of duty.
- Mischief under Section 324 BNS does not require that the loss fall on the owner of the damaged property — it is enough that the accused intended or knew he was likely to cause wrongful loss or damage to any person.
- Criminal trespass and house-trespass are defined together in Section 324 to 334's trespass cluster at Section 329 BNS, with house-breaking after sunset and before sunrise attracting the higher three-year ceiling under Section 331(2).
- Criminal intimidation is punishable with up to two years under Section 351(2) BNS, rising to seven years under Section 351(3) where the threat is of death, grievous hurt, destruction of property by fire, or imputation of unchastity to a woman.
5.5 Criminal Force & Assault, Mischief, Criminal Trespass, Defamation & Criminal Intimidation
Sections 5.1 to 5.4 covered homicide, hurt, kidnapping, offences against women and children, the property offences of Chapter XVII and public-order offences. What remains is the everyday docket of a JMFC: a shove in a queue, a boundary wall pulled down, an unauthorised entry into a locked shop, a defamatory WhatsApp forward, a threatening phone call. These provisions are short, numerically dense and heavily tested.
Force, Criminal Force and Assault (Sections 128-133 BNS)
| BNS | IPC | Provision | Core Test |
|---|---|---|---|
| 128 | 349 | Force | Causing motion, change of motion or cessation of motion to another, or bringing a substance into contact with him, so as to affect his sense of feeling |
| 129 | 350 | Criminal force | Intentional use of force without consent, to commit an offence, or intending or knowing it likely to cause injury, fear or annoyance |
| 130 | 351 | Assault | A gesture or preparation causing a reasonable apprehension that criminal force is about to be used. Mere words are not assault, but words may give a gesture its meaning |
| 131 | 352 | Punishment for assault or criminal force otherwise than on grave and sudden provocation | Up to 3 months, or fine up to ₹1,000, or both |
| 132 | 353 | Assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging duty | Up to 2 years, or fine, or both |
| 133 | 355 | Assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour a person, otherwise than on grave and sudden provocation | Up to 2 years, or fine, or both |
- The relationship to remember: criminal force always includes an assault, because contact necessarily follows an apprehension-creating act; an assault does not necessarily involve criminal force, because it is complete before contact.
- Explanations to Section 131: grave and sudden provocation does not mitigate where the offender sought or voluntarily provoked it as an excuse, or where it was given by something done in obedience to law or by a public servant in the lawful exercise of his powers, or by a person lawfully exercising the right of private defence. Whether provocation was grave and sudden is a question of fact.
- Offences of assault or criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage modesty are not tried under Section 131 at all; they belong to Chapter V (Section 74 BNS, formerly Section 354 IPC), which was covered in Section 5.2.
Mischief (Sections 324-328 BNS)
Section 324(1) defines mischief as causing, with intent to cause or with knowledge of the likelihood of causing wrongful loss or damage to the public or to any person, the destruction of property or any change in property or its situation that destroys or diminishes its value or utility or affects it injuriously.
- Explanation 1 (the classic trap): it is not essential that the offender intend loss or damage to the owner of the property. It is enough that he intends or knows he is likely to cause wrongful loss or damage to any person, whether the property belongs to that person or not.
- Explanation 2: mischief may be committed against property belonging to the offender himself or jointly with others — a co-owner who destroys jointly owned property to deprive the other can be convicted.
- Graded punishments under Section 324(2) to (6) turn on the value of the damage — an important BNS change, since the graded money thresholds replace the flat IPC 426 punishment.
- Aggravated forms: Section 325 (mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless any animal), Section 326 (mischief by fire or explosive substance, by injury to works of irrigation, to a public road, bridge or navigable river, and the like), Section 327 (mischief to rail, aircraft or decked vessel).
Criminal Trespass, House-Trespass and House-Breaking (Sections 329-334 BNS)
Section 329(1) — criminal trespass: entering into or upon property in the possession of another with intent to commit an offence or to intimidate, insult or annoy the possessor, or having lawfully entered, unlawfully remaining there with that intent.
