● Retained in BNS
Rioting -- force or violence used by an unlawful assembly in pursuit of its common object -- carries up to 2 years' imprisonment or fine or both under BNS Section 191(2), unchanged from the old IPC 147. It is a bailable, cognizable offence tried before any Magistrate.
Section 147 IPC punished rioting -- the use of force or violence by an unlawful assembly, or any member of it, in prosecution of the assembly's common object (defined in Section 146) -- with imprisonment of either description up to 2 years, or fine, or both. A separate provision, Section 148, raised this to 3 years where the rioter was armed with a deadly weapon.
BNS Section 191 consolidates the old definition (146) and both punishment tiers (147, 148) into one section. Sub-section (2) reproduces the base rioting punishment unchanged: up to 2 years, or fine, or both. Sub-section (3), the armed-rioter variant, raises the ceiling from 3 years to 5 years.
Substance retained; renumbered to BNS 191(2) with identical punishment. The adjacent armed-rioting clause (191(3), ex-Section 148) is tightened from 3 to 5 years.
Imprisonment of either description up to 2 years, or fine, or both..
IPC 147 is bailable..
This is a cognizable. offence.
Non-compoundable..
Matters under IPC 147 are tried before the Any Magistrate..
Common defences include absence of a shared common object with the assembly, presence at the scene without participation in the violence, acting in exercise of a lawful right (such as private defence), and being one of the five-or-more persons required to constitute an unlawful assembly not actually being met.
Summaries are for general information and are not legal advice. For the authoritative bare-act text, see the official Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and Indian Penal Code, 1860 (full amended text, as it stood before repeal) on India Code, or the Ministry of Home Affairs' new criminal laws page. ← All comparisons