Section 308 defines extortion — intentionally putting a person in fear of injury and thereby dishonestly inducing that person to hand over property or a signed or sealed document that can become a valuable security — and then sets out six separate punishments. Plain extortion carries up to seven years, or fine, or both. Putting a person in fear in order to commit extortion carries up to two years (or fine, or both) when the fear is of any injury, and up to seven years plus fine when it is fear of death or grievous hurt. Extortion by fear of death or grievous hurt carries up to ten years plus fine, and the two accusation-based versions carry up to ten years plus fine. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita gathers into this one section what the Indian Penal Code spread across Sections 383 to 389, and raises the maximum for plain extortion from three years to seven.
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 308 pulls together seven old provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, into one section with seven sub-sections. Each sub-section is compared below with its predecessor; the overall character of Section 308 is Merged, and three sub-sections carry a precise change in wording or figures:
| BNS 308 | Covers | IPC, 1860 equivalent | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 308(1) | Definition of extortion | S.383 “Extortion” | Exact |
| 308(2) | Punishment for extortion | S.384 “Punishment for extortion” | Substantively changed |
| 308(3) | Putting a person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion | S.385 “Putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion” | Exact |
| 308(4) | Putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt in order to commit extortion | S.387 “Putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion” | Exact |
| 308(5) | Extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt | S.386 “Extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt” | Exact |
| 308(6) | Putting a person in fear of accusation of a serious offence in order to commit extortion | S.389 “Putting person in fear or accusation of offence, in order to commit extortion” | Substantively changed |
| 308(7) | Extortion by threat of accusation of a serious offence | S.388 “Extortion by threat of accusation of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life, etc.” | Substantively changed |
Four points of comparison, each taken word by word from the two statutes. (1) Sub-section (1). The definition itself is the same in substance as IPC Section 383. The textual differences are: the BNS no longer places the word “extortion” in quotation marks; the IPC text consulted contains misprints in its illustrations that the BNS does not (“worngful” for “wrongful” in Illustration (b), “sings” for “signs” twice, and “to A to Z sings” where the BNS reads “to A. Z signs”); and the BNS adds a fifth Illustration, (e), in which a threat is sent “through an electronic device” that a child “is in my possession, and will be put to death unless you send me one lakh rupees.” IPC Section 383 has four illustrations, (a) to (d). (2) Sub-section (2). IPC Section 384 allowed imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or fine, or both. BNS Section 308(2) allows imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or fine, or both. (3) Sub-sections (6) and (7). IPC Sections 388 (which became BNS 308(7)) and 389 (which became BNS 308(6)) each ended with an additional clause: “and, if the offence be one punishable under section 377 of this Code, may be punished with imprisonment for life” (Section 388) and a similar rider at the end of Section 389. BNS Sections 308(6) and 308(7) contain no such clause; each ends after “and shall also be liable to fine.” (4) Sub-sections (3), (4) and (5). The wording and the punishments (two years; seven years and fine; ten years and fine) match IPC Sections 385, 387 and 386 respectively, with one punctuation difference: the BNS prints a comma after “Whoever” in sub-section (4) where the IPC 387 copy has none. Note that the BNS places sub-section (4) (from IPC Section 387) before sub-section (5) (from IPC Section 386), which reverses the numerical order of the two IPC sections.
(1) Whoever intentionally puts any person in fear of any injury to that person, or to any other, and thereby dishonestly induces the person so put in fear to deliver to any person any property, or valuable security or anything signed or sealed which may be converted into a valuable security, commits extortion.
Illustrations.
(a) A threatens to publish a defamatory libel concerning Z unless Z gives him money. He thus induces Z to give him money. A has committed extortion.
(b) A threatens Z that he will keep Z’s child in wrongful confinement, unless Z will sign and deliver to A a promissory note binding Z to pay certain monies to A. Z signs and delivers the note. A has committed extortion.
(c) A threatens to send club-men to plough up Z’s field unless Z will sign and deliver to B a bond binding Z under a penalty to deliver certain produce to B, and thereby induces Z to sign and deliver the bond. A has committed extortion.
(d) A, by putting Z in fear of grievous hurt, dishonestly induces Z to sign or affix his seal to a blank paper and deliver it to A. Z signs and delivers the paper to A. Here, as the paper so signed may be converted into a valuable security. A has committed extortion.
