Section 62 is the Sanhita's general, residual provision for punishing an attempt to commit any offence punishable with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment, where the attempt itself does some act towards the offence's commission and no other express provision already punishes that particular attempt. The punishment is imprisonment of any description provided for the offence, for a term which may extend to one-half of the imprisonment for life, or, as the case may be, one-half of the longest term provided for that offence, or fine, or both. This is the final section of Chapter IV (Of Abetment, Criminal Conspiracy and Attempt); Chapter V (Of Offences Against Woman and Child) begins at the next section.
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. Note: this raw section file's own trailing text ("CHAPTER V — OF OFFENCES AGAINST WOMAN AND CHILD" / "Of sexual offences") confirms that Section 62 is the last section of Chapter IV, and that the next chapter and section begin immediately after it — this has not been relied on as part of Section 62's own content. Section 62 itself is marked Exact correspondence:
| BNS 62 | Covers | IPC, 1860 equivalent | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | Punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment | S.511 (identical, word-for-word) | Exact |
Comparing the bare text directly, BNS Section 62 reproduces old IPC Section 511 word-for-word, including both illustrations, save for "this Code" → "this Sanhita." We note, as a purely structural observation and not a change to the operative text itself, that old IPC Section 511 sat at the very end of the Indian Penal Code, in a chapter of its own (Chapter XXIII, Of Attempts to Commit Offences) following every specific offence chapter, whereas BNS Section 62 places this same general attempt provision early in the Sanhita, immediately after abetment and criminal conspiracy within Chapter IV.
Whoever attempts to commit an offence punishable by this Sanhita with imprisonment for life or imprisonment, or to cause such an offence to be committed, and in such attempt does any act towards the commission of the offence, shall, where no express provision is made by this Sanhita for the punishment of such attempt, be punished with imprisonment of any description provided for the offence, for a term which may extend to one-half of the imprisonment for life or, as the case may be, one-half of the longest term of imprisonment provided for that offence, or with such fine as is provided for the offence, or with both.
Illustrations.
(a) A makes an attempt to steal some jewels by breaking open a box, and finds after so opening the box, that there is no jewel in it. He has done an act towards the commission of theft, and therefore is guilty under this section.
(b) A makes an attempt to pick the pocket of Z by thrusting his hand into Z's pocket. A fails in the attempt in consequence of Z's having nothing in his pocket. A is guilty under this section.
Source: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Act No. 45 of 2023), as published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary.
Many specific offences in the Sanhita carry their own dedicated attempt provisions, with their own tailored punishments. Section 62 exists to fill the gap left whenever an offence punishable with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment has no such dedicated attempt provision: it ensures that an attempt to commit virtually any such offence remains punishable, capped generally at one-half of the punishment that would apply to the completed offence. Crucially, the statute's own two illustrations both emphasize that an attempt is complete once some act towards the offence's commission is done, even if the attempt necessarily fails for reasons entirely outside the accused's control — an empty jewellery box, or an empty pocket. The law does not require that the attempt come close to succeeding; it only requires that some real step towards the offence be taken.
(See the statute's own illustrations above, which are reproduced verbatim as part of the Statutory Text and illustrate this section.)
These judgment(s) relate to Section 62 as a whole rather than to one specific sub-section, and so are presented together here rather than alongside a particular clause above.
This is a sensitive-subject-matter case (a minor victim, proceedings under the POCSO Act) reproduced here only for its general doctrinal test, not its facts in detail. A trial court had summoned the accused for attempt to commit rape; the High Court downgraded this to a lesser offence, holding the conduct amounted only to preparation. The Supreme Court restored the original summons, reaffirming the settled test: preparation is deliberating and arranging the means for an offence, while attempt is the point at which the offender's mens rea begins to be executed — it starts precisely where preparation ends, even though it falls short of the completed offence. On the facts recorded by the High Court itself (an accused pursuing a course of conduct stopped only by the intervention of third parties), the Court held this had crossed from preparation into attempt.
Currency check: decided February 2026, applying and reaffirming the test from State of Madhya Pradesh v. Mahendra alias Golu, (2022) 12 SCC 442; no overruling found in this review.
No. The statute's own illustrations show that an attempt is complete once some act towards the offence's commission is done, even where the attempt inevitably fails for reasons beyond the accused's control, such as an empty box or an empty pocket.
It applies only where no other express provision of the Sanhita already punishes an attempt to commit that particular offence; many specific offences have their own dedicated attempt provisions instead.
It is generally capped at one-half of the imprisonment for life, or, as the case may be, one-half of the longest term of imprisonment provided for the offence attempted.