● Retained in BNS
Using force or assault against someone while attempting to snatch or steal property they are wearing or carrying carries up to 2 years' imprisonment, or fine, or both, under BNS Section 134 -- unchanged from IPC 356 and commonly cited in chain- and bag-snatching cases.
Section 356 IPC punished assaulting or using criminal force against a person while attempting to commit theft of property that person was then wearing or carrying, with imprisonment of either description up to 2 years, or fine, or both. This is the provision commonly invoked in chain-snatching and bag-snatching cases where force is used against the victim during the theft attempt but the taking does not rise to robbery.
BNS Section 134 reproduces the offence verbatim, word for word, with no substantive change of any kind, including the identical 2-year maximum sentence.
Nothing changed. A pure renumbering (356 to 134) with textually and punishment-wise identical wording.
Imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 2 years, or fine, or both..
IPC 356 is bailable..
This is a cognizable. offence.
Non-compoundable..
Matters under IPC 356 are tried before the Any Magistrate..
Common defences include absence of any assault or use of criminal force (as opposed to stealthy theft alone), or that the attempted taking was not theft in the legal sense, e.g. a genuine claim of right to the property.
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