Kidnapping, abduction, slavery and forced labour

1. Kidnapping: section 137

Kidnapping is of two kinds (old ss.359 to 361, 363 IPC):

• Kidnapping from India, s.137(1)(a): conveying any person beyond the limits of India without his consent or the consent of a person legally authorised to consent on his behalf. Age is irrelevant.
• Kidnapping from lawful guardianship, s.137(1)(b): taking or enticing any child or person of unsound mind out of the keeping of the lawful guardian, without the guardian's consent.

“Lawful guardian” includes anyone lawfully entrusted with the care or custody of the child, such as a teacher, relative or hostel warden. The Exception protects a person who in good faith believes himself to be the father of an illegitimate child, or entitled to its lawful custody, unless the act is for an immoral or unlawful purpose. Punishment under s.137(2): up to seven years and fine.

Change from the IPC. Old s.361 protected boys under sixteen and girls under eighteen. The BNS uses “child”, defined in s.2(3) as any person below eighteen, so the age is now the same for both sexes.

2. Taking and enticing: the cases

• State of Haryana v. Raja Ram, 1972 INSC 265, (1973) 1 SCC 544. The accused persuaded a fourteen-year-old girl to leave her father’s house and took her to another man. The Court held that the minor's consent is immaterial; “keeping” means the protection and control of the guardian, not physical possession; “take” means to cause to go or escort, and “entice” means to induce by exciting hope or desire. The conviction was restored.
• S. Varadarajan v. State of Madras, 1964 INSC 185, AIR 1965 SC 942. Savitri, a girl just short of eighteen, telephoned the accused, met him on the road, went with him and registered a marriage with him. The Court acquitted him. There is a distinction between taking a minor and allowing her to accompany one. Where a minor with knowledge and capacity to understand what she is doing leaves her guardian's protection of her own accord and joins the accused, he does not take her, unless he played some active part, by persuasion or inducement, in forming her intention to leave.
• Thakorlal D. Vadgama v. State of Gujarat, 1973 INSC 111, (1973) 2 SCC 413. The accused had sent the girl gifts and letters and laid the ground for her to leave home. The Court held that earlier allurement which induces the minor to leave is enough, even if at the final moment she goes to him herself. Varadarajan was distinguished.

3. Abduction: section 138

Whoever by force compels, or by any deceitful means induces, any person to go from any place abducts that person (old s.362). Abduction alone is not punished; it becomes an offence when done for a purpose listed elsewhere, such as ss.87 and 140.

• Age: kidnapping from guardianship needs a child or person of unsound mind; abduction applies to anyone.
• Means: kidnapping needs only taking or enticing; abduction needs force or deceit.
• Consent: the victim's consent is no answer to kidnapping; free consent of the victim is an answer to abduction.
• Guardian: kidnapping requires removal from lawful guardianship; abduction does not.
• Punishment: kidnapping is punishable by itself; abduction only with an intent.

4. Kidnapping or maiming a child for begging: section 139

Whoever kidnaps a child, or not being the lawful guardian obtains its custody, so that it may be employed or used for begging, is punished with rigorous imprisonment of ten years to life and fine (old s.363A). Maiming a child for begging carries not less than twenty years, up to life for the remainder of natural life. Where a person who is not the lawful guardian uses a child for begging, it is presumed that he kidnapped or obtained the child for that purpose. Begging includes soliciting alms in public under the pretence of singing, dancing or selling articles, exposing sores or wounds to obtain alms, and using a child as an exhibit.

5. Kidnapping for murder, ransom and other purposes: section 140

• s.140(1) (old s.364): in order to murder, life imprisonment or up to ten years rigorous imprisonment and fine.
• s.140(2) (old s.364A): kidnapping or abduction with threats of death or hurt, to compel the Government, a foreign State, an international organisation or any other person to do or abstain from an act or to pay a ransom; death or life imprisonment and fine.
• s.140(3) (old s.365): with intent to confine secretly and wrongfully, up to seven years.
• s.140(4) (old s.367): to subject the person to grievous hurt, slavery or unnatural lust, up to ten years.

Related sections: s.87 (kidnapping a woman to compel marriage, old s.366); s.96 (procuration of a child, old s.366A); s.97 (kidnapping a child under ten to steal from its person, old s.369); s.141 (importing a girl under twenty-one or a boy under eighteen for illicit intercourse, old s.366B); s.142 (wrongfully concealing a kidnapped person, old s.368).

6. Trafficking: sections 143 and 144

Whoever, for the purpose of exploitation, recruits, transports, harbours, transfers or receives a person by threats, force or coercion, abduction, fraud or deception, abuse of power, or inducement including payments to a person in control, commits trafficking (old s.370). Exploitation includes physical or sexual exploitation, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, beggary and forced removal of organs. The victim's consent is immaterial. Punishment rises from seven to ten years rigorous imprisonment, to ten years to life for more than one person or for a child, fourteen years to life for more than one child, and life for the remainder of natural life for a repeat offender against children or for a public servant or police officer. Section 144 (old s.370A) punishes engaging a trafficked child or person for sexual exploitation.

7. Slavery and forced labour: sections 145 and 146

• s.145 (old s.371): habitually importing, exporting, removing, buying, selling, trafficking or dealing in slaves, life imprisonment or up to ten years and fine.
• s.146 (old s.374): unlawfully compelling any person to labour against his will, up to one year, or fine, or both. It gives penal effect to the ban on forced labour in Article 23 of the Constitution, alongside the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976.

8. Problem

R, aged seventeen, falls in love with S. S writes to her for months, promising marriage. One night R leaves home, meets S at the bus stand and they go to another city. Is S guilty of kidnapping?

Issue. Whether S “took or enticed” a child out of lawful guardianship.

Law. Under s.137(1)(b) a person below eighteen is a child, and her consent is immaterial (Raja Ram). Where the minor leaves of her own accord and the accused merely lets her accompany him, there is no taking (Varadarajan); but earlier inducement that leads her to leave is enough (Vadgama).

Application. R is seventeen, so a child. S's months of letters and promises of marriage are the kind of inducement found in Vadgama; he played an active part in forming her intention to leave. That R walked to the bus stand herself does not help him.

Conclusion. S is guilty of kidnapping from lawful guardianship under s.137(2). If the intent was to compel marriage or for illicit intercourse, s.87 applies with up to ten years. Had R left on her own and simply joined S without any persuasion, Varadarajan would support an acquittal.

How this is examined

January 2026 set a 6-mark short note, “Kidnapping” (placed in Unit II of that paper). Give both kinds, the meaning of child, “take” and “entice”, Varadarajan and the difference from abduction. The 10-mark version is “Distinguish between kidnapping and abduction”. The problem above, a minor who leaves home with a lover, is the stock one.