- The dominant intention test: mere unlawful entry is a civil wrong. What converts it into a crime is the intent to commit an offence or to intimidate, insult or annoy. Where the dominant intention is to assert a bona fide claim of right, there is no criminal trespass.
- Section 329(2) — house-trespass: criminal trespass by entering into or remaining in any building, tent or vessel used as a human dwelling, or any building used as a place of worship or for the custody of property.
- Section 330 — lurking house-trespass (house-trespass with precautions to conceal it from someone entitled to exclude the trespasser) and house-breaking (house-trespass effected by any of the statutory modes, such as entry through a passage not intended for human entrance, entry by breaking, or entry after opening a fastening).
- Section 331 punishment scale:
| Aggravation | Ceiling |
|---|---|
| Lurking house-trespass or house-breaking | 2 years and fine |
| The same after sunset and before sunrise | 3 years and fine |
| In order to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment | Graded upward under Section 331(3) and following |
- Sections 332 and 333 deal with house-trespass in order to commit an offence, and house-trespass after preparation for causing hurt, assault or wrongful restraint. Section 334 covers dishonestly breaking open a receptacle containing property.
Defamation (Section 356 BNS)
Section 356(1) reproduces Section 499 IPC: making or publishing, by words spoken or intended to be read, by signs or by visible representations, any imputation concerning a person, intending to harm or knowing or having reason to believe it will harm that person's reputation.
- Four Explanations: imputation against a deceased person (if it would harm his reputation if living and is hurtful to near relatives); imputation concerning a company or collection of persons as such; imputation by innuendo or irony; and the requirement that the imputation lower the moral or intellectual character, caste, calling or credit of the person.
- Ten Exceptions, all of which the accused must bring himself within: truth for the public good; public conduct of public servants; conduct of any person touching a public question; publication of court proceedings; merits of a decided case; merits of a public performance; censure by a person in lawful authority; accusation preferred in good faith to a lawful authority; imputation in good faith for the protection of one's own or another's interests; and caution conveyed in good faith.
- Punishment, Section 356(2): simple imprisonment up to two years, or fine, or both, or community service — one of the six offences for which the BNS makes community service available. Sections 356(3) and (4) punish printing or engraving defamatory matter and selling substances containing it.
Criminal Intimidation and Intentional Insult (Sections 351-353 BNS)
Section 351(1) — criminal intimidation: threatening another with injury to his person, reputation or property, or to the person or reputation of anyone in whom he is interested, with intent to cause alarm, or to compel him to do an act he is not legally bound to do, or to omit an act he is legally entitled to do.
| Provision | Content | Punishment |
|---|---|---|
| 351(2) | Simple criminal intimidation | Up to 2 years, or fine, or both |
| 351(3) | Threat of death or grievous hurt, destruction of property by fire, an offence punishable with death or life imprisonment or up to seven years, or imputing unchastity to a woman | Up to 7 years, or fine, or both |
| 351(4) | Criminal intimidation by anonymous communication or with concealment of identity | Additional punishment up to 2 years |
| 352 | Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace | Up to 2 years, or fine, or both |
| 353 | Statements, false information or rumours conducing to public mischief, including through electronic means | Graded; the express reference to electronic means is a BNS addition |
[!TIP] Two traps repeat in MPSC papers. First, mere words, however abusive, are not assault under Section 130 — a gesture or preparation is essential. Second, for Section 351(3) the threat must be of one of the five enumerated kinds; a threat to file a civil suit or a police complaint, being a threat to do something lawful, is not criminal intimidation at all.
A stands ten metres from B, shakes his fist and shouts that he will break B's jaw, but does not move towards B and never touches him. B is alarmed. Which offence, if any, is made out?
A and B jointly own a tractor. To spite B, A sets fire to the tractor, causing wrongful loss to B. A argues that he cannot commit mischief in respect of his own property. Is he right?
X commits house-breaking at 9 p.m. in Pune and is convicted under Section 331(2) BNS. What is the maximum term of imprisonment that may be imposed?
Which of the following threats attracts the enhanced seven-year punishment under Section 351(3) BNS rather than the ordinary two-year punishment under Section 351(2)?