IPC Section 511 — Punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment

Summary

If a person tries to commit a crime that is punishable under the Indian Penal Code with life imprisonment or any other term of imprisonment, and takes a concrete step toward committing that crime, they can be punished. This applies only when the Code does not already have a specific punishment for that attempt. The punishment can be up to half of the life imprisonment term, or half of the maximum prison term set for that crime, along with any fine that the crime carries, or both.

Official Text

Whoever attempts to commit an offence punishable by this Code with imprisonment for life or imprisonment, or to cause such an offence to be committed, and in such attempt does any act towards the commission of the offence, shall, where no express provision is made by this Code for the punishment of such attempt, be punished with imprisonment of any description provided for the offence, for a term which may extend to one-half of the imprisonment for life or, as the case may be, one-half of the longest term of imprisonment provided for that offence, or with such fine as is provided for the offence, or with both.

Related Judgments

• STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH vs MAHENDRA ALIAS GOLU — Supreme Court of India (2021)
• OM PRAKASH vs THE STATE OF PUNJAB — Supreme Court of India (1961)
• BHAGIRATH & ORS vs DELHI ADMINISTRATION — Supreme Court of India (1985)
• ABHAYANAND MISHRA vs THE STATE OF BIHAR — Supreme Court of India (1961)
• LAUT KUMAR YADAV @ KURI vs STATE OF UTIAR PRADESH — Supreme Court of India (2014)

Old <-> New Code Mapping

• BNS §62 — Punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment