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Indian Penal Code, 1860 · Chapter V: Of Abetment

Section 109: Punishment of a abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and whe re no express provision is made for its punishment

The Indian Penal Code, 1860 was repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 from 1 July 2024. It still applies to matters and proceedings from before that date, as the repealing law provides.

Now in the BNS section 49 (Punishment of abetment if act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment)

In plain words

If the abetted act is committed as a result of the abetment, and the Code has no express provision for punishing that abetment, the abettor gets the punishment provided for the offence itself.

  • An act is committed as a result of abetment if it follows from the instigation, conspiracy or aid that makes up the abetment.

A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.

Official text

Whoever abets any offence shall, if the act abetted is committed in consequence of the abetment, and no express provision is made by this Code for the punishment of such abetment, be punished with the punishment provided for the offence.

Explanation.—An act or offence is said to be committed in consequence of abetment, when it is committed in consequence of the instigation, or in pursuance of the conspiracy, or with the aid which constitutes the abetment.

Corresponding sections were matched by comparing the wording of both official texts, and for the IPC and BNS, also against a published correspondence table. Wording, punishments and structure often changed, so read both sections before relying on the match.

Source: India Code (Legislative Department), the text of the Act as it stood before its repeal. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here.

Supreme Court judgments citing the section 109