Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 — Section 56

Abetment of Offence Punishable With Imprisonment, If Offence Not Committed

Section 56 is the counterpart to Section 55 for offences punishable with imprisonment (rather than death or life imprisonment). Abetting such an offence is itself punishable even if the offence is never actually committed, with the maximum term generally capped at one-fourth of the longest term provided for that offence — rising to one-half where the abettor, or the person abetted, is a public servant whose duty it was to prevent the offence.

Please note: This page reflects our understanding of the law as of the date it was last reviewed. Parliament, the State Legislatures, and the courts continue to amend and interpret this law, and this page may not yet reflect the most recent change. Please verify the current text of the law independently, and consult a licensed advocate for advice on your own matter, before relying on this page.

Corresponding Provision Under Prior Law

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 56 is marked Exact correspondence:

BNS 56	Covers	IPC, 1860 equivalent	Category
56	Abetment of offence punishable with imprisonment, if offence not committed	S.116 (identical, save for "this Code" → "this Sanhita" and "made by" → "made under")	Exact

Comparing the bare text directly, the operative rule of BNS Section 56 — both the base and the enhanced punishment for a public-servant abettor or abettee — is word-for-word identical to old IPC Section 116, apart from two small wording changes: "this Code" becomes "this Sanhita," and "made by" becomes "made under." For completeness, the section's illustrations differ in number: IPC 116 carried four lettered illustrations, the first of which was "A offers a bribe to B, a public servant, as a reward for showing A some favour... B refuses to accept the bribe. A is punishable under this section." BNS 56 as published carries only the remaining three illustrations (the false-evidence instigation and the two police-officer/robbery illustrations) and omits the bribery illustration. The operative rule is unchanged, and the Act gives no reason for the omission.

Quick Reference

Section 56 is a punishment provision for abetment of an imprisonment-punishable offence. It is classified as follows in the First Schedule to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), quoted as that Schedule words each entry:

(base): punishment — “Imprisonment extending to one-fourth of the longest term provided for the offence, or fine, or both.” · cognizable or non-cognizable — “According as offence abetted is cognizable or non-cognizable.” · bailable or non-bailable — “According as offence abetted is bailable or non-bailable.” · triable by — “Court by which offence abetted is triable.”
(if the abettor or the person abetted be a public servant whose duty it is to prevent the offence): punishment — “Imprisonment extending to one-half of the longest term provided for the offence, or fine, or both.” · cognizable or non-cognizable — “According as offence abetted is cognizable or non-cognizable.” · bailable or non-bailable — “According as offence abetted is bailable or non-bailable.” · triable by — “Court by which offence abetted is triable.”
Compoundable: Not listed in either compounding table of BNSS S.359. (Separately, BNSS S.359(3) provides that where an offence is compoundable under that section, the abetment of that offence may be compounded in like manner.)

What it requires: the accused abetted an offence punishable with imprisonment; that offence was not actually committed in consequence of the abetment; and no other express provision in the Sanhita already punishes that particular abetment.
Base punishment: imprisonment of any description provided for that offence, for a term which may extend to one-fourth of the longest term provided for that offence, or such fine as is provided for that offence, or both.
Enhanced punishment: where the abettor or the person abetted is a public servant whose duty it was to prevent the offence, imprisonment of any description provided for that offence, for a term which may extend to one-half of the longest term provided for that offence, or such fine, or both.

Statutory Text (Verbatim)

Whoever abets an offence punishable with imprisonment shall, if that offence be not committed in consequence of the abetment, and no express provision is made under this Sanhita for the punishment of such abetment, be punished with imprisonment of any description provided for that offence for a term which may extend to one-fourth part of the longest term provided for that offence; or with such fine as is provided for that offence, or with both; and if the abettor or the person abetted is a public servant, whose duty it is to prevent the commission of such offence, the abettor shall be punished with imprisonment of any description provided for that offence, for a term which may extend to one-half of the longest term provided for that offence, or with such fine as is provided for the offence, or with both.

Illustrations.
(a) A instigates B to give false evidence. Here, if B does not give false evidence, A has nevertheless committed the offence defined in this section, and is punishable accordingly.

(b) A, a police officer, whose duty it is to prevent robbery, abets the commission of robbery. Here, though the robbery be not committed, A is liable to one-half of the longest term of imprisonment provided for that offence, and also to fine.

(c) B abets the commission of a robbery by A, a police officer, whose duty it is to prevent that offence. Here, though the robbery be not committed, B is liable to one-half of the longest term of imprisonment provided for the offence of robbery, and also to fine.

Source: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Act No. 45 of 2023), as published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary.

Explanation & Illustration (Lexovia's Commentary — Not Statutory Text)

Punishing abetment where the offence is not committed, scaled to the offence's own maximum term

Explanation (Lexovia's Commentary)

Unlike Section 55, which fixes flat maximum terms (seven or fourteen years) for abetment of offences punishable by death or life imprisonment, Section 56 deals with the much broader and more variable category of offences punishable with imprisonment generally. Rather than fixing a flat number of years, it scales the punishment as a fraction of whatever the longest term is for the offence actually abetted — one-fourth as the general rule. The section then singles out one aggravating circumstance for a doubled fraction (one-half): where either the abettor or the person being abetted is a public servant specifically tasked with preventing that very offence. The higher fraction applies whenever a public servant tasked with preventing the offence is involved, whether as the abettor or as the person abetted.

Illustration (Lexovia's Own Example)

A instigates B to commit criminal trespass, an offence punishable with imprisonment for up to three months. B does not go through with it, so the offence of criminal trespass is never actually committed. Neither A nor B is a public servant with any duty to prevent criminal trespass. A is nonetheless liable under Section 56 to imprisonment for a term which may extend to one-fourth of three months (i.e., up to about twenty-two days), or the fine provided for criminal trespass, or both — the base tier, since neither the public-servant aggravation nor any other express abetment provision applies.

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Related / Cross-Referenced Sections

FAQs

Is abetment of an ordinary imprisonment-punishable offence still punishable if the offence never happens?

Yes. Section 56 punishes the abetment itself, generally up to one-fourth of the longest term for that offence, even where the offence abetted was never actually committed.

Why does the punishment sometimes rise to one-half instead of one-fourth?

Where the abettor, or the person abetted, is a public servant whose duty it was to prevent that very offence, the maximum rises to one-half of the longest term for the offence.

Does the "one-fourth" figure mean one-fourth of the abettor's own sentence?

No. It is one-fourth of the longest term of imprisonment provided by law for the offence that was abetted, not any sentence actually imposed on anyone.