● Retained in BNS
IPC Section 304B punished the unnatural death of a married woman within seven years of marriage, preceded by cruelty or harassment for dowry, with imprisonment of at least 7 years, extendable to life. Under the BNS, the same offence continues as Section 80. It is a cognizable, non-bailable, non-compoundable offence tried before the Court of Session.
Section 304B IPC created the offence of dowry death: where a married woman dies an unnatural death within 7 years of marriage and is shown to have been subjected to cruelty or harassment for dowry soon before death, her husband or his relatives are deemed to have caused the dowry death, punishable with a minimum of 7 years' imprisonment, extendable to life.
BNS Section 80 retains the offence and punishment without substantive change: a minimum of 7 years' imprisonment, extendable to life, under the same ingredients (unnatural death within 7 years of marriage, preceded by dowry-related cruelty or harassment).
Substance retained; IPC 304B is renumbered to BNS Section 80 with no change to the punishment range or the core ingredients of the offence.
Imprisonment of not less than 7 years, extendable to imprisonment for life.
IPC 304B is non-bailable.
This is a cognizable offence.
Non-compoundable.
Matters under IPC 304B are tried before the Court of Session.
The prosecution must establish the death was otherwise than under normal circumstances, occurred within seven years of marriage, and was preceded by cruelty or harassment for dowry "soon before" death. Defences typically challenge one of these ingredients, for instance disputing the dowry-harassment evidence, the timeline, or arguing the death was genuinely accidental or from unrelated natural causes, since courts apply a statutory presumption once the other ingredients are shown.
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