BNS Section 32 — Act to which a person is compelled by threats

Summary

The main rule of this section is that a person is not guilty of an offence if they were forced to do it by threats that reasonably made them fear instant death at that moment. However, this protection does not apply to murder, or to offences against the State that are punishable with death.

There is a condition to this protection: the person must not have placed themselves in that situation willingly, or because they feared some harm that was less than instant death. If they did, they cannot use this defence.

Explanation 1 clarifies that a person who willingly joins a gang of dacoits, knowing what they are, or joins because they are threatened with a beating, cannot claim this defence. Even if their associates later force them to commit an offence, the law does not excuse them.

Explanation 2 gives an example of when the defence does apply. If a person is seized by a gang of dacoits and forced, under threat of instant death, to do something illegal—such as a blacksmith being made to force open a house door for the dacoits to enter and rob it—that person is entitled to the benefit of this exception.

Official Text

Except murder, and offences against the State punishable with death, nothing is an offence which is done by a person who is compelled to do it by threats, which, at the time of doing it, reasonably cause the apprehension that instant death to that person will otherwise be the consequence:

Provided that the person doing the act did not of his own accord, or from a reasonable apprehension of harm to himself short of instant death, place himself in the situation by which he became subject to such constraint.

Explanation 1.—A person who, of his own accord, or by reason of a threat of being beaten, joins a gang of dacoits, knowing their character, is not entitled to the benefit of this exception, on the ground of his having been compelled by his associates to do anything that is an offence by law.

Explanation 2.—A person seized by a gang of dacoits, and forced, by threat of instant death, to do a thing which is an offence by law; for example, a smith compelled to take his tools and to force the door of a house for the dacoits to enter and plunder it, is entitled to the benefit of this exception.

Related Judgments

• SC (2025) Vol.3 p.1309 — Supreme Court of India (2025)
• SC (2025) Vol.11 p.291 — Supreme Court of India (2025)
• SC (2025) Vol.3 p.1531 — Supreme Court of India (2025)
• SC (2025) Vol.6 p.280 — Supreme Court of India (2025)
• SC (2024) Vol.6 p.129 — Supreme Court of India (2024)
• SC (2025) Vol.4 p.2730 — Supreme Court of India (2025)
• SC (2024) Vol.8 p.670 — Supreme Court of India (2024)
• SC (2025) Vol.2 p.80 — Supreme Court of India (2025)

Old <-> New Code Mapping

• IPC §94 — Act to which a person is compelled by threats