IPC Sections List – IPC Full Form in Law, Important Sections of IPC

IPC Full Form

The full Form of IPC is the Indian Penal Code which was established in 1860. IPC is the official criminal code of India which contains 23 chapters and 511 sections. The purpose of this IPC Act is to provide a general penal code for India. IPC Full Form in Hindi is भारतीय दण्ड संहिता.

What is Indian Penal Code?

The Indian Penal Code defines what a crime is and what the punishments are for committing one. This Code consolidates the entire structure of law on the subject and proclaims the law meticulously across all aspects. The Indian Penal Code is a substantive law body. Substantive law is a system of law that establishes civil law obligations and rights as well as criminal law offenses and penalties.

IPC Sections List PDF

As an outcome, the Indian Penal Code is the law that defines punishable misdemeanors, their penalties or forms of punishment, or both. This code divides punishments into five categories: death, life imprisonment, general imprisonment, forfeiture of property, and fine. Mohammedan Criminal Law was implemented for both Muslims and Hindus in India before the implementation of the Indian Penal Code.

History of IPC Sections List

The Indian Penal Code (IPC) was enacted in 1860 in response to the suggestions of India’s first law commission, founded in 1834 under the Charter Act of 1833 and chaired by Lord Macaulay. The Indian Penal Code took effect on January 1, 1862, during British command over India and applied to all of then-British India, excluding the princely states, which maintained their own courts and judicial systems until about the 1940s.

Independent India enacted the Indian Penal Code after the partition. It applies to all citizens of India. The IPC has been reformed repeatedly since then and is now accompanied by a number of other criminal provisions. The IPC Sections List is presently divided into 23 chapters with a total of 511 sections. We will discuss the IPC’s important sections in the coming segment.

Important Sections of IPC

Indian Penal Code 1860 (Sections 1 to 511) contains 511 sections in 23 chapters. The code starts with an introduction, provides illustrations and peculiarities used in it, and covers a broad range of violations. The overview of Important Sections of IPC is presented below:

IPC Sections List	Details
Section 1	Title and extent of operation of the Code
Section 2	Punishment of offenses committed within India
Section 3	Punishment of offenses committed beyond but which by law may be tried within India
Section 4	Extension of Code to extra-territorial offenses
Section 8	Gender
Section 11	Person
Sections 19 to 26	“Judge”, “Court of Justice”, “Public Servant”, “Movable property”, “Wrongful gain”, “Wrongful loss”, “Gaining wrongfully, losing wrongfully”, “Dishonestly”, “Fraudulently”, “Reason to believe”
Section 34	Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention
Section 35	When such an act is criminal because it is done with criminal knowledge or intention
Section 36	Effect caused partly by act and partly by omission
Section 37	Cooperation by doing one of several acts constituting an offense
Section 38	Persons concerned in criminal acts may be guilty of different offenses
Section 39	“Voluntarily”
Section 40	“Offense”
Section 52	“Good faith”
Section 52A	“Harbour”
Section 53	Punishment
Section 73	Solitary confinement
Section 74	Limit of solitary confinement
Sections 76 to 106	CHAPTER IV (76-106) – General Exceptions
Sections 107 to 120	CHAPTER V (107-120) – Abetment
Section 120A	Definition of criminal conspiracy
Section 120B	Punishment of criminal conspiracy
Section 121	Waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against the Government of India
Section 124A	Sedition
Section 141	Unlawful assembly
Section 142	Being a member of unlawful assembly
Section 143	Punishment
Section 144	Joining unlawful assembly armed with a deadly weapon
Section 145	Joining or continuing in unlawful assembly, knowing it has been commanded to disperse
Section 146	Rioting
Section 147	Punishment for rioting
Section 148	Rioting, armed with deadly weapons
Section 149	Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of the offense committed in prosecution of the common object
Section 159	Affray. (6 Differences between Rioting and Affray)
Section 179	Refusing to answer a public servant authorized to question
Section 182	False information, with intent to cause a public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person
Section 191	Giving false evidence
Section 268	Public nuisance
Section 292	Sale, etc. of obscene books, etc
Section 293	Sale, etc., of obscene objects to young people
Section 294	Obscene acts and songs
Section 295	Injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class
Section 295A	Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs
Section 296	Disturbing religious assembly
Section 299	Culpable homicide to Section 309 – Attempt to commit suicide
Section 319 – Hurt to Section 338	Causing grievous hurt by act endangering the life or personal safety of others
Section 339	Wrongful restraint
Section 340	Wrongful confinement
Section 349	Force
Section 350	Criminal force
Section 351	Assault
Section 354	Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty
Section 354A	Sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment
Section 354B	Assault or use of criminal force on a woman with intent to disrobe
Section 354C	Voyeurism
Section 354D	Stalking
Section 359	Kidnapping
Section 360	Kidnapping from India
Section 361	Kidnapping from lawful guardianship
Section 362	Abduction
Section 375	Rape
Section 376	Punishment for rape
Section 376D	Gang rape
Section 376DA	Punishment for gang rape on women under sixteen years of age
Section 376DB	Punishment for gang rape on women under twelve years of age
Section 376E	Punishment for repeat offenders
Section 377	Unnatural offenses
Section 378	Theft
Section 383	Extortion
Section 390	Robbery
Section 391	Dacoity
Section 396	Dacoity with murder
Section 399	Making preparation to commit dacoity
Section 403	Dishonest misappropriation of property
Section 405	Criminal breach of trust
Section 410	Stolen Property
Section 413	Habitually dealing in stolen property
Section 414	Assisting in the concealment of stolen property
Section 415	Cheating
Section 420	Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property
Section 425	Mischief
Section 441	Criminal Trespass to Section 446 – House-breaking by night
Section 493	Cohabitation caused by a man deceitfully inducing a belief of lawful marriage
Section 494	Marrying again during the lifetime of husband or wife
Section 495	Same offense with concealment of former marriage from person with whom subsequent marriage is contracted
Section 496	Marriage ceremony was fraudulently gone through without lawful marriage
Section 497	Adultery
Section 498	Enticing or taking away or detaining with criminal intent a married woman
Section 498A	Cruelty by husband or relatives of the husband
Section 499	Defamation
Section 503	Criminal intimidation
Section 506	Punishment for criminal intimidation
Section 509	Word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman
Section 511	Attempts to commit offenses

