What is the Indian Penal Code (IPC)?

The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It was first drafted in 1860 by the Indian Law Commission and came into effect on 1st January 1862. The IPC defines various crimes and their punishments, and it applies to all individuals residing in India, irrespective of their nationality.

What are some of the most common crimes under the IPC?

The IPC defines several crimes, but some of the most common ones include murder, theft, cheating, kidnapping, rape, and assault. These are all serious offenses, and they carry varying degrees of punishment depending on the severity of the crime.

What is the punishment for a crime under the IPC?

The punishment for a crime under the IPC varies depending on the severity of the offense. Some crimes carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, while others carry the death penalty. Additionally, fines may also be imposed as a punishment for certain offenses.

What is the process for reporting a crime under the IPC?

If you are the victim of a crime, the first step is to report it to the police. You can do this by going to your local police station or by calling the emergency helpline number 100. Once you have reported the crime, the police will investigate the matter and take appropriate action.

Can a person be charged under the IPC for a crime committed outside of India?

Yes, a person can be charged under the IPC for a crime committed outside of India if the offense is recognized as a crime in both India and the country where the crime was committed. Additionally, if the offense was committed against an Indian national, the person can be charged under the IPC regardless of where the crime took place.

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Table of Contents

Indian Penal Code 1860

The official criminal code of India is known as the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It is a thorough code that aims to cover all important areas of criminal law. The first law commission of India, headed by Thomas Babington Macaulay and constituted in 1834 as a result of the Charter Act of 1833, made suggestions that served as the basis for the creation of the code. In India, under British rule, it became law in 1862. But, it did not immediately apply in the Princely states, which until the 1940s had their own courts and legal systems. Since then, the Code has undergone numerous revisions and now includes more penal laws.

Indian Penal Code

The Indian Penal Code was passed down to India and Pakistan after the British Indian Empire was divided, where it now exists independently as the Pakistan Penal Code. The code remained in effect in Bangladesh even after it gained its independence from Pakistan. The Straits Settlements (now a part of Malaysia), Colonial Burma, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Singapore, and Brunei were also British colonial administrations that adopted the Code, and those nations’ penal codes are still based on it today.

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Indian Penal Code History

The First Law Commission, presided over by Thomas Babington Macaulay, drafted the Indian Criminal Code in 1834, and it was presented to the Governor-General of India Council the following year.
A simplified codification of English law at the period served as the foundation for aspects that were also based on the Napoleonic Code and Edward Livingston’s Louisiana Civil Code, both of which were published in 1825.
The Indian Criminal Code’s initial final draught was sent to the Governor-General of India in Council in 1837, but it was later altered once more.
The Code was finished in 1850 and delivered to the Legislative Council in 1856, but it wasn’t until a generation later, after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, that it was codified into British India’s laws.
The document was then thoroughly revised by members of the Legislative Council, including Barnes Peacock, who would later become the first Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, and the future puisne judges of the Calcutta High Court, and it was signed into law on October 6, 1860.
The Code went into effect on January 1st, 1862. Macaulay passed away before the end of 1859, thus he did not live to see the criminal law he created go into effect.

The Ranbir Criminal Code was replaced by the new law when it went into effect in Jammu and Kashmir on October 31, 2019, thanks to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

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Indian Penal Code Structure

The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is divided into 23 chapters and contains a total of 511 sections. The structure of the IPC is as follows:

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 1: Introduction

Contains sections related to the title and extent of the code

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 2: General Explanations

Contains definitions of various terms used in the code

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 3: Punishments

Contains sections that define the different types of punishments that can be awarded for offences

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 4: General Exceptions

Contains sections that list the circumstances under which an act that would otherwise be considered an offence is not punishable

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 5: Abetment

Contains sections that define and prescribe punishment for the offence of abetment

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 6: Criminal Conspiracy

Contains sections that define and prescribe punishment for the offence of criminal conspiracy

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 7: Offences Against the State

