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Indian Penal Code, 1860 · Chapter IX: Of Offences by or Relating to Public Servants

Section 166: Public servant disobeying law, with intent to cause injury to any person

The Indian Penal Code, 1860 was repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 from 1 July 2024.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 198 (Public servant disobeying law, with intent to cause injury to any person)

In plain words

A public servant who knowingly disobeys a direction of law on how they must conduct themselves, intending or knowing it likely to cause injury to someone, is punishable with simple imprisonment for up to one year, or fine, or both.

Example: A, an officer directed by law to seize property in execution of a decree in Z's favour, knowingly disobeys that direction, knowing it is likely to injure Z. A commits this offence.

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, being a public servant, knowingly disobeys any direction of the law as to the way in which he is to conduct himself as such public servant, intending to cause, or knowing it to be likely that he will, by such disobedience, cause injury to any person, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both. IIIustration A, being an officer directed by law to take property in execution, in order to satisfy a decree pronounced in Z's favour by a Court of Justice, knowingly disobeys that direction of law, with the knowledge that he is likely thereby to cause injury to Z. A has committed the offence defined in this section.

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 166