Hurt and grievous hurt

1. Hurt: section 114

Whoever causes bodily pain, disease or infirmity to any person is said to cause hurt (old s.319 IPC). No visible injury is needed; a slap that causes pain is hurt. “Disease” covers communicating an infection; “infirmity” covers an inability of an organ to function normally, even temporarily, such as a state of shock or stupor.

2. Voluntarily causing hurt: section 115

Whoever does an act intending to cause hurt, or knowing he is likely to cause hurt, and does cause hurt, voluntarily causes hurt (old s.321). Punishment under s.115(2) (old s.323): up to one year, or fine up to ten thousand rupees, or both. Hurt caused by accident, without intention or knowledge, is not voluntary.

3. Grievous hurt: section 116

The following kinds of hurt only are grievous (old s.320):

• (a) emasculation;
• (b) permanent privation of the sight of either eye;
• (c) permanent privation of the hearing of either ear;
• (d) privation of any member or joint;
• (e) destruction or permanent impairing of the powers of any member or joint;
• (f) permanent disfiguration of the head or face;
• (g) fracture or dislocation of a bone or tooth;
• (h) any hurt which endangers life, or which causes the sufferer to be for fifteen days in severe bodily pain or unable to follow his ordinary pursuits.

Points on the clauses:

• “Permanent” in (b), (c), (e) and (f) is the key word. A black eye that heals is not grievous. Loss of sight in one eye is enough; both need not be lost.
• (g) needs no permanence. A hairline fracture or a knocked-out tooth is grievous hurt.
• (h) has two limbs. “Endangers life” means the injury itself puts life in danger, not that it might have done. The fifteen-day limb is satisfied by severe pain or inability to follow ordinary pursuits; mere stay in hospital for fifteen days is not by itself proof, if the victim was not in severe pain or disabled throughout.

4. Voluntarily causing grievous hurt: section 117

Whoever voluntarily causes hurt, intending or knowing himself likely to cause grievous hurt, and does cause grievous hurt, voluntarily causes grievous hurt (old s.322). By the Explanation, intending one kind of grievous hurt and causing another kind is enough: A intends to disfigure Z's face, fails, but causes fifteen days of severe pain; A has voluntarily caused grievous hurt.

• s.117(2) (old s.325): up to seven years and fine.
• s.117(3), new: if the grievous hurt causes permanent disability or a persistent vegetative state, rigorous imprisonment of not less than ten years, up to life imprisonment for the remainder of natural life.
• s.117(4), new: grievous hurt by a group of five or more acting in concert on grounds of race, caste, community, sex, place of birth, language or personal belief; each member up to seven years and fine.

5. Aggravated forms: sections 118 to 123

• s.118 (old ss.324, 326): hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means, such as an instrument for shooting, stabbing or cutting, fire, poison, corrosives, explosives or an animal. Hurt: up to three years or fine up to twenty thousand rupees or both; grievous hurt: life, or one to ten years, and fine.
• s.119 (old ss.327, 329): to extort property or constrain to an illegal act.
• s.120 (old ss.330, 331): to extort a confession or information, or compel restoration of property. The illustrations are of police officers torturing suspects.
• s.121 (old ss.332, 333): to deter a public servant from his duty.
• s.122 (old ss.334, 335): on grave and sudden provocation, a lighter punishment, subject to the proviso to Exception 1 of s.101.
• s.123 (old s.328): administering poison or a stupefying drug with intent to cause hurt or commit an offence.

6. Acid attack: section 124

Section 124(1) (old s.326A) punishes causing permanent or partial damage, deformity, burns, maiming, disfigurement or disability, or grievous hurt, by throwing or administering acid or by any other means, or causing a permanent vegetative state, with not less than ten years up to life imprisonment and fine. The fine must be just and reasonable to meet the medical expenses and is paid to the victim. Section 124(2) (old s.326B) punishes throwing or attempting to throw acid with five to seven years and fine. “Acid” includes any substance of acidic, corrosive or burning nature capable of causing scars, disfigurement or disability, and the damage need not be irreversible.

The 2013 amendment that created ss.326A and 326B followed the petition of an acid-attack survivor, Laxmi v. Union of India (2014) 4 SCC 427, in which the Supreme Court ordered regulation of acid sales and compensation for victims. In Parivartan Kendra v. Union of India, 2015 INSC 893, (2016) 3 SCC 571, the Court enhanced compensation to two sisters attacked with acid and directed free treatment for survivors.

7. Endangering life or personal safety: section 125

Whoever does any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life or the personal safety of others is punished with up to three months, or fine up to two thousand five hundred rupees, or both; if hurt is caused, up to six months or fine up to five thousand; if grievous hurt is caused, up to three years or fine up to ten thousand, or both (old ss.336 to 338). No intention is needed; the offence is complete even if nobody is injured.

8. Hurt and grievous hurt compared

• Nature: hurt is any pain, disease or infirmity; grievous hurt is limited to the eight kinds in s.116.
• Mental element: for voluntarily causing grievous hurt the accused must intend or know the likelihood of grievous hurt; causing it while intending only simple hurt is s.115, not s.117.
• Punishment: one year against seven years in the basic forms.
• Relation to homicide: grievous hurt that endangers life sits close to clause (c) of s.101; if death follows, the question becomes whether the injury was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.

9. Problem

A punches B in the mouth in a quarrel. Two of B's front teeth are knocked out, and B is off work for ten days. Discuss A's liability.

Issue. Whether the injury is grievous hurt, and whether A voluntarily caused it.

Law. Fracture or dislocation of a tooth is grievous hurt under s.116(g), without any requirement of permanence or duration. Section 117(1) requires that A intended or knew himself likely to cause grievous hurt.

Application. Knocking out teeth is within clause (g). The ten days off work do not satisfy clause (h), which needs fifteen, but clause (g) alone is enough. A hard punch to the mouth carries knowledge that a tooth may be broken.

Conclusion. A is guilty of voluntarily causing grievous hurt under s.117(2), punishable with up to seven years and fine. If he can show the punch followed grave and sudden provocation by B, s.122(2) reduces the maximum to five years.

How this is examined

January 2026 set a 10-mark question: “Explain the circumstances under which hurt amounts to grievous hurt.” Define hurt (s.114), list all eight clauses of s.116 with a sentence and an example each, stress the fifteen-day change, then s.117 with the Explanation and the new sub-sections (3) and (4), and close with acid attack. A problem on a knocked-out tooth or a broken finger tests clause (g).