BNS Section 7: Sentences may be (in certain cases of imprisonment) wholly or partly rigorous or simple (formerly IPC 60)
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 · in force from 1 July 2024
BNS 7: Sentences may be (in certain cases of imprisonment) wholly or partly rigorous or simple
From 1 July 2024
In every case in which an offender is punishable with imprisonment which may be of either description, it shall be competent to the Court which sentences such offender to direct in the sentence that such imprisonment shall be wholly rigorous, or that such imprisonment shall be wholly simple, or that any part of such imprisonment shall be rigorous and the rest simple.
What it replaced in the IPC
BNS 7 ← IPC 60 · Sentence may be (in certain cases of imprisonment) wholly or partly rigorous or simpleNo change
BPR&D's comparison records no change in the text, only a new number.
Printed in both official correspondence tables (BPR&D and NCRB).
In every case in which an offender is punishable with imprisonment which may be of either description, it shall be competent to the Court which sentences such offender to direct in the sentence that such imprisonment shall be wholly rigorous, or that such imprisonment shall be wholly simple, or that any part of such imprisonment shall be rigorous and the rest simple.
Which one applies
An offence is governed by the law in force when it was committed. An offence committed before 1 July 2024 is charged and punished under the IPC; one committed on or after that date, under the BNS. Section 358 of the BNS, which repeals the IPC, preserves every liability and proceeding already incurred under it.
Read BNS section 358 →Judgments decided under IPC 60
They remain the law on IPC 60. Where the provision changed in the move, read what changed before relying on one for an offence after 1 July 2024.
Sources
- Correspondence Table and Comparison Summary of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 to the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Bureau of Police Research & Development, Ministry of Home Affairs, page 4.
- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023: bare Act with Corresponding Section Table, National Crime Records Bureau (Sankalan), page 23.
- The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act 45 of 1860), as amended, India Code, Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice.
BPR&D is the Bureau of Police Research & Development (Ministry of Home Affairs); NCRB the National Crime Records Bureau. Their correspondence tables are training aids, not law. This page is general information, not legal advice on any case; the bare Acts as published by the Government of India are the authority.