Keeping Pace with Legal Change
This page provides an explanation of Sections 9 to 11 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. The article focuses on the institution of Judicial Magistrates and Special Judicial Magistrates, as well as their classification and their functions. The provisions of the law are simplified through the use of thorough explanations and illustrations that are applicable.
With a particular emphasis on Sections 6, 7, and 8, this article provides an explanation of the composition and organizational structure of criminal courts and offices that fall under the jurisdiction of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. Using straightforward language, it provides information regarding the categorization, jurisdiction, appointments, and operational procedures of the judicial system.
Section 28 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 expresses that consent cannot be offered when taken out of fear, misapprehension, stupor, soundness of mind, or by a kid younger than twelve years in order to offer protection against duplicity, compulsion, and other subjection to justice.
Section 106 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita can be called draconian that imposed harsh punishment reaching up to ten years of imprisonment to hit-and-run drivers and two years to the careless doctors as medical and transport communities protested all over India.
Section 26 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 protects individuals who act harmlessly in good faith and with consent even if their actions risk harm. It ensures that medical procedures, emergency rescues, and similar interventions performed to benefit someone and with their informed consent are not treated as criminal offences.
Section 25 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, stipulates that an act not intended or known to likely cause death or grievous hurt is not an offense if the person harmed is over eighteen and has consented to the risk. For example, if two adults agree to fence for amusement and one is injured without foul play, no offense is committed.
Section 24 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, addresses the issue of criminal liability in cases where an offense requires specific intent or knowledge, and the act is committed under intoxication. According to this provision, if an individual voluntarily becomes intoxicated and commits such an offense, they are held legally responsible as if they possessed the required intent or knowledge, regardless of their impaired state. However, if the intoxication was involuntary—meaning the substance was administered without their knowledge or against their will—this may serve as a defense, acknowledging that the individual lacked the capacity to form the necessary intent or knowledge due to the involuntary intoxication.
The sexual assault case in Pollachi brought to light a terrible plot in which a group of men in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, methodically enticed young women under false pretences, sexually assaulted them, videotaped the activities without obtaining their consent, and then exploited the videos to extort additional sexual favors or money from the young ladies. The scandal, which was brought to light at the beginning of 2019, aroused significant concern regarding the protection of survivors, the safety of women in public settings, and the breaches in police procedures. In May of 2025, a special Mahila Court in Coimbatore found nine men guilty of the crime and sentenced them to life imprisonment till death. Additionally, the court ordered that the survivors get considerable compensation. This article covers the specifics of the case, the investigation, the judicial decision, the pertinent provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and the political controversies that followed, with the goal of highlighting the lessons that can be learned for the purpose of revising the law and providing assistance to victims.
Section 23 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, presents a sophisticated outlook on criminal liability with regard to intoxication. Distinguishing between voluntary and involuntary intoxication, the legislation ensures that people are held accountable in a fair manner, bearing in mind their state of mind and the situation causing them to become impaired.
Section 22 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, reflects the philosophy that justice must take into account the state of mind of people. In exempting persons suffering from severe mental illnesses from criminal responsibility when they are unable to understand their acts, the law balances protection of society with compassion and justice.
