BNS 32 — Act to which a person is compelled by threats.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Statutory text

32. Except murder, and offences against the State punishable with
death, nothing is an offence which is done by a person who is compelled to
do  it  by  threats,  which,  at  the  time  of  doing  it,  reasonably  cause  the
apprehension  that  instant  death  to  that  person  will  otherwise  be  the
consequence:
Provided that the person doing the act did not of his own accord, or
from a reasonable apprehension of harm to himself short of instant death,
place  himself  in  the  situation  by  which  he  became  subject  to  such
constraint.
Explanation 1.—A person who, of his own accord, or by reason of a
threat of being beaten, joins a gang of dacoits, knowing their character, is
not  entitled  to  the  benefit  of this  exception,  on  the  ground  of his  having
been compelled by his associates to do anything that is an offence by law.
Explanation 2.—A person seized by a gang of dacoits, and forced, by
threat  of  instant  death,  to  do  a thing  which  is  an  offence  by  law;  for
example,  a  smith  compelled  to  take  his  tools  and  to  force  the  door  of  a
house for the dacoits to enter and plunder it, is entitled to the benefit of
this exception.

Act causing slight harm.

Back to BNS