● Modified in BNS
Taking or enticing a child, or a person of unsound mind, out of the keeping of their lawful guardian without the guardian's consent is kidnapping from lawful guardianship under BNS Section 137(1)(b), carrying the same definition as IPC 361 except that the protected age is now a uniform 18 for every child instead of 16 for boys and 18 for girls. This is a definitional provision with no punishment of its own; the punishment (up to 7 years and fine) sits in BNS Section 137(2), already covered by this tool under IPC 363.
Section 361 IPC defined kidnapping from lawful guardianship as taking or enticing a minor -- under sixteen years of age if male, or under eighteen years of age if female -- or a person of unsound mind, out of the keeping of their lawful guardian, without the guardian's consent. An Explanation extended "lawful guardian" to anyone lawfully entrusted with the minor's care or custody, and an Exception protected a person acting in good faith as the believed father or custodian of an illegitimate child, unless the act was for an immoral or unlawful purpose.
BNS Section 137(1)(b) reproduces the offence, the Explanation, and the Exception verbatim, as clause (b) of the consolidated kidnapping definition in sub-section (1) (clause (a) carries forward IPC 360's kidnapping-from-India limb). The substantive change is the age threshold: the male/female sixteen/eighteen split is replaced by the single, gender-neutral term "child" (a person under eighteen), so every child, regardless of sex, is now protected up to the same age.
The offence definition, its Explanation, and its good-faith Exception are unchanged. The one substantive fix is definitional: the protected age for kidnapping from lawful guardianship is now a flat 18 for every child, removing the old 16-for-boys/18-for-girls distinction -- the same change already reflected in the punishment provision, BNS Section 137(2) (IPC 363, already published in this tool).
This is a definitional provision; it carries no independent punishment, bail, cognizability or compounding rules of its own. Those sit under the companion punishment sub-section, BNS 137(2) (IPC 363, already published). Common defences to the underlying offence include the guardian's consent, that the minor was already 18 (or otherwise not a "child") at the time, or -- where the minor is alleged to have left voluntarily -- absence of any taking or enticing by the accused. The good-faith Exception protects a person who reasonably believed himself to be the child's father or entitled to lawful custody, provided the act was not for an immoral or unlawful purpose.
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