Study material
Published material from The Law Easy that cites Section 2.
Every criminal case asks two questions: what did the accused do , and what was going on in the accused's mind when doing it? The doing is called actus reus (the guilty act). The thinking is called mens rea (the guilty mind).
28 min read
Attempt is the stage at which a person has started to carry out a crime but has not completed it. Not every unfinished crime is treated alike: some people who stop short of the full offence are guilty of attempt, while others have committed no offence at all. These notes cover why attempt is punish…
16 min read
Criminal Law explains why the law punishes one person and lets another go free, even when both have done something that looks the same from the outside.
120 min read
Can a person be sent to jail for a crime that never happened, with a weapon that was never bought, against a victim who was never touched? In one corner of criminal law, the answer is yes. That corner is criminal conspiracy .
17 min read
Some acts look like offences on their face, yet the law says that nothing is an offence . The reason lies in a set of general exceptions in Chapter III of the B.N.S. (2023): Sections 19 to 24 , and Sections 30, 31 and 32 .
30 min read
The central idea of this topic is simple: a plan can divide the work, but the law refuses to divide the guilt. When people commit a crime together, the law can hold each of them responsible for what the group did, even for a blow struck by another person.
24 min read
These notes cover kidnapping and abduction under the B.N.S.: the definition of abduction (Section 138), the two kinds of kidnapping (Section 137), the meaning of consent (Section 28), lawful guardianship, punishment (Sections 137(2), 87 and 140), two Supreme Court cases, and the differences between…
18 min read
Not every act that damages property is a crime. Damage to property becomes a crime when it amounts to the offence of mischief under Section 324 of the B.N.S. The three problems below are solved at the end, after the law is set out.
8 min read
Sections 74 to 78 of the B.N.S. sit under the heading "Of criminal force and assault against woman", which also covers Section 79 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman). Sections 74 to 78 protect a woman against an indecent touch, sexual harassment, being stripped, voyeuri…
24 min read
The right of private defence is dealt with in Sections 34 to 44 of the B.N.S. These eleven Sections close Chapter 3 , the chapter on General Exceptions . They explain when a person who uses force to protect a body or property is protected by the law, and when the same force becomes a crime.
28 min read
This topic explains the stages through which a crime passes, the elements that must be present for a complete crime, the stage at which criminal law steps in, the special cases where even preparation is punished under the B.N.S., and the three inchoate crimes: attempt, criminal conspiracy and abetm…
15 min read
5 practice questions test this section.
We show statutory text only after checking it word for word against the official source. Read Section 2 of the B.N.S. 2023 on India Code.
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