● Retained in BNS
Administering poison, a stupefying or intoxicating drug, or any other unwholesome thing to a person with intent to cause hurt or to commit or facilitate an offence carries imprisonment of either description up to 10 years, and fine, under BNS Section 123 -- identical to IPC 328 in every respect except the section number. It is a non-bailable, cognizable offence triable by a Court of Session.
Section 328 IPC punished administering to, or causing to be taken by, any person any poison or any stupefying, intoxicating or unwholesome drug or other thing, with intent to cause hurt, or with intent to commit or facilitate the commission of an offence, or knowing it likely that hurt would thereby be caused. It carried imprisonment of either description up to ten years, and fine -- a markedly heavier penalty than simple hurt, reflecting the surreptitious and dangerous nature of drugging or poisoning a victim (commonly seen in spiking-and-robbery or spiking-and-sexual-assault cases).
BNS Section 123 reproduces the offence definition and the ten-year punishment word for word. The provision is also renumbered out of the old late-Chapter-XVI position into BNS's "Of Hurt" cluster, which the Sanhita has moved much earlier in the Code as part of a broader reordering that places offences against the human body ahead of offences against property and the state.
Nothing substantive changed in the offence or its punishment. The only difference is the section's renumbering and its relocation earlier in the Code's chapter sequence.
Imprisonment of either description up to 10 years, and fine..
IPC 328 is non-bailable..
This is a cognizable. offence.
Non-compoundable..
Matters under IPC 328 are tried before the Court of Session..
Common defences include the absence of the specific intent to cause hurt or to commit/facilitate an offence (for instance, a substance administered for a legitimate medical or other lawful purpose), lack of knowledge that the substance was likely to cause hurt, and disputing that the substance administered was in fact a poison, stupefying, intoxicating or unwholesome thing within the meaning of 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