Section 325 punishes mischief committed by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless any animal. The punishment is imprisonment of up to five years, or fine, or both, and the section applies to any animal, whatever its kind or value. It replaces two sections of the old Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Sections 428 and 429), which depended on the value or the kind of animal.
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 325 is marked as changed in the concordance: it draws on two sections of the old Indian Penal Code, 1860 and folds them into one provision:
| BNS 325 | Covers | IPC, 1860 equivalent | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 325 | Mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless any animal | S.428 “Mischief by killing or maiming animal of the value of ten rupees”; S.429 “Mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc., of any value or any animal of the value of fifty rupees” | Substantively changed |
A word-by-word comparison of the bare text of BNS Section 325 against IPC Sections 428 and 429 shows the following. Structurally, two IPC sections (428 and 429) are merged into this one section; substantively, the scope and the punishment change, as follows. IPC Section 428 applied to killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless an animal “of the value of the ten rupees or upwards” and carried imprisonment of either description for up to two years, or fine, or both. IPC Section 429 applied where the animal was an elephant, camel, horse, mule, buffalo, bull, cow or ox, whatever its value, or any other animal of the value of fifty rupees or upwards, and carried imprisonment of either description for up to five years, or fine, or both. BNS Section 325 removes both the value thresholds and the list of named animals: it applies to “any animal” and carries a single punishment of up to five years, or fine, or both. The four ways of committing the mischief (killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless) and the kind of punishment (imprisonment of either description, or fine, or both) are the same. The IPC sections also carry small printing differences in wording (for example “imprisonment or either description” in Section 429 and “any animals or animal” in Section 428), which this page treats as printing variations.
Whoever commits mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless any animal shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five 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 325 takes the definition of mischief in Section 324(1) and attaches its own, separate punishment when the mischief is done “by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless any animal”. The ingredients of Section 324(1) therefore have to be present — an intent to cause, or knowledge that he is likely to cause, wrongful loss or damage to the public or to any person, together with the destruction of, or injurious change in, the property — and the property affected must be an animal, harmed in one of four listed ways. Section 2(2) defines “animal” as “any living creature, other than a human being”, so the section is not limited to livestock, pets or animals of a stated kind; and the text names no minimum value. The four ways of committing the offence are listed side by side: killing, poisoning, maiming, and rendering useless. Poisoning is therefore named as a mode in its own right, alongside killing, and an animal that is maimed or rendered useless without dying is within the words.
The section stands apart from the general tiers in Section 324, which are graded by the kind of property or by the amount of loss. Section 325 does not refer to the amount of loss at all: the offence is defined by what is done to an animal, and the punishment is imprisonment of either description for up to five years, or fine, or both. Under Section 4(c), imprisonment of either description means either rigorous or simple imprisonment, and the section states no minimum term and no maximum amount of fine. Under the BNSS First Schedule the offence is cognizable, bailable and triable by a Magistrate of the first class, and the table in BNSS Section 359(1) lists it as compoundable, without the Court’s permission, by the owner of the animal. The old IPC handled this conduct through two sections (Sections 428 and 429) that used value thresholds and a list of named animals to sort cases into a two-year and a five-year punishment; as the concordance section above shows, Section 325 replaces both with a single five-year ceiling.
Imprisonment of either description (simple or rigorous) for a term which may extend to five years, or fine, or both. The section does not fix the amount of the fine.
Under the First Schedule to the BNSS it is cognizable and bailable, and triable by a Magistrate of the first class. BNSS Section 359(1) lists it as compoundable, without the Court’s permission, by the owner of the animal.
No. Section 2(2) defines “animal” as any living creature, other than a human being, and Section 325 refers to “any animal” without any value threshold or list of named animals. The old IPC did have both: Section 428 applied to an animal of the value of ten rupees or upwards, and Section 429 named particular animals or set a threshold of fifty rupees.
No. The section lists four ways of committing the offence: killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless. An animal that is maimed or rendered useless, but survives, falls within the words of the section.
Section 325 applies where the person “commits mischief” by one of the four listed means, so the definition of mischief in Section 324(1) must be met: the offender must have acted with intent to cause, or knowing that he is likely to cause, wrongful loss or damage to the public or to any person.
The value thresholds (ten rupees and fifty rupees) and the list of named animals (elephant, camel, horse, mule, buffalo, bull, cow or ox) no longer appear, and the section carries one punishment of up to five years, or fine, or both, instead of two different ceilings (two years and five years).