Section 110 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) punishes an attempt to commit culpable homicide not amounting to murder. It is the old Section 308 IPC, renumbered without change when the BNS replaced the Indian Penal Code on 1 July 2024 — the charge for a life-threatening act done with the intention or knowledge of culpable homicide, where death does not in fact result.
Careful with the numbers. In the new code, "Section 308" means something entirely different: Section 308 BNS is extortion (its sub-section (2) being the old Section 384 IPC). An old "308 case" — attempt to commit culpable homicide — is now a Section 110 BNS case.
What Section 110 BNS Provides
Whoever does any act with such intention or knowledge, and under such circumstances, that if he by that act caused death he would be guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, is punished with:
- Imprisonment up to three years, or fine, or both; and
- If hurt is caused to any person by the act, imprisonment up to seven years, or fine, or both.
The section thus has two limbs, graded by outcome: the bare attempt, and the attempt in which the victim is actually hurt.
How it Differs from Attempt to Murder
The dividing line is the same one that separates culpable homicide from murder. Culpable homicide is the wider offence — causing death with the intention or knowledge the law describes — and murder is its aggravated form; the difference lies in the degree of intention or knowledge, with murder covering the gravest forms and culpable homicide not amounting to murder covering, for instance, acts done in sudden fights or under grave provocation.
The attempt provisions mirror this: where the intention or knowledge, had death resulted, would have made the act murder, the charge is attempt to murder under Section 109 BNS; where it would have made the act culpable homicide not amounting to murder, the charge is this section. In practice, courts often weigh both provisions on the same facts — the nature of the weapon, the part of the body targeted, the force used, and the circumstances of the quarrel decide which side of the line the case falls.
Procedure and Classification
Per the First Schedule, the offence under both limbs of Section 110 is cognizable (the police can register an FIR and investigate without a court's order) and non-bailable (bail is a matter of the court's discretion). Both limbs are triable by the Court of Session.
Because the section requires the same mental element as culpable homicide itself, these trials typically turn on evidence of intention and knowledge rather than on the injury alone: a serious injury inflicted without the homicidal mental element belongs under the hurt provisions, not here.
What Changed from Section 308 IPC
Nothing. Per the official comparison table, Section 308 IPC was renumbered as Section 110 BNS with no change — the two-limb structure, the punishments, and the classification all carry forward, and the case law developed under Section 308 IPC continues to apply. What has changed is only the number, in both directions: the old 308 is the new 110, and the number 308 in the BNS now belongs to extortion.
Facing a Section 110 BNS charge, or the victim of a near-fatal assault? These are Sessions cases in which the framing of the charge — this section, attempt to murder, or a hurt offence — shapes the entire trial, so early advice matters. Talk to a criminal lawyer in your city or browse advocates in the Free Law directory.