Offences against the State - Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita

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1. The scheme of Chapter VII
2. Waging war: section 147
3. Conspiracy and preparation: sections 148 to 150
4. Assaulting the President or a Governor: section 151
5. From sedition to section 152
6. Foreign States and State prisoners: sections 153 to 158
How this is examined

Cases checked to exist. Read the judgment before quoting a holding.

Every case cited here has been checked to exist — the citation resolves and names the right parties. The propositions attributed to each case have not been verified line by line against the judgment. Case names link through to the full judgment: read it before quoting a holding in an examination answer, and never carry a proposition from notes into court on trust.

Start with the word “sedition”. The BNS has no offence called sedition. Section 124A IPC is gone, and s.152 punishes acts that endanger the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. An examiner who asks about offences against the State expects you to say what changed, why, and how Kedar Nath Singh still matters to the reading of the new section.

1. The scheme of Chapter VII

Chapter VII (ss.147 to 158) replaces Chapter VI of the IPC (ss.121 to 130). The offences fall into four groups:

War against the Government of India: waging, attempting or abetting war (s.147), conspiracy (s.148), collecting arms (s.149), concealing a design to wage war (s.150).
Assault on high constitutional functionaries: s.151.
Acts endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity: s.152.
Foreign States and prisoners: war against a foreign State at peace with India (s.153), depredation on its territory (s.154), receiving property so taken (s.155), and escape of State prisoners or prisoners of war (ss.156 to 158).

2. Waging war: section 147

Whoever wages war against the Government of India, attempts to wage it, or abets its waging is punishable with death or imprisonment for life, and fine (old s.121 IPC). The illustration is short: A joins an insurrection against the Government of India; A has committed the offence. Three points carry marks.

Attempt and abetment are put on the same footing as the completed act. The ordinary rules that punish attempt and abetment less severely do not apply.
Numbers and weapons are not the test. What matters is the purpose: an intention to strike at the sovereign authority of the State, as distinct from a violent act done for a private or local grievance. In State (N.C.T. of Delhi) v. Navjot Sandhu, 2005 INSC 333, (2005) 11 SCC 600, the attack on Parliament in December 2001 was held to be waging war, because it was aimed at the seat of the Government and meant to overawe it. The Court also cautioned that a riot or violent protest against a particular policy is not, by itself, war.
Foreign nationals can wage war. In Mohammed Ajmal Mohammad Amir Kasab v. State of Maharashtra, 2012 INSC 357, (2012) 9 SCC 1, the Mumbai attacks of November 2008 by a group trained and sent from across the border were held to be waging war against the Government of India.

3. Conspiracy and preparation: sections 148 to 150

Section 148 (old s.121A) punishes conspiracy, within or without and beyond India, to commit any offence under s.147, or to overawe the Central or any State Government by criminal force or its show. The Explanation says no act or illegal omission in pursuance of the conspiracy is needed, so the agreement itself is the offence. Section 149 (old s.122) punishes collecting men, arms or ammunition with the intention of waging war, and s.150 (old s.123) punishes concealing the existence of a design to wage war. These sections reach the stage of preparation, which the general law does not ordinarily punish.

4. Assaulting the President or a Governor: section 151

Whoever, intending to induce or compel the President of India or the Governor of any State to exercise or refrain from exercising any lawful power, assaults or wrongfully restrains him, or overawes him by criminal force or its show, or attempts any of these, is punishable with up to seven years and fine (old s.124). The intent to influence the exercise of a lawful power is the essential element; an assault on the President for a private reason falls under the ordinary provisions.

5. From sedition to section 152

The old law. Section 124A IPC punished bringing or attempting to bring into hatred or contempt, or exciting disaffection towards, the Government established by law. In Kedar Nath Singh v. State of Bihar, 1962 INSC 17, AIR 1962 SC 955, a Constitution Bench upheld the section only by reading it down: words are punishable only when they have a tendency or intention to create public disorder or to incite violence. Strong criticism of the Government, however harsh, is protected by Article 19(1)(a).

The abeyance order. In S.G. Vombatkere v. Union of India, by an interim order of 11 May 2022, the Supreme Court directed that s.124A be kept in abeyance: no fresh FIRs were to be registered and pending proceedings were to stay while the Union re-examined the provision. The order carries no neutral citation because it is an interim order in a pending writ petition.

The new text. Section 152 BNS punishes whoever, purposely or knowingly, by words, signs, visible representation, electronic communication, use of financial means or otherwise:

excites or attempts to excite secession, armed rebellion or subversive activities; or
encourages feelings of separatist activities; or
endangers the sovereignty or unity and integrity of India; or indulges in or commits any such act.

The punishment is imprisonment for life, or imprisonment up to seven years, and fine. The Explanation preserves lawful criticism: comments expressing disapprobation of the measures or administrative action of the Government, with a view to their alteration by lawful means, without exciting the activities named in the section, are not an offence.

What changed. The object of protection is now the nation, not the Government; “disaffection”, “hatred” and “contempt” have gone; a mental element (“purposely or knowingly”) is written in; and electronic and financial means are expressly covered. Critics point out that “subversive activities” and “endangers unity and integrity” are undefined, and that the maximum punishment is unchanged. The safer view for an answer is that the Kedar Nath test of incitement to violence or public disorder should guide the courts in applying s.152 to speech, since the same Article 19(2) limits govern it.

Trap. Do not write that the Supreme Court struck down sedition. It did not. In 1962 it upheld s.124A in a narrowed form; in 2022 it kept the section in abeyance by an interim order; Parliament then left it out of the BNS. Also keep s.152 distinct from s.197(1)(d) (false or misleading information jeopardising sovereignty, unity and integrity), which sits in the chapter on public tranquillity and carries three years.

6. Foreign States and State prisoners: sections 153 to 158

s.153 (old s.125): waging war against the Government of any foreign State at peace with India.
s.154 (old s.126): committing or preparing to commit depredation on the territories of such a State, with forfeiture of the property used or acquired.
s.155 (old s.127): receiving property knowing it to have been taken in an offence under s.153 or s.154.
s.156 (old s.128): a public servant having custody of a State prisoner or prisoner of war who voluntarily allows him to escape, life or up to ten years.
s.157 (old s.129): the same public servant who negligently suffers the escape, simple imprisonment up to three years.
s.158 (old s.130): any person who knowingly aids the escape of, rescues or harbours such a prisoner, or resists his recapture. A prisoner on parole who goes beyond the permitted limits is treated as having escaped.

How this is examined

January 2026 asked, for 10 marks, “Explain the offences against State.” Open with the four groups, take s.147 with Navjot Sandhu and Kasab, then ss.148 to 150 as the preparation offences, s.151, and spend a third of the answer on s.152: the old s.124A, Kedar Nath, the 2022 abeyance order, the new ingredients and the Explanation. Close with ss.156 to 158 in a few lines. A short note on “sedition and s.152” is answered with section 5 alone.