● Retained in BNS
Uttering words, making a sound or gesture, or placing an object, with deliberate intent to wound a person's religious feelings, carries up to 1 year's imprisonment, or fine, or both under BNS Section 302, unchanged from IPC 298 -- and unlike the other religion-related offences in this cluster, it is bailable, non-cognizable, and compoundable.
Section 298 IPC punished, with the deliberate intention of wounding a person's religious feelings, uttering a word or making a sound in their hearing, making a gesture in their sight, or placing an object in their sight, with imprisonment up to 1 year, or fine, or both.
BNS Section 302 reproduces the offence verbatim, word for word -- no substantive change, apart from clarifying the section title to match the operative text.
Nothing substantive -- a pure renumbering from IPC 298 to BNS 302.
Imprisonment of either description up to 1 year, or fine, or both..
IPC 298 is bailable..
This is a non-cognizable. offence.
Compoundable without the permission of the court, by the person whose religious feelings are intended to be wounded..
Matters under IPC 298 are tried before the Any Magistrate..
Common defences include absence of the deliberate intent to wound religious feelings, and that the words or conduct were not directed at, heard by, or seen by the complainant in the manner required by the section.
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