Section 117 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) deals with voluntarily causing grievous hurt. It is the successor of the widely cited Section 325 IPC, the punishment provision for grievous hurt, and it also absorbs the old definition section (Section 322 IPC) - the BNS folds definition and punishment into one section with formal changes but the same essence.
Careful with the numbers. In the new code, "Section 325" no longer means grievous hurt - Section 325 BNS is a different offence altogether (mischief by killing or maiming an animal). A grievous hurt case registered today cites Section 117 BNS.
What Section 117 BNS provides
- Section 117(1) - defines the offence: whoever voluntarily causes hurt, intending or knowing himself to be likely to cause grievous hurt, and the hurt caused is grievous hurt, is said to voluntarily cause grievous hurt. This carries forward the old Section 322 IPC definition.
- Section 117(2) provides the general punishment (except cases provided under Section 122(2) BNS upon grave and sudden provocation): imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and liability to fine.
- The later sub-sections add aggravated forms that had no direct IPC counterpart - grievous hurt that leaves the victim with a permanent disability or in a persistent vegetative state, which attracts a substantially higher minimum sentence, and grievous hurt caused by a group of five or more persons on the ground of race, caste or community, sex, place of birth, language, personal belief or any similar ground, where each member of the group is liable.
- Section 117(3): Grievous hurt causing permanent disability or a persistent vegetative state is punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a minimum term of ten years, which may extend to life imprisonment (meaning the remainder of that person’s natural life).
- Section 117(4): Grievous hurt caused by a group of five or more persons acting in concert on grounds of race, caste, community, sex, place of birth, language, personal belief, or similar grounds is punishable with imprisonment of either description for up to seven years, plus a fine."
What counts as "grievous" hurt
Not every injury is grievous. The Sanhita keeps the closed list the IPC used, defined separately in Section 116 BNS: emasculation, permanent loss of sight or hearing, loss of a limb or joint, destruction or permanent impairing of the powers of a limb or joint, permanent disfiguration of the head or face, fracture or dislocation of a bone or tooth, and any hurt which endangers life or keeps the victim in severe bodily pain, or unable to follow his ordinary pursuits, for a period of twenty days. If the injury does not fall within the list, the case is one of simple hurt, which carries a much lighter punishment.
Punishment and procedure
The general offence under Section 117(2) is cognizable - the police can register an FIR and investigate without a magistrate's order - but it is bailable, so the accused is entitled to bail as of right, and it is triable by any Magistrate. The medical record is usually the heart of these cases: the injury report and the doctor's opinion on whether the injury answers one of the listed categories generally decide whether the charge is grievous hurt or simple hurt.
What changed from the IPC
Per the official comparison, the changes are formal and the essence is the same. The IPC's two-section scheme - Section 322 defining voluntarily causing grievous hurt and Section 325 punishing it - becomes a single consolidated Section 117, and the seven-year maximum continues unchanged. The genuinely new material is in the aggravated sub-sections for permanent disability or a persistent vegetative state and for group attacks on identity grounds, which the IPC did not separately provide for. Case law developed under Sections 322 and 325 IPC continues to guide Section 117 cases.
Injured in an assault, or accused of causing grievous hurt? Whether an injury is legally "grievous" - and therefore how serious the charge is - turns on the medical evidence, and both sides need that assessed early. Talk to a criminal lawyer in your city or browse advocates in the Free Law directory.