Section 150 punishes concealing, by act or illegal omission, the existence of a design to wage war against the Government of India, intending or knowing it likely that the concealment will facilitate the waging of such war, with imprisonment up to ten years and fine.
Verified against the National Crime Records Bureau's official BNS–IPC concordance (Sankalan Portal), which maps Section 150 to old IPC Section 123, and cross-checked directly against the bare text of both Acts.
| BNS section | IPC, 1860 equivalent | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 150 | 123 | Exact |
Comparing the two texts word for word, Section 150 is reproduced without any change from old IPC Section 123.
Whoever by any act, or by any illegal omission, conceals the existence of a design to wage war against the Government of India, intending by such concealment to facilitate, or knowing it to be likely that such concealment will facilitate, the waging of such war, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Source: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Act No. 45 of 2023), as published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary.
This section punishes a person who, by some act or by an illegal omission (an omission that is “illegal” within Section 2(15) — that is, an omission which is an offence, is prohibited by law, or furnishes ground for a civil action), conceals the existence of a design by others to wage war against the Government of India, where the concealment is intended to facilitate that war, or where the concealer knows it is likely to have that facilitating effect. This is distinct from actually waging or preparing to wage war — it targets those who help such a design succeed through concealment, such as by staying silent when under a legal duty to disclose.
These judgment(s) relate to Section 150 as a whole rather than to one specific sub-section, and so are presented together here rather than alongside a particular clause above.
Court convicts Shaukat under s.123 IPC (concealing design to wage war by illegal omission to inform police), the direct predecessor of BNS 150.
Only where the person actually conceals the existence of the design by an act or an illegal omission (an omission that is illegal within Section 2(15)), and does so intending or knowing it likely to facilitate the waging of war — mere passive knowledge without concealment as defined here would not, by itself, satisfy this section.
Section 2(15) provides that the word “illegal” applies to everything which is an offence or which is prohibited by law, or which furnishes ground for a civil action, and that a person is “legally bound to do” whatever it is illegal in him to omit. An illegal omission here is therefore an omission of that kind — for example, failing to report information despite a legal obligation to disclose it, where that failure conceals the existence of the design to wage war.
The section requires only that the design to wage war exist and be concealed with the requisite intent or knowledge — it does not require that the war ultimately be waged.