(e) A threatens Z by sending a message through an electronic device that “Your child is in my possession, and will be put to death unless you send me one lakh rupees.” A thus induces Z to give him money. A has committed extortion.
(2) Whoever commits extortion shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or with fine, or with both.
(3) Whoever, in order to the committing of extortion, puts any person in fear, or attempts to put any person in fear, of any injury, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.
(4) Whoever, in order to the committing of extortion, puts or attempts to put any person in fear of death or of grievous hurt to that person or to any other, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
(5) Whoever commits extortion by putting any person in fear of death or of grievous hurt to that person or to any other, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
(6) Whoever, in order to the committing of extortion, puts or attempts to put any person in fear of an accusation, against that person or any other, of having committed, or attempted to commit, an offence punishable with death or with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
(7) Whoever commits extortion by putting any person in fear of an accusation against that person or any other, of having committed or attempted to commit any offence punishable with death, or with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, or of having attempted to induce any other person to commit such offence, 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.
Sub-section (1) defines the offence; the punishments come later in the section. Extortion has five ingredients that must all be present. First, the accused must intentionally put a person in fear. Second, the fear must be fear of injury to that person or to any other person. “Injury” has a wide meaning in the BNS: Section 2(14) defines it as any harm whatever illegally caused to any person, in body, mind, reputation or property. So the threatened harm need not be violence; a threat to publish a defamatory libel, or to harm someone's reputation or property, can qualify. Third, by that fear the accused must induce the frightened person to hand something over. Fourth, the inducement must be dishonest: Section 2(7) defines “dishonestly” as doing anything with the intention of causing wrongful gain to one person or wrongful loss to another person. Fifth, what is delivered must be property, a valuable security, or anything signed or sealed which may be converted into a valuable security. The delivery may be made to the accused or to any other person, as Illustration (c) shows (the bond is delivered to B).
The essential feature is that the victim’s consent is obtained, but obtained by fear. That is what separates extortion from theft, where property is taken without consent, and from cheating, where the victim is deceived rather than frightened. Extortion is related to robbery: Section 309 turns extortion into robbery only when the fear is of instant death, hurt or wrongful restraint and the offender is present when the victim delivers the property. A threat of future harm, or a threat made by letter, message or through a third party, remains extortion under this sub-section but is not robbery.
The sub-section contains its own five Illustrations. Illustration (e) is new to the BNS; it deals with a threat sent through an electronic device, which shows that the medium of the threat is irrelevant so long as the fear, the dishonest inducement and the delivery are all present. Note also that the definition, by itself, carries no jail term or fine. A person is punished for the completed offence under sub-section (2) and for the related forms under sub-sections (3) to (7). Where the threat concerns wrongful confinement, hurt or grievous hurt and is carried out, other sections of the BNS on those offences may also apply (for instance Section 119 on causing hurt or grievous hurt to extort property and Section 127(7) on wrongful confinement to extort property) — the two provisions describe different acts.
Sub-section (2) prescribes the ordinary punishment for the completed offence defined in sub-section (1): imprisonment of either description (simple or rigorous, at the court's choice) for a term which may extend to seven years, or fine, or both. It is the general tier that applies whenever the fear used is of an ordinary injury — a threat to reputation, property or a lesser bodily harm — and none of the more serious aggravating forms in sub-sections (5), (6) or (7) is proved. Because the section says “seven years” as a maximum, the court may impose any shorter term, may impose only a fine (the amount is not capped in the sub-section), or may impose both.
This is the sub-section where the BNS raises the punishment. The corresponding IPC provision, Section 384, allowed imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or fine, or both. Sub-section (2) raises the maximum imprisonment to seven years; the other words are unchanged. Nothing else in the sub-section changed.
On classification, the BNSS First Schedule treats this offence as cognizable (the police may arrest without a warrant), non-bailable (bail is not a matter of right and is decided by the court under BNSS Section 480), and triable by a Magistrate of the first class. It does not appear in either compounding table of BNSS Section 359, so that Section gives the parties no route to end the case by compounding it. Two points on the reach of the sub-section. First, it punishes completed extortion, meaning the property or document was actually delivered; the preparatory or unsuccessful stage falls under sub-sections (3) and (4). Second, it does not itself require that the fear be of death or grievous hurt — those are the aggravated forms. Fear of death or grievous hurt is dealt with in sub-sections (4) (in order to commit extortion) and (5) (extortion committed), and fear of an accusation of a serious offence is dealt with in sub-sections (6) (in order to commit extortion) and (7) (extortion committed).
