Protection Against Harm To Life, Limb and Liberty
Dr Banusri VelpandianSenior Law Specialist J E Jaya DeviLegal Consultant Co-author In Indian criminal jurisprudence, offences against life, limb and liberty form the cornerstone. It embodies the State’s fundamental duty to safeguard life, bodily integrity, physical autonomy, and personal liberty. These offences spanning across spectrum of the gravest to heinous nature strike at the very heart of human dignity and social order, demanding a robust legal framework to ensure justice, deterrence, and rehabilitation. The total FIRs (First Information Reports) registered in the year 2022 was 58,24,946 for crimes under Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special & Local Laws (SLL); and among them 32.5% are for offences affecting the human body as per the report of National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB). Urban areas continue to have higher crime rates when compared to rural areas. The constitutional foundation for protection of life, limb and liberty lies in Article 21 of the Constitution of India, which guarantees the right to life and personal liberty – a right, judicially expanded to include dignity, bodily security, and freedom from physical harm. Articles 14, 15, and 20 further complement this protection by ensuring equality before law, non-discrimination, and safeguards against arbitrary punishment. Criminal law operationalises these guarantees through substantive, procedural, and evidentiary provisions that criminalise acts infringing life, limb, and liberty. The legal response to such crimes has undergone a profound transformation from the fragmented pre-colonial justice systems to the codified Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, and now to the transformative Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. “The soul of our criminal justice system must reflect the spirit of our Republic, not the shadows of colonial governance” – Extract from the Parliamentary Debate in 2023 on amending the Indian Penal Code. This article presents a structured commentary on the transition from the IPC to the BNS and relevant legal principles. STATUTORY FRAMEWORK For over 160 years, the IPC’s Chapter XVI, ‘Offences Affecting the Human Body,’ defined how the State would respond when life, limb, and liberty were violated or harmed. Since 2023, Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, (BNS, 2023) ushers a modernised statutory framework that preserves the substantive core of the IPC while refining its drafting, structure, and penalties based on contemporary realities. It adopts a graded punishment structure based on severity and culpability, thereby upholding public order, human dignity and evidentiary rules remain responsive to evolving forms of violence, advances in technology, and the expectations of victims. Historical background and evolution of the IPC Historically, India’s criminal justice system was a fragmented amalgamation of religious, customary, and colonial laws and marked by inconsistency and bias. This includes justice delivery in terms of Manusmriti, Yajnavalkya Smriti, Arthashastra or Sharia. Among tribal communities, justice was administered through unwritten customs, community mediation, and compensation in the form of livestock, land, or goods. The arrival of the British East India Company in the seventeenth century introduced partial codification, most notably through the Cornwallis Code of 1793 in Bengal, which sought uniformity but retained the elements of religious law for personal matters. Punishments for similar offences varied drastically between regions, undermining fairness and public trust. This patchwork system created inconsistency and administrative inefficiency. The consolidation of British rule promoted the need for a uniform penal law to ensure consistency, fairness, and effective governance drawing from English common law, the Napoleonic Code, and utilitarian principles. In 1834, the First Law Commission under Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay drafted the IPC, which was passed on 6 October 1860 and came into force on 1 January 1862. Comprising 511 sections in 23 chapters, IPC became the comprehensive criminal law framework for British India. Since then, IPC has undergone numerous amendments and few cardinal ones are as given hereunder; Year & Amendment Key Changes Purpose / Context 1870 Amendment Clarified provisions for abetment (Sections 107–120); clarified joint liability (Sections 34, 149) Strengthened accountability for group crimes such as gang-related murders or assaults. 1983 & 1986 Amendments Introduced Section 304B (dowry death) Addressed dowry-related violence and rising incidents of bride-burning, influenced by feminist activism and public outrage. 2013 Amendment (Post-Nirbhaya) Added Sections 326A & 326B (acid attacks); expanded definitions of sexual offences Response to 2012 Delhi gang-rape; aimed at stronger protection for women and deterrence against sexual violence. 2018 Amendment Strengthened laws on sexual offences against minors; alignment with POCSO Act, 2012 Tackled child abuse and exploitation; enhanced penalties and protections. There are several landmark decisions that also shaped up the evolution of IPC. Four such case laws are picturised below; Transition from IPC to BNS, 2023 The Indian Penal Code (IPC), drafted under colonial era in archaic language had significant gaps in addressing modern crimes including cyber offences, victim protection etc. Its punitive focus overlooked rehabilitation, and limited victim rights clashed with contemporary justice principles. The focus was also to deliver justice rather than to penalise i.e., from ‘dand’ to ‘nyay.’ In 2023, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 20231 , was enacted as part of a legal reform trio alongside the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 20232 and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam,20233 replacing the IPC, CrPC, and Evidence Act respectively. Effective from 1 July 2024, the BNS reduces 511 sections of the erstwhile IPC to 358, uses plain and culturally resonant language, and incorporates gender-neutral and victim-centric provisions. It introduces community service for minor offences, clearer definitions, and new categories such as mob lynching (Section – 103(2)), organized crime (Section – 111), petty organized crime (Section – 112), and enhanced penalties for acid attacks (Section – 124). By modernising certain terminology, recognising emerging crimes, and embedding restorative justice, the BNS seeks to decolonise India’s criminal law and align it with constitutional ideals and global human rights standards. Significant Legal Principles and Maxims ● Cognizable and non-cognizable: ‘cognizable offence’ means an offence for which, and ‘cognizable case’ means a case in which, a police officer may, in accordance with the First Schedule or under any other law for the time being in force, arrest without warrant (BNSS section 2 (1) d). ● ‘Non-cognizable offence’ means an offence for which,…