Contains sections that deal with offences such as waging war against the Government of India, sedition, and related offences

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 8: Offences Against Public Tranquility

Contains sections that deal with offences such as rioting, unlawful assembly, and related offences

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 9: Offences Against Public Servants

Contains sections that deal with offences such as obstructing a public servant in discharge of his/her duties, assaulting or using criminal force against a public servant, and related offences

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 10: Contempts of the Lawful Authority of Public Servants

Contains sections that define and prescribe punishment for the offence of contempt of the lawful authority of public servants

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 11: False Evidence and Offences Against Public Justice

Contains sections that deal with offences such as giving false evidence, fabricating false evidence, and related offences

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 12: Offences Relating to Coin and Government Stamps

Contains sections that deal with offences such as counterfeiting coins and government stamps, possessing counterfeit coins, and related offences

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 13: Offences Relating to Weights and Measures

Contains sections that deal with offences such as using false weights and measures, making or selling false weights and measures, and related offences

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 14: Offences affecting public peace and tranquillity

Deals with offenses relating to kidnapping, abduction, and wrongful confinement.

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 15: Offenses relating to religion

Deals with offenses relating to the human body, including murder, culpable homicide, and causing hurt.

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 16: Offenses affecting the human body

Deals with offenses relating to marriage, including bigamy and cruelty towards a married woman.

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 17: Offenses against Property

Deals with offenses relating to defamation, including libel and slander.

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 18: Offences relating to hurt and grievous hurt

Deals with offenses relating to criminal conspiracy.

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 19: Offences relating to wrongful restraint and wrongful confinement

Deals with offenses relating to offenses related to the rights of property, including theft, extortion, robbery, and criminal misappropriation.

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 20: Offences relating to kidnapping and abduction

Deals with offenses relating to mischief, including causing damage to property and other forms of vandalism.

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 21: Offences relating to wrongful confinement

Deals with offenses relating to cheating, including fraud, forgery, and cheating at games.

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 22: Offences against public servants

Deals with offenses relating to attempts to commit offenses, including attempts to commit any of the offenses listed in the previous chapters.

Indian Penal Code: Chapter 23: Offences relating to the human body

Deals with offenses not otherwise provided for in the code.

Indian Penal Code Objective

This Act’s goal is to give India a comprehensive penal law. The Act does not repeal the criminal laws that were in place in India at the time it came into effect, despite this not being its primary goal. This was done because not all offences are covered by the Code, and it was likely that some offences that were not meant to be exempt from punishment could still have been included but were not.

Despite the fact that this Code codifies the entirety of the applicable legal framework and is exhaustive with regard to the subjects it declares to be governed by the law, numerous additional criminal legislation controlling a variety of offences have been enacted in addition to the code.

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Indian Penal Code: Criminal Justice Reforms

The Malimath Committee delivered its findings in 2003 and made several comprehensive recommendations for criminal justice reform, including the separation of investigation and prosecution (akin to the CPS in the UK). The report’s main argument was that a change from an adversarial to an inquisitorial criminal justice system, modelled after Continental European systems, was needed.

Indian Penal Code Amendments

he Indian Penal Code (IPC) is regularly updated to keep up with changing times and societal norms. The most recent major amendments to the IPC were made in 2013, when the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act was passed in response to the gang rape and murder of a young woman in Delhi.

Some of the key changes made by the 2013 amendments to the IPC include:

Introduction of new offenses: The amendments introduced new offenses, such as acid attacks, stalking, and voyeurism, and increased the punishment for sexual offenses.
Definition of rape: The definition of rape was expanded to include not only vaginal penetration but also oral and anal penetration, and penetration by objects.
Increased punishment: The amendments increased the minimum punishment for rape from seven years to ten years, and introduced the possibility of life imprisonment or the death penalty for certain types of rape.
Gender-neutral language: The amendments replaced the term “rape victim” with “rape survivor,” and made other changes to ensure that the language used in the IPC is gender-neutral.