● Modified in BNS
Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by a dangerous weapon or means -- fire, acid, a lethal instrument -- carries life imprisonment or 1 to 10 years plus fine under BNS Section 118(2). The BNS adds a mandatory minimum of 1 year that IPC 326 did not have.
Section 326 IPC punished voluntarily causing grievous hurt by a shooting, stabbing or cutting instrument, any instrument likely to cause death if used as a weapon, fire, a heated or corrosive substance, or by an animal, with imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description up to 10 years, and fine -- with no minimum term on the fixed-term option.
BNS Section 118(2) reproduces the same list of dangerous means and the same offence, but adds a mandatory minimum of 1 year to the fixed-term imprisonment option -- "not less than one year but which may extend to ten years." It also inherits the general 20-to-15-day narrowing of the "grievous hurt" definition.
A genuine tightening of sentencing: BNS 118(2) adds a mandatory minimum sentence of 1 year that IPC 326 did not have, alongside the general narrowing of the grievous-hurt definition.
Imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description for a term not less than 1 year but which may extend to 10 years, and fine..
IPC 326 is non-bailable..
This is a cognizable. offence.
Non-compoundable..
Matters under IPC 326 are tried before the Magistrate of the First Class..
Common defences include grave and sudden provocation, the means used not falling within the statutory list of dangerous means, and absence of intention or knowledge that grievous hurt would result.
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