Section 113 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) defines and punishes a terrorist act. It is a newly added section - the Indian Penal Code contained no general terrorism offence, so Section 113 has no old-code number that maps to it. For the first time, the ordinary penal code itself criminalises terrorist acts, which until 1 July 2024 were prosecuted only under the special central anti-terrorism statute.
What counts as a terrorist act
The section covers an act done with the intent to threaten, or likely to threaten, the unity, integrity, sovereignty, security or economic security of India, or with the intent to strike terror, or likely to strike terror, in the people or any section of the people, in India or abroad. The act must be committed by the means the section lists, broadly:
- Bombs, dynamite, or other explosive or inflammable substances;
- Firearms or other lethal weapons;
- Poisonous or noxious gases, chemicals, or any other substance of a hazardous nature (whether biological, radioactive, nuclear, or otherwise); or
- Any other means of whatever nature to cause or be likely to cause death, injury, property damage, disruption of essential supplies, monetary stability damage via counterfeit currency, or damage to defense property.
Both limbs matter: the prosecution must show the terrorising or security-threatening intent (or likelihood) and the listed means and consequences - an ordinary violent crime, however grave, is not automatically a "terrorist act".
Punishment
Committing a terrorist act is punishable with imprisonment of not less than five years, which may extend to imprisonment for life, and fine. Where the act results in the death of any person, the bare act prescribes the severest tier - death or imprisonment for life, together with fine.
The other limbs of Section 113
The section does not stop at the completed act. Its further sub-sections separately punish conspiring, attempting, advocating, abetting, or inciting a terrorist act (punishable with imprisonment from 5 years to life); organising camps or recruiting persons (5 years to life); being a member of a terrorist organisation (imprisonment up to life); knowingly harbouring or concealing a terrorist with a minimum imprisonment of 3 years extending to life (with a statutory exception where the harbouring is done by the offender's spouse); and knowingly possessing property derived from a terrorist act (imprisonment up to life). All offences under this section carry a mandatory fine.
How a Section 113 case proceeds
The offence is cognizable and non-bailable, triable by the Court of Session. A distinctive feature is built into the section itself: because terrorist acts are also offences under the special central anti-terrorism law, the section directs that an officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police decides whether a particular case is registered under Section 113 BNS or under that special Act. Which route is chosen shapes the entire prosecution, so this decision is made at a senior level rather than at the police-station level.
Position before the BNS
There is no "old section" to compare - the IPC never contained a terrorist-act offence, and terrorism cases were prosecuted exclusively under special legislation. What changed on 1 July 2024 is that the general criminal code now has its own self-contained terrorism provision, while the special-statute route continues to exist alongside it.
Facing an accusation under Section 113 BNS, or advising someone who is? These are among the most serious charges in the code, tried by the Court of Session, and the earliest decisions - forum, bail strategy, the charge itself - matter enormously. Talk to a criminal lawyer in your city or browse advocates in the Free Law directory.