● Modified in BNS
Kidnapping -- from India or from lawful guardianship -- carries up to 7 years' imprisonment plus fine under BNS Section 137(2), unchanged from IPC 363. The real change is upstream: the protected age for kidnapping from guardianship is now a flat 18 for every child, not 16 for boys and 18 for girls.
Sections 359-361 IPC defined kidnapping as being of two kinds -- from India (conveying a person beyond India's limits without consent) and from lawful guardianship (taking a minor -- under 16 if male, under 18 if female -- or a person of unsound mind out of a guardian's keeping without consent). Section 363 punished either form with imprisonment up to 7 years, and fine.
BNS Section 137 folds the old definitions into sub-section (1) and the punishment into sub-section (2), unchanged at 7 years plus fine. The substantive change sits in the definition itself: the gender-differentiated age threshold is replaced by the single, gender-neutral term "child" (anyone under 18), so the protected age is now uniformly 18 regardless of sex.
Punishment unchanged. The substantive fix is definitional: the protected age for kidnapping from lawful guardianship is now a flat 18 for all children, removing the old 16-for-boys/18-for-girls distinction.
Imprisonment of either description up to 7 years, and fine..
IPC 363 is bailable..
This is a cognizable. offence.
Non-compoundable..
Matters under IPC 363 are tried before the Magistrate of the First Class..
Common defences include the alleged victim being an adult at the time, consent of the lawful guardian, or -- for a minor -- that the minor left of their own accord without inducement or taking by the accused.
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