● Modified in BNS
IPC Section 302 punishes murder with death or life imprisonment, and fine. Under the BNS, the offence is retained as Section 103(1), with a new Section 103(2) added for murder committed by a group of five or more persons acting together on grounds such as race, caste, or community. It is a non-bailable, cognizable offence tried before the Court of Session.
Section 302 IPC prescribed the punishment for murder as defined in Section 300 — the gravest form of culpable homicide, committed with the intention of causing death. Punishment: death, or imprisonment for life, and fine.
BNS Section 103(1) carries the same punishment for murder: death or imprisonment for life, and fine. A new sub-section 103(2) separately punishes murder committed by a group of five or more persons on grounds of race, caste, community, sex, place of birth, language or personal belief (mob lynching) with death or imprisonment for life, and fine.
Renumbered from IPC 302 to BNS 103. Core punishment unchanged; a new, specific provision for murder by a group on identity grounds (mob lynching) has been added.
Death or life imprisonment, and fine. Section 103(2) (new): death, life imprisonment, or a minimum of 7 years plus fine, for group killings motivated by identity.
IPC 302 is non-bailable.
This is a cognizable offence.
Non-compoundable.
Matters under IPC 302 are tried before the Court of Session.
Common lines of defence include the general exceptions -- private defence and grave and sudden provocation, which can reduce the charge to culpable homicide not amounting to murder -- and absence of the intention or knowledge required for murder. Counsel also frequently contest the reliability of circumstantial evidence, dying declarations, eyewitness identification, and the attribution of common intention where multiple accused are charged jointly.
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