Section 113 is a wholly new provision, with no equivalent under the old Indian Penal Code, 1860. It defines a "terrorist act" in detail and separately punishes committing it, conspiring or facilitating it, organising training camps or recruiting for it, membership of an involved organisation, harbouring an offender, and possessing property connected with it.
Verified against the National Crime Records Bureau's official BNS–IPC concordance (Sankalan Portal), which lists Section 113 as a "New Section," and cross-checked directly against the old Indian Penal Code, 1860, which contained no equivalent offence.
| BNS section | IPC, 1860 equivalent | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 113 | — (none) | No predecessor |
"Terrorist act," as a defined Penal Code offence with its own graded punishment structure, is new to the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The closing Explanation to the section (which follows sub-section (7) and applies to the section as a whole) notes that conduct falling under this section may alternatively be registered under the separate Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, at the decision of an officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police — that separate Act is not itself addressed by this page.
| Sub-section | Conduct | Punishment |
|---|---|---|
| (2)(a) | Terrorist act resulting in death | Death or imprisonment for life, and fine |
| (2)(b) | Terrorist act, any other case | Imprisonment not less than 5 years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and fine |
| (3) | Conspiring, attempting, abetting, advising, inciting or facilitating | Imprisonment not less than 5 years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and fine |
| (4) | Organising camps or recruiting for a terrorist act | Imprisonment not less than 5 years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and fine |
| (5) | Being a member of an organisation involved in terrorist act | Imprisonment for life and fine |
| (6) | Harbouring or concealing an offender | Imprisonment not less than 3 years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and fine |
| (7) | Possessing property derived from a terrorist act | Imprisonment for life and fine |
Note on sub-sections (5) and (7): the First Schedule states the punishment as “Imprisonment for life and fine,” whereas the statute itself words each as imprisonment “for a term which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.” The wording of the two differs; the statute text, quoted above, is the operative provision.
(1) Whoever does any act with the intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, sovereignty, security, or economic security of India or with the intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India or in any foreign country,––
(a) by using bombs, dynamite or other explosive substance or inflammable substance or firearms or other lethal weapons or poisonous or noxious gases or other chemicals or by any other substance (whether biological, radioactive, nuclear or otherwise) of a hazardous nature or by any other means of whatever nature to cause or likely to cause,— (i) death of, or injury to, any person or persons; or (ii) loss of, or damage to, or destruction of, property; or (iii) disruption of any supplies or services essential to the life of the community in India or in any foreign country; or (iv) damage to, the monetary stability of India by way of production or smuggling or circulation of counterfeit Indian paper currency, coin or of any other material; or (v) damage or destruction of any property in India or in a foreign country used or intended to be used for the defence of India or in connection with any other purposes of the Government of India, any State Government or any of their agencies; or
(b) overawes by means of criminal force or the show of criminal force or attempts to do so or causes death of any public functionary or attempts to cause death of any public functionary; or
(c) detains, kidnaps or abducts any person and threatening to kill or injure such person or does any other act in order to compel the Government of India, any State Government or the Government of a foreign country or an international or inter-governmental organisation or any other person to do or abstain from doing any act,
commit a terrorist act.
Explanation.—For the purpose of this sub-section,—
(a) "public functionary" means the constitutional authorities or any other functionary notified in the Official Gazette by the Central Government as public functionary;
(b) "counterfeit Indian currency" means the counterfeit currency as may be declared after examination by an authorised or notified forensic authority that such currency imitates or compromises with the key security features of Indian currency.
(2) Whoever commits a terrorist act shall,—
(a) if such offence has resulted in the death of any person, be punished with death or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine;
(b) in any other case, be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.
(3) Whoever conspires or attempts to commit, or advocates, abets, advises or incites, directly or knowingly facilitates the commission of a terrorist act or any act preparatory to the commission of a terrorist act, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.
(4) Whoever organises or causes to be organised any camp or camps for imparting training in terrorist act, or recruits or causes to be recruited any person or persons for commission of a terrorist act, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.
(5) Any person who is a member of an organisation which is involved in terrorist act, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.
(6) Whoever voluntarily harbours or conceals, or attempts to harbour or conceal any person knowing that such person has committed a terrorist act shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine: Provided that this sub-section shall not apply to any case in which the harbour or concealment is by the spouse of the offender.
(7) Whoever knowingly possesses any property derived or obtained from commission of any terrorist act or acquired through the commission of any terrorist act shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.
Explanation.—For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that the officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police shall decide whether to register the case under this section or under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967).
Source: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Act No. 45 of 2023), as published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary.
This sub-section defines a "terrorist act" as any act done with intent (or likely) to threaten India's unity, integrity, sovereignty, security or economic security, or to strike terror in people, carried out through any of three broad routes: using explosives, weapons, or hazardous substances to cause death, property damage, disruption of essential supplies, currency counterfeiting, or damage to defence-related property; overawing by criminal force or causing the death of a public functionary; or detaining, kidnapping, or abducting a person to compel a government or organisation to act or abstain from acting. The closing Explanation defines "public functionary" and "counterfeit Indian currency."
This sub-section sets the punishment for committing a terrorist act as defined in sub-section (1): death or imprisonment for life where death results, or imprisonment of five years to life in any other case, with fine in either case.
This sub-section extends liability to those who conspire, attempt, advocate, abet, advise, incite, or knowingly facilitate a terrorist act or any preparatory act towards one, carrying the same minimum-five-year punishment structure as sub-section (2)(b).
This sub-section punishes organising, or causing to be organised, camps for training people in terrorist acts, and recruiting, or causing to be recruited, persons for the commission of a terrorist act, with the same minimum-five-year punishment structure.
This sub-section punishes membership of an organisation involved in terrorist activity, on its own, independent of participation in any specific act, with imprisonment up to life and fine.
This sub-section punishes voluntarily harbouring or concealing, or attempting to do so, a person known to have committed a terrorist act, with a spouse's harbour or concealment expressly excluded by the proviso.
This sub-section punishes knowingly possessing property derived from, or acquired through, a terrorist act, with imprisonment up to life and fine. The closing Explanation to the section clarifies that a police officer of at least the rank of Superintendent decides whether such conduct is registered under this section or under the separate Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
As a Penal Code offence, yes. There was no equivalent under the old Indian Penal Code, 1860. The section's own closing Explanation refers to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, as an alternative law under which a case may be registered.
Per the closing Explanation to the section, an officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police decides whether to register the case under this section or under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
No. The proviso excluding a spouse's harbour or concealment applies only to sub-section (6). It does not extend to the other sub-sections, such as possession of property under sub-section (7).
Yes. Sub-section (5) punishes such membership on its own, separately from participation in any specific terrorist act.