Section 132 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) punishes assault or criminal force used against a public servant to deter them from doing their duty. It is the direct successor of the widely invoked Section 353 of the Indian Penal Code — the section commonly added when someone scuffles with police, revenue or municipal officials during the discharge of official work - carried into the new code on 1 July 2024 without change.
Careful with the numbers. In the new code, "Section 353" means a different offence - Section 353 BNS deals with statements conducing to public mischief. A case about assaulting a public servant on duty filed today is a Section 132 BNS case.
What Section 132 BNS provides
Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any person being a public servant:
- in the execution of his duty as such public servant; or
- with intent to prevent or deter that person from discharging his duty as such public servant; or
- in consequence of anything done or attempted to be done by such person in the lawful discharge of his duty as such public servant, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.
The essentials in plain language
- The section needs an assault or criminal force — physical interference or the threat of it, as those terms are defined in the code. Mere verbal abuse, argument or passive obstruction, without assault or criminal force, falls outside this section (though it may attract other provisions).
- The target must be a public servant, and the act must be connected to their duty - while they are executing it, to deter them from it, or in retaliation for it.
- The protection extends to the lawful discharge of duty. Whether the official act was lawful is therefore often the battleground in these cases.
- It is routinely invoked alongside other offences arising out of the same incident - for example where the scuffle also causes hurt or involves obstruction.
Procedure and classification
Under the First Schedule, the offence is cognizable and non-bailable, and is triable by any Magistrate. Despite the modest two-year maximum, the non-bailable classification means bail is at the court's discretion rather than a matter of right - one reason this section carries practical weight in confrontations with officials.
What changed from Section 353 IPC
Nothing of substance - the official comparison records the provision as renumbered from Section 353 IPC to Section 132 BNS with "no change". The case law developed under Section 353 IPC - on what amounts to assault or criminal force against an official, and on the requirement that the duty being discharged be lawful - continues to apply. Offences committed before 1 July 2024 remain chargeable under the old section.
Booked under Section 132 BNS after an altercation with an official, or a public servant facing such interference? These cases turn on exactly what happened and whether the official act was lawful. Talk to a criminal lawyer in your city or browse advocates in the Free Law directory.