5.6 Offences Against the State, Terrorist Acts, Organised Crime & Offences Relating to Public Servants
Key Takeaways
- Section 152 BNS replaces the offence of sedition under Section 124A IPC with a new offence of endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India, punishable with imprisonment for life or up to seven years and fine.
- Waging war against the Government of India under Section 147 BNS is punishable with death or imprisonment for life and fine, and Sections 148 to 150 punish conspiracy, collection of arms and concealment of a design to wage war.
- Terrorism is for the first time codified in the general penal law by Section 113 BNS, which prescribes death or life imprisonment where the act causes death and a minimum of five years otherwise.
- An officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police decides whether a terrorism case is registered under Section 113 BNS or under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 — an Explanation unique to the BNS.
- Section 111 BNS creates the offence of organised crime and Section 112 the offence of petty organised crime, importing into the general penal code concepts previously confined to State legislation such as the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999.
5.6 Offences Against the State, Terrorist Acts, Organised Crime & Offences Relating to Public Servants
These chapters supply some of the most conspicuous departures of the BNS from the IPC, which is exactly why MPSC has been drawn to them since the 2024 transition. Two are structural: terrorism and organised crime, previously the preserve of special statutes, now sit in the general penal code. One is symbolic and much litigated: sedition has gone, and Section 152 has taken its place.
Chapter VII: Offences Against the State (Sections 147-158 BNS)
| BNS | IPC | Offence | Punishment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 147 | 121 | Waging, attempting to wage, or abetting the waging of war against the Government of India | Death or imprisonment for life, and fine |
| 148 | 121A | Conspiracy to commit an offence punishable by Section 147, within or beyond India | Imprisonment for life or up to 10 years, and fine |
| 149 | 122 | Collecting men, arms or ammunition or otherwise preparing to wage war | Imprisonment for life or up to 10 years, and fine |
| 150 | 123 | Concealing with intent to facilitate a design to wage war | Up to 10 years, and fine |
| 151 | 124 | Assaulting the President or a Governor with intent to compel or restrain the exercise of lawful power | Up to 7 years, and fine |
| 152 | — (replaces 124A) | Act endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India | Imprisonment for life, or up to 7 years, and fine |
| 153 | 125 | Waging war against a foreign State at peace with the Government of India | Imprisonment for life, or up to 7 years, and fine |
Section 152 BNS — What Replaced Sedition
Section 152 punishes a person who, purposely or knowingly, by words spoken or written, by signs, by visible representation, by electronic communication or by use of financial means, excites or attempts to excite secession, armed rebellion or subversive activities, or encourages feelings of separatist activities, or endangers the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India, or indulges in or commits any such act.
The differences from Section 124A IPC that examiners test:
- The archaic sedition vocabulary of "disaffection towards the Government established by law" is gone. The gravamen has shifted from disloyalty to a government to a threat to the nation's sovereignty, unity and integrity.
- A mental element is written into the text — "purposely or knowingly" — whereas Section 124A carried no such express requirement.
- Electronic communication and the use of financial means are expressly named as modes of commission.
- The punishment is more severe at the lower end: Section 124A allowed imprisonment up to three years as the lesser alternative; Section 152 sets the lesser alternative at up to seven years.
- Because Section 152 is an offence against the State, prior sanction of the Government under Section 189 BNSS (the successor to Section 196 CrPC) is required before a court can take cognizance.