Significance of IPC Sections List

The IPC Sections List is applicable to all Indian citizens who commit felonies or behave improperly on the Indian territory. It serves as a guide text for all judgments and penalizing guidelines in circumstances of violence or improper conduct.

The memorandum is applicable to both ships and aircraft functioning in Indian waters or airfields. The Indian Penal Code’s most essential feature is the impartiality of the judgments it encourages.

• There are no exceptions in the Indian Penal Code for any person of any rank.
• The Indian Penal Code includes all pertinent criminal violations dealing with state felonies, public offenses, armed forces offenses, kidnapping, murder, and rape.
• It covers religious and property offenses and has a section dedicated to marriage offenses, inhumane treatment from a husband or relatives, defamation, and so forth.

Reforms Needed Under IPC Sections List

Blasphemy should have no place in a liberal democracy, which is why Section 295A, added in 1927, must be repealed. In 1913, criminal conspiracy was made a substantive offense. The offense is objectionable because the colonists introduced it to the IPC Sections List to deal with political fabrications.

The criterion of constructive liability is stretched to unreasonably severe extents in Section 149 on unlawful assembly. The clear difference between “culpable homicide” and “murder” is often criticized as the “weakest part of the code” because the interpretations are ambiguous.

• The IPC Sections List’s sexual offenses expose patriarchal values and Victorian moral standards.
• However, the antiquated crime of infidelity grants the husband exclusive proprietary rights over his wife’s sexuality; it provides no legal protection for the wife to secure an equivalent monopoly over the husband’s sexuality.
• The sedition law, enacted in 1898, needs to be reviewed.

IPC Sections List UPSC

IPC is exhaustive on the subjects it declares the law to cover and codifies the law on the subject. Students can refer to Polity Books for UPSC for a better understanding and to build a strong command over the subject and sub-topic. It is important to go through the topic using UPSC study material and keep track of the Current Affairs so as not to skip out on any updates or latest news regarding the IPC.

IPC Sections List is an extremely important topic for the GS paper of Prelims and Mains examination. You must learn all the Important IPC Sections List, its history, relevance, and reforms needed under the list.

IPC Sections List Sample Questions

Question: Which is true? The IPC contains: (1) 511 sections divided into 23 chapters, (2) 500 sections are divided into 38 chapters, (3) 493 sections divided into 11 chapters, (4) 511 sections divided into 24 chapters. Choose the correct option.
Answer: (A) 511 sections divided into 23 chapters

Question: Which of the following is true of intent of defraud? (A) the word defraud is of double meaning, (B) a general intention to defraud, without the intention of causing wrongful gain to one person of wrongful loss to another, (C) to prove intention of defraud, it is not at all necessary that there should have been some persons defrauded, or who possibly might have been defrauded by his act, (D) all of them
Answer: All of them

Question: The word ‘document’ as per Section 29 of IPC includes any matter expressed or described upon by any substance: (A) by more than one of those means intended to be used, or which may used, as evidence of that matter, (B) by means of letters, figures or marks only, (C) Both (A) and (B), (D) none of them
Answer: Both (A) and (B)

Question: Dishonest misappropriation of property, knowing that it was in the possession of a declosed person at his death, and that it has not since been in the possession of any person legally entitled to it and if the offender at the time of