Section 127 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) deals with wrongful confinement - defining the offence and grouping its punishment and aggravated forms into one section. The general punishment sits in Section 127(2), which is the successor of the familiar Section 342 of the Indian Penal Code: the old section was folded in as a sub-section, without its own heading, and the maximum fine was increased.
What Section 127(2) BNS provides
Whoever wrongfully confines any person shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees, or with both. Under Section 342 IPC the same offence carried the same imprisonment but a fine of up to one thousand rupees; the BNS raised the fine to five thousand.
What wrongful confinement means
Section 127(1) defines the offence: wrongfully restraining a person in such a manner as to prevent that person from proceeding beyond certain circumscribing limits. In plain terms, the victim is kept within bounds - a locked room, a guarded compound, a vehicle they are not allowed to leave. It differs from the lesser offence of wrongful restraint (Section 126 BNS), where a person is merely obstructed from proceeding in a particular direction but remains free to go elsewhere. Confinement is total restraint; restraint is partial.
The essentials in plain language
- There must be a total restraint of movement, not just blocking one route.
- Physical force is not essential - confinement can be by threats or show of authority that keep the person within limits.
- Even a short period of confinement is an offence under 127(2); longer and more sinister confinements attract the higher punishments elsewhere in the section.
The rest of Section 127: aggravated forms
Beyond the definition and the general punishment, Section 127 prescribes progressively higher punishments in its later sub-sections for aggravated situations - confinement for three or more days, for ten or more days, confinement of a person for whose release a writ has been issued, confinement in secret, and confinement in order to extort property or a valuable security, or to extort a confession or compel the restoration of property. This page focuses on the general offence in 127(2).
How a Section 127(2) case proceeds
The offence is cognizable and bailable, triable by any Magistrate. It appears frequently alongside other charges - in matrimonial disputes, employment and debt-recovery quarrels, and allegations against private security or police - and is often paired with offences of hurt, criminal intimidation or extortion depending on the facts.
What changed from Section 342 IPC
Two things. First, structure: the stand-alone Section 342 IPC became sub-section (2) of a consolidated Section 127 BNS, without a separate heading. Second, the fine: the maximum was raised from one thousand to five thousand rupees. The imprisonment term and the ingredients of the offence are unchanged, so the case law developed under Section 342 IPC continues to apply. Offences committed before 1 July 2024 remain charged under Section 342 IPC.
These cases turn on precise facts - who restrained whom, where, and for how long. Talk to a criminal lawyer in your city or browse advocates in the Free Law directory.