Section 74 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) punishes assault or use of criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty. It is the direct successor of the widely invoked Section 354 IPC, carried into the new code without substantive change when the BNS came into force on 1 July 2024. It sits in the BNS chapter on offences against women and children.
What Section 74 BNS provides
Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage her modesty or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to five years, and shall also be liable to fine.
What the offence requires
- Assault or criminal force - a physical act or gesture directed at the woman; mere words alone fall under other provisions.
- Intent or knowledge - the accused must intend to outrage the woman's modesty, or know that his act is likely to do so. The Supreme Court has treated modesty as an attribute of every woman: in State of Punjab v. Major Singh (1966) it was held to attach to a woman regardless of her age, and in Rupan Deol Bajaj v. K.P.S. Gill (1995) the Court explained the test by reference to whether the act is capable of shocking the sense of decency of a woman.
Procedure and bail
The offence is cognizable - the police can register an FIR and investigate without a magistrate's order - and non-bailable, so bail is at the court's discretion rather than a right. It is triable by any Magistrate. Because the sentence carries a mandatory minimum of one year, courts cannot go below it on conviction.
What changed from Section 354 IPC
Nothing of substance - the provision was renumbered from Section 354 IPC to Section 74 BNS with the same ingredients and the same punishment, including the one-year minimum introduced by the 2013 criminal law amendment. The case law developed under Section 354 IPC continues to apply.
Facing harassment, or an accusation under this section? These cases turn on the first statement, the FIR's wording and early legal advice on bail. Talk to a criminal lawyer in your city or browse advocates in the Free Law directory.