Abetment of suicide, organised crime and terrorist act
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita · Unit III · Topic 15 of 29 · 6 min read
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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.
1. Abetment of suicide: sections 107 and 108
- s.107 (old s.305): if a child, a person of unsound mind, a delirious person or a person in a state of intoxication commits suicide, whoever abets it is punished with death or imprisonment for life, or imprisonment up to ten years, and fine. A “child” is anyone below eighteen (s.2(3)).
- s.108 (old s.306): if any person commits suicide, whoever abets it is punished with imprisonment up to ten years and fine.
Abetment has the meaning in s.45 BNS (old s.107 IPC): instigation, conspiracy or intentional aid. The suicide must actually take place; if it does not, the case is one of abetment of an attempt, which now matters only within s.226.
In Ramesh Kumar v. State of Chhattisgarh, 2001 INSC 515, (2001) 9 SCC 618, the Court explained that instigation means to goad, urge forward, provoke or encourage. Words spoken in a quarrel or in anger, without intending the consequence, are not instigation. There must be a reasonable certainty that the accused's conduct incited the suicide, and a proximate link between his act and the death. Courts have applied this repeatedly to set aside charges based only on harsh words or a broken relationship.
2. Attempt to commit suicide
Old s.309 IPC punished any attempt to commit suicide. Its validity went back and forth:
- P. Rathinam v. Union of India, 1994 INSC 171, (1994) 3 SCC 394: a two-judge Bench struck down s.309 as violating Article 21.
- Gian Kaur v. State of Punjab, 1996 INSC 418, (1996) 2 SCC 648: a Constitution Bench overruled Rathinam, holding that the right to life does not include a right to die, and upheld both s.309 and s.306.
- Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, s.115: notwithstanding s.309 IPC, a person who attempts suicide is presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to have severe stress and shall not be tried and punished; the Government must provide care, treatment and rehabilitation to reduce the risk of a repeat attempt.
The BNS has no general offence of attempting suicide. What remains is s.226: whoever attempts to commit suicide with the intent to compel or restrain any public servant from discharging his official duty is punished with simple imprisonment up to one year, or fine, or both, or community service. It targets self-immolation threats used as pressure on officials, and sits in the chapter on contempt of the lawful authority of public servants.
3. Organised crime: section 111
Organised crime is any continuing unlawful activity, including kidnapping, robbery, vehicle theft, extortion, land grabbing, contract killing, economic offence, cyber-crimes, trafficking in persons, drugs, weapons or illicit goods or services, and human trafficking for prostitution or ransom, committed by a person or group, as a member of or on behalf of an organised crime syndicate, by violence, threat, intimidation, coercion or other unlawful means, to obtain a direct or indirect material benefit.
- Organised crime syndicate: two or more persons who, singly or jointly, as a syndicate or gang, indulge in continuing unlawful activity.
- Continuing unlawful activity: a cognizable offence punishable with three years or more, in respect of which more than one charge-sheet has been filed within the preceding ten years and cognizance taken. This is the filter that separates a gang from a one-off crime. The idea comes from State laws such as the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999.
- Economic offence includes criminal breach of trust, forgery, counterfeiting, hawala, mass-marketing fraud and schemes to defraud banks or financial institutions.
- Punishment: if death results, death or life imprisonment and fine of at least ten lakh rupees; otherwise five years to life and fine of at least five lakh. Abetment, attempt, conspiracy, facilitation and membership carry five years to life; harbouring (except by a spouse) and possessing proceeds carry three years to life.
4. Petty organised crime: section 112
A member of a group or gang who, singly or jointly, commits theft, snatching, cheating, unauthorised selling of tickets, unauthorised betting or gambling, selling of public examination question papers or any similar criminal act commits petty organised crime. Theft includes trick theft, theft from vehicles or premises, cargo theft, pick-pocketing, card skimming, shoplifting and theft of an ATM. Punishment: one to seven years and fine. The point is street-level gang crime that causes public insecurity without the scale of s.111.
5. Terrorist act: section 113
Whoever does any act with intent to threaten, or likely to threaten, the unity, integrity, sovereignty, security or economic security of India, or with intent to strike terror in the people or any section of them in India or abroad:
- (a) by bombs, explosives, firearms, lethal weapons, poisonous gases, chemicals, or biological, radioactive or nuclear substances, or any other means, to cause death or injury, loss or destruction of property, disruption of essential supplies or services, damage to monetary stability through counterfeit currency, or damage to property used for defence or government purposes;
- (b) overawes by criminal force or causes or attempts the death of a public functionary; or
- (c) detains, kidnaps or abducts any person and threatens to kill or injure him to compel a government, international organisation or any other person to act or abstain,
commits a terrorist act. Punishment: if death results, death or life imprisonment and fine; otherwise five years to life. Conspiracy, advocacy, incitement, training camps and recruitment carry five years to life; membership of a terrorist organisation up to life; harbouring three years to life (spouse excepted); possessing proceeds up to life.
The definition is modelled on s.15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. To avoid double proceedings, the Explanation provides that an officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police decides whether to register the case under s.113 or under the UAPA. Two older cases still guide interpretation. Kartar Singh v. State of Punjab, 1994 INSC 112, (1994) 3 SCC 569, upheld the validity of TADA while warning against its misuse. Hitendra Vishnu Thakur v. State of Maharashtra, 1994 INSC 237, (1994) 4 SCC 602, held that every grave crime is not terrorism: the intent to overawe the government or strike terror in the people is what distinguishes a terrorist act from an ordinary law-and-order offence.
How this is examined
The January 2026 paper had a 6-mark short note on “Terrorist act”. Give the intent element, the three methods in clauses (a) to (c), punishment, the SP-rank Explanation and Hitendra Vishnu Thakur. A 10-mark question on “new offences introduced by the BNS” is answered with ss.111, 112, 113 and 103(2). On suicide, the likely question is the present position on attempt to suicide: Rathinam, Gian Kaur, s.115 MHCA and s.226 BNS.
Now try the real questions: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita past question papers.