Section 323 punishes a person who dishonestly or fraudulently conceals or removes any property of himself or of any other person, or dishonestly or fraudulently assists in that concealment or removal, or dishonestly releases any demand or claim to which he is entitled. The punishment is imprisonment of up to three years, or fine, or both — up from two years under IPC Section 424. Unlike Section 320, its words do not require any intention about creditors.
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 323 carries the “(Change)” marker in the concordance and corresponds to one section of the old Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 424). Comparing the two statutory texts, the section is Substantively changed:
| BNS section | IPC, 1860 equivalent | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 323 | S.424 “Dishonest or fraudulent removal or concealment of property” | Substantively changed |
A word-by-word comparison of BNS Section 323 with IPC Section 424 shows one difference and no others: the maximum term of imprisonment. IPC Section 424 provided imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or fine, or both; BNS Section 323 provides imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or fine, or both. The description of the offence — the concealment or removal of property, the assistance in it, and the release of a demand or claim — is word for word the same, and so is the marginal heading.
Whoever dishonestly or fraudulently conceals or removes any property of himself or any other person, or dishonestly or fraudulently assists in the concealment or removal thereof, or dishonestly releases any demand or claim to which he is entitled, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.
Source: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Act No. 45 of 2023), as published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary.
Section 323 lists three separate acts, joined by “or”, any one of which completes the offence. The first is to conceal or remove any property of himself or of any other person, done dishonestly or fraudulently. The second is to assist in the concealment or removal of that property, again dishonestly or fraudulently; this limb is about helping with a concealment or removal. The third is to release any demand or claim to which he is entitled, done dishonestly. Section 2(7) defines “dishonestly” as doing anything with the intention of causing wrongful gain to one person or wrongful loss to another, and Section 2(9) defines “fraudulently” as doing anything with the intention to defraud but not otherwise. Read carefully, the third limb uses “dishonestly” alone, while the first two limbs use “dishonestly or fraudulently”.
Several points about the words are worth noting. The property in the first two limbs may be the accused’s own (“of himself”) or another’s (“any other person”), so the section is not confined to dealing with someone else’s property. It says “any property”: Section 2 defines “movable property” in clause (21) but has no definition of “property” on its own, and the section does not add the word “movable”. The words “conceals” and “removes” are not defined in Section 2, and neither are “demand” or “claim”. Unlike Section 320, the section contains no words about creditors or about preventing the distribution of property; the required state of mind is the dishonest or fraudulent one described above.
Compare the neighbouring sections. Section 320 covers removing, concealing, delivering or transferring property with an intention or knowledge about distribution among creditors; the marginal heading of Section 323 is the shorter phrase “Dishonest or fraudulent removal or concealment of property”, and the words about creditors are what separate the two. Section 321 concerns preventing a debt or demand from being made available for payment of debts. Section 322 concerns signing, executing or becoming a party to a deed of transfer containing a false statement. Section 323’s third limb (releasing a demand or claim) may be compared with Section 321: Section 323 is about giving up a claim to which the accused is entitled, whereas Section 321 is about preventing a debt or demand from being made available.
The punishment is imprisonment of either description (rigorous or simple, as listed in Section 4(c)) for a term which may extend to three years, or fine, or both, with no minimum term. This is the point at which the Sanhita differs from IPC Section 424: the maximum term rises from two years to three, and no other word of the section changed. The BNSS First Schedule lists Section 323 as non-cognizable (BNSS Section 2(1)(o): a police officer has no authority to arrest without warrant), bailable, and triable by any Magistrate. Under BNSS Section 359(1) it is compoundable by the person affected thereby, without the permission of the Court; Section 359 sets further conditions on compounding that should be read in full before it is relied on in any real case.
Imprisonment of either description (simple or rigorous) for a term which may extend to three years, or fine, or both. The section sets no minimum term.
Under the First Schedule to the BNSS it is non-cognizable and bailable, and triable by any Magistrate. Under BNSS Section 359(1) it is compoundable by the person affected thereby, without the permission of the Court, subject to the other conditions of Section 359.
The section covers “any property of himself or any other person”, so the words are not limited to another person’s property. The concealment or removal must be dishonest or fraudulent.
The words are “dishonestly or fraudulently assists in the concealment or removal thereof”. As worded, the limb is tied to a concealment or removal of the property, and the assistance itself must be dishonest or fraudulent; the words do not say whether the assistant must be a person other than the one who conceals or removes.
No. Unlike Section 320, the words of Section 323 contain no reference to creditors or to preventing distribution of property.
Only the maximum term of imprisonment: two years under IPC Section 424, three years under Section 323. The rest of the wording and the marginal heading are the same.