Terrorist Act (Section 113 BNS)
For the first time, terrorism appears in India's general penal code. Section 113(1) defines a terrorist act as an act done with intent to threaten, or likely to threaten, the unity, integrity, sovereignty, security or economic security of India, or with intent to strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India or in any foreign country, committed by any of the enumerated means or in any of the enumerated ways.
| Sub-section | Conduct | Punishment |
|---|---|---|
| 113(2)(a) | Terrorist act resulting in death | Death or imprisonment for life, and fine |
| 113(2)(b) | Terrorist act in any other case | Not less than 5 years, extendable to life, and fine |
| 113(3) | Conspiring, attempting, advocating, abetting, advising, inciting or facilitating | Not less than 5 years, extendable to life, and fine |
| 113(5) | Membership of an organisation involved in a terrorist act | Up to imprisonment for life, and fine |
| 113(6) | Harbouring or concealing a person known to have committed a terrorist act — not applicable to the offender's spouse | Not less than 3 years, extendable to life, and fine |
| 113(7) | Knowingly possessing property derived from a terrorist act | Up to imprisonment for life, and fine |
- The Explanation that is asked about most: an officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police decides whether a case is to be registered under Section 113 BNS or under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The BNS does not repeal the UAPA; it creates a parallel route and puts the choice in the hands of a senior officer.
- Note the two-tier definition of the protected interest: it now includes economic security, and the reference to counterfeit Indian currency in Section 113(1)(a)(iv) picks up circulation of fake currency as a terrorist act.
Organised Crime and Petty Organised Crime (Sections 111-112 BNS)
- Section 111 — organised crime: any continuing unlawful activity, including kidnapping, robbery, vehicle theft, extortion, land grabbing, contract killing, economic offences, cyber-crimes, trafficking in persons, drugs or illicit goods, and the like, carried on by a person singly or jointly, as a member of an organised crime syndicate or on its behalf, by use of violence, threat of violence, intimidation, coercion or other unlawful means to obtain a direct or indirect material benefit. Where the offence results in death, the punishment is death or imprisonment for life and a minimum fine.
- Section 112 — petty organised crime: theft, snatching, shoplifting, card skimming, ticket-tout activity and similar offences committed by a member of a group or gang causing general feelings of insecurity among citizens. This category has no IPC analogue.
- The Maharashtra connection: the State has had the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA) since 1999, and its concepts of a "continuing unlawful activity" and an "organised crime syndicate" plainly influenced Section 111. MCOCA is a special local law and continues to operate; where both apply, the special law's stringent procedural regime — including its confession provision — remains distinct from the general BNS offence.
Offences By or Relating to Public Servants (Sections 198-205 BNS)
| BNS | IPC | Offence |
|---|---|---|
| 198 | 166 | Public servant knowingly disobeying a direction of law with intent to cause injury |
| 199 | 166A | Public servant disobeying a direction under law, including failure to record information about specified offences against women |
| 200 | 166B | Non-treatment of a victim by a hospital |
| 201 | 167 | Public servant framing an incorrect document or record with intent to cause injury |
| 202 | 168 | Public servant unlawfully engaging in trade — punishable with simple imprisonment up to one year, or fine, or both, or community service |
| 203 | 169 | Public servant unlawfully buying or bidding for property |
| 204 | 170 | Personating a public servant |
| 205 | 171 | Wearing garb or carrying token used by a public servant with fraudulent intent |
Contempt of the lawful authority of public servants follows in Sections 206 to 226 (IPC 172 to 190), including Section 209 BNS, the offence of failing to appear at a place and time specified in a proclamation published under Section 84 BNSS — a provision a JMFC applies whenever an absconder proclamation is disobeyed, and another of the six community-service offences.
[!IMPORTANT] Sanction is jurisdictional here. For offences against the State under Chapter VII and for several offences relating to public servants, Section 189 BNSS (formerly Section 196 CrPC) bars a court from taking cognizance without the previous sanction of the Central Government or the State Government. A JMFC who takes cognizance without sanction acts without jurisdiction, and the proceeding is liable to be quashed.
Which of the following is a correct statement of the change effected by Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023?
A bomb blast investigated by the local police results in three deaths. Who decides whether the case is registered as a terrorist act under Section 113 BNS or under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967?
A Judicial Magistrate First Class takes cognizance of an offence under Section 152 BNS on a police report without any government sanction. What is the consequence?
Which offence introduced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 covers theft, snatching, shoplifting and card skimming committed by a member of a group or gang causing general feelings of insecurity among citizens?