Section 76 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) punishes assault or use of criminal force to a woman with intent to disrobe her. It is the direct successor of Section 354B IPC, one of the offences added to the Penal Code by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 after the Justice Verma Committee reforms. The provision is carried into the new code with one deliberate drafting change - the offender is no longer described as "any man" but as "whoever".
What Section 76 BNS provides
Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, or abets such an act, with the intention of disrobing her or of compelling her to be naked, shall be punished with imprisonment of not less than three years, which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
The essentials of the offence
- an assault or use of criminal force against a woman - the disrobing need not actually be completed; the offence lies in the assault or force applied with that object;
- a specific intention of disrobing the woman or compelling her to be naked - this pointed intention is what separates Section 76 from the more general offence of outraging a woman's modesty; and
- abetment on the same footing - a person who abets such an assault is punished exactly as the person who commits it, without needing to invoke the general abetment provisions.
Procedure and bail
The offence is cognizable - the police can register an FIR and investigate without a Magistrate's prior order - and non-bailable, so bail is a matter for the court's discretion rather than a right. The case is triable by the Court of Session. Because the section prescribes a mandatory minimum of three years, a convicting court cannot sentence below that floor.
What changed from Section 354B IPC
The substance of the offence is unchanged. The single alteration is that the opening words "Any man who" have been replaced by "Whoever", making the description of the offender gender-neutral: under the BNS a person of any gender can be prosecuted for this offence, while the protected victim remains a woman. Cases arising from acts committed before 1 July 2024 continue under Section 354B IPC, and the case law developed under the old section continues to guide courts under Section 76 BNS.
Involved in a case under this section, as a complainant or as an accused? These are Sessions-triable offences carrying a mandatory minimum sentence, and the direction a case takes is often set in its first weeks. Talk to a criminal lawyer in your city or browse advocates in the Free Law directory.