Sub-section (3) punishes the attempt stage of extortion. The offender need not obtain any property; it is enough that, in order to commit extortion, he puts a person in fear of any injury, or attempts to do so. Two limbs are therefore covered: (a) actually placing someone in fear, even though the person hands over nothing (for example, the victim refuses or the police intervene), and (b) merely attempting to place someone in fear. The purpose element — “in order to the committing of extortion” — is an ingredient of the sub-section: the fear must be put, or attempted to be put, in order to commit extortion, that is, as a step towards obtaining property or a signed or sealed paper.
“Injury” carries the wide Section 2(14) meaning (harm to body, mind, reputation or property). This sub-section covers the residual, less serious kind of threat. Where the fear is specifically of death or grievous hurt, sub-section (4) applies instead, with a higher punishment; where the fear is of an accusation of a grave offence, sub-section (6) applies. So the three sub-sections are graded by what the offender threatens, and the general one is sub-section (3).
The punishment is imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or fine, or both. It is the lightest of the punishments in Section 308. Under the BNSS First Schedule the offence is cognizable, bailable and triable by any Magistrate; it is not compoundable under BNSS Section 359. The wording and punishment are the same as IPC Section 385. Under sub-section (3), payment by the victim is not required — that requirement belongs to the completed offence in sub-sections (1) and (2).
Sub-section (4) is the aggravated version of sub-section (3). The structure is the same — the offender puts, or attempts to put, a person in fear in order to commit extortion, and no delivery of property need have happened — but the fear is specifically of death or of grievous hurt, whether to the person threatened or to anyone else. “Grievous hurt” is the class of serious bodily harm listed in BNS Section 116 (for example permanent privation of sight or hearing, fracture or dislocation of a bone or tooth, or any hurt that endangers life or causes severe bodily pain for fifteen days). A threat of ordinary hurt, or of harm to property, does not qualify here and would fall under sub-section (3).
Two features distinguish this sub-section. The punishment is heavier: imprisonment of either description up to seven years and the offender is also liable to fine. The phrase “shall also be liable to fine” means the court may add a fine to the jail term, in contrast to the “or with fine, or with both” formula in sub-sections (2) and (3), where fine may be imposed alone. Second, the classification changes: the BNSS First Schedule treats it as cognizable and non-bailable, triable by a Magistrate of the first class, and not compoundable.
The sub-section matches IPC Section 387 in wording and punishment. In the BNS it comes before the completed offence in sub-section (5), whereas IPC Section 386 (the completed offence) was numbered before IPC Section 387 (the threat stage). A useful way to hold the structure in mind: sub-sections (3), (4) and (6) punish the threat stage; sub-sections (2), (5) and (7) punish the completed extortion.
Sub-section (5) is the completed and most serious form of ordinary extortion. It combines the definition in sub-section (1) with the fear specified in sub-section (4): the offender commits extortion — that is, actually obtains the delivery of property, valuable security or a signed or sealed document — by putting the victim in fear of death or of grievous hurt, to the victim or to any other person. Every ingredient of sub-section (1) must be proved, and in addition the particular fear must be one of death or grievous hurt (as described in BNS Section 116).
The maximum is imprisonment of either description for ten years, and the offender is also liable to fine. Compare the ladder: plain extortion (sub-section (2)) has a maximum of seven years and may be punished by fine alone; the threat-stage offence in sub-section (4) has a maximum of seven years plus liability to fine; the completed offence here has a maximum of ten years plus liability to fine. Under the BNSS First Schedule the offence is cognizable and non-bailable, triable by a Magistrate of the first class, and not compoundable under BNSS Section 359. The wording and punishment match IPC Section 386.
Two points of confusion arise. First, if the fear is of instant death, hurt or wrongful restraint, the offender is present, and the property is delivered then and there, the act is also robbery under Section 309(3), which carries its own punishment; which description fits depends on the facts. Second, sub-section (5) is not limited to threats against the person who hands over the property: fear for “any other” person is enough, as when a parent is threatened with the death of a child.
Sub-section (6) covers a special kind of threat — the threat of an accusation. The offender, in order to commit extortion, puts or attempts to put a person in fear that an accusation will be made against that person or any other person of having committed, or attempted to commit, an offence that is punishable with death, or with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years. Like sub-sections (3) and (4), it is a threat-stage provision: no delivery of property is needed, and an attempt to instil the fear is enough. The purpose element — “in order to the committing of extortion” — must again be proved.
The gravity of the offence threatened to be alleged sets the tier. The accusation must be of an offence within the top band: death, life imprisonment, or up to ten years. A threat to accuse someone of an offence punishable with a lesser term is not within this sub-section; sub-section (6) does not reach it. The accusation may relate to the victim or to any other person.
The punishment is imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and the offender is also liable to fine. The BNSS First Schedule classifies this offence as cognizable and bailable, triable by a Magistrate of the first class, and not compoundable under BNSS Section 359 (it is read literally from the Schedule). The wording matches IPC Section 389 with one difference: IPC Section 389 continued “and, if the offence be punishable under section 377 of this Code, may be punished with imprisonment for life”; sub-section (6) of the BNS has no such addition.
Sub-section (7) is the completed counterpart of sub-section (6). The offender commits extortion — the victim actually delivers the property, valuable security or signed or sealed document — by putting the victim in fear of an accusation. The accusation may be against the victim or any other person, and it must be of having committed or attempted to commit an offence punishable with death, or with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, or of having attempted to induce any other person to commit such an offence. That last limb (attempting to induce another to commit such an offence) is included in sub-section (7) and does not appear in sub-section (6).
All the elements of sub-section (1) must be proved: intentional fear, dishonest inducement and delivery. The punishment is imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and the offender is also liable to fine. The BNSS First Schedule classifies it as cognizable and bailable, triable by a Magistrate of the first class, and not compoundable under BNSS Section 359; the Schedule reading is taken literally. The sub-section corresponds to IPC Section 388, whose additional clause about offences punishable under IPC Section 377 does not appear in the BNS text.
It helps to compare with sub-section (5). Both are completed extortions with a maximum of ten years and liability to fine; the difference is only what the victim is made to fear — death or grievous hurt in sub-section (5) and a grave accusation in sub-section (7). If the same conduct involves both kinds of fear, the court decides which description the evidence supports.
These judgment(s) relate to Section 308 as a whole rather than to one specific sub-section, and so are presented together here rather than alongside a particular clause above.
The complaint in this case alleged that the complainant was put in fear of death by a gun pointed at him, in order to pressurise him into delivering Rs. 5 lakhs. The High Court, by an order of 28 June 2024, quashed the proceedings, emphasising that the money had not in fact been delivered. The complainant appealed to the Supreme Court, which allowed the appeal and restored the complaint to the file of the Trial Court.
The Court held that the two essential ingredients of old Section 387 of the Indian Penal Code, now sub-section (4) of Section 308 of the Sanhita, were prima facie disclosed: putting the complainant in fear of death, and doing so in order to pressurise him to deliver money. Whether the money was actually delivered “is not even necessary”, because the accused was not charged with the completed offence of extortion (old Section 384, now sub-section (2)); putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt in order to commit extortion is itself punishable. Source limitation: the copy of this decision held for this page is the Court’s record of proceedings for the day of pronouncement, which sets out paragraphs 26 and 27 of the reportable decision but not the rest of it, so the account of the facts above is limited to what those paragraphs state.
Currency check: decided June 2025; no overruling found in this review.
In theft the property is taken without the owner's consent. In extortion the victim does hand the property over, but only because the accused has intentionally put the victim in fear of injury and dishonestly induced the delivery.
It can be. “Injury” in Section 2(14) includes harm to reputation, and Illustration (a) to sub-section (1) gives a threat to publish a defamatory libel as an example of extortion when it is used to obtain money. Whether a particular threat qualifies depends on the facts.
Yes, for plain extortion. IPC Section 384 allowed up to three years; BNS Section 308(2) allows up to seven years, or fine, or both. The aggravated forms in sub-sections (3) to (5) carry the same punishments as IPC Sections 385, 387 and 386.
Under the BNSS First Schedule, sub-sections (3), (6) and (7) are bailable and sub-sections (2), (4) and (5) are non-bailable. All are cognizable and none is compoundable under BNSS Section 359.
Not the completed offence in sub-section (2), (5) or (7). But putting a person in fear in order to commit extortion, or attempting to, is separately punishable under sub-sections (3), (4) and (6), depending on what was threatened.