Section 297 has two parts. Sub-section (1) punishes keeping any office or place for the purpose of drawing a lottery that is neither a State lottery nor a lottery authorised by the State Government: imprisonment of up to six months, or fine, or both. Sub-section (2) punishes publishing a proposal to pay money, deliver goods or do or forbear anything for a person's benefit on an event relating to the drawing of such a lottery: a fine of up to ₹5,000. It is the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita's version of IPC Section 294A.
Verified against the National Crime Records Bureau's official BNS–IPC concordance (Sankalan Portal) and cross-checked directly against the bare text of both Acts. Section 297 is marked Substantively changed — it descends from one section of the old Indian Penal Code, 1860, but has been divided into two sub-sections and the fine for the second limb has been raised:
| BNS 297 | Covers | IPC, 1860 equivalent | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 297 | Keeping lottery office | S.294A “Keeping lottery office” | Substantively changed |
IPC Section 294A was a single paragraph in two limbs: the first limb punished keeping an office or place for drawing a lottery that is not a State lottery or one authorised by the State Government, and the second limb (introduced by “And whoever publishes any proposal”) punished publishing a proposal about the drawing of a ticket, lot, number or figure in such a lottery. BNS Section 297 puts these into two numbered sub-sections, (1) and (2). The differences are: (i) the fine for the publishing limb is raised from a fine which may extend to one thousand rupees (IPC) to a fine which may extend to five thousand rupees (BNS); (ii) the words “do or forbear doing anything” in the IPC become “do or forbear from doing anything” in the BNS; (iii) the publishing limb in the BNS begins “Whoever publishes” as its own sub-section; and (iv) in that limb the BNS prints a comma after “in any such lottery”, which the IPC does not. The first limb is unchanged in punishment: imprisonment of either description for up to six months, or fine, or both, with no stated limit on the fine in either Act.
(1) Whoever keeps any office or place for the purpose of drawing any lottery not being a State lottery or a lottery authorised by the State Government, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.
(2) Whoever publishes any proposal to pay any sum, or to deliver any goods, or to do or forbear from doing anything for the benefit of any person, on any event or contingency relative or applicable to the drawing of any ticket, lot, number or figure in any such lottery, shall be punished with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees.
Source: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Act No. 45 of 2023), as published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary.
Sub-section (1) is aimed at the person who keeps any office or place for the purpose of drawing any lottery, where the lottery is not a State lottery and not a lottery authorised by the State Government. The offence therefore has three ingredients. First, the accused keeps an office or place. Second, the purpose of keeping it is the drawing of a lottery. Third, the lottery falls outside the two protected categories: a State lottery, or one authorised by the State Government. The words “any office or place” are broad, and the Sanhita does not define them. In ordinary usage the word “keeps” suggests an office or place that is maintained for the purpose, rather than a single stray act; the Sanhita does not define the word.
The section does not ban lotteries as such: it draws a line between lotteries run by, or with the authority of, the State and all others. A lottery that is a State lottery, or that has been authorised by the State Government, is outside the sub-section. For the sub-section to apply, the lottery must be one that has neither status. Note the phrase used is “the State Government”, so the authorisation relied on must be of that kind.
The punishment is imprisonment of either description for up to six months, or fine, or both. Neither this Act nor the old IPC Section 294A states a figure for the fine in this limb; the fine is therefore not tied to a stated ceiling in the wording. Section 8(1) of the BNS provides that where no sum is expressed to which a fine may extend, the amount of fine to which the offender is liable is unlimited, but shall not be excessive. Under the BNSS First Schedule the offence is non-cognizable, bailable, and triable by any Magistrate. It is not one of the offences listed in the compounding tables of BNSS Section 359. In classification it differs from the neighbouring Section 296, which the First Schedule lists as cognizable. Compared with the first limb of IPC Section 294A, the wording and punishment of sub-section (1) are unchanged.
Sub-section (2) targets the publication of a proposal, not the running of the lottery. The person publishes a proposal to pay any sum, to deliver any goods, or to do or forbear from doing anything for the benefit of any person, on any event or contingency relative or applicable to the drawing of any ticket, lot, number or figure in any such lottery. What it punishes is publishing a proposal of the kind described. The words “any such lottery” refer back to sub-section (1): a lottery that is neither a State lottery nor one authorised by the State Government. A proposal about a State or State-authorised lottery is not caught.
The elements are: (i) publication; (ii) of a proposal to pay money, deliver goods, or do or forbear from doing anything for someone's benefit; (iii) on an event or contingency connected with the drawing of a ticket, lot, number or figure; and (iv) in a lottery of the unauthorised kind. It is the publishing itself that is punished, so the person publishing need not be the person who keeps the office under sub-section (1). The proposal must be published, which means it must be made known to others, not merely kept as a private note.
The only punishment is a fine of up to ₹5,000; there is no imprisonment. In the old IPC Section 294A the fine for this limb could extend to ₹1,000, so the ceiling has been raised five-fold. The words “forbear from doing” in the BNS replace “forbear doing” in the IPC. Under the BNSS First Schedule the offence is non-cognizable, bailable and triable by any Magistrate, and it is not compoundable under BNSS Section 359. The difference from sub-section (1) is that sub-section (1) concerns the physical base kept for drawing the lottery and carries possible jail time, while sub-section (2) concerns the advertising or announcement and carries a fine only.
No. The offence in sub-section (1) is limited to a lottery “not being a State lottery or a lottery authorised by the State Government”. A State lottery or one authorised by the State Government is outside the sub-section, and the same carve-out flows into sub-section (2) through the words “any such lottery”.
No. Sub-section (2) provides only for a fine which may extend to ₹5,000. Imprisonment is available only under sub-section (1), where the term may extend to six months.
Under the BNSS First Schedule both sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) are non-cognizable and bailable, and are triable by any Magistrate. Neither is listed in the compounding tables of BNSS Section 359.
The single IPC paragraph is now split into sub-sections (1) and (2). The fine for publishing a lottery proposal rises from ₹1,000 to ₹5,000, and “forbear doing” becomes “forbear from doing”. The punishment for keeping a lottery office (up to six months, or fine, or both) is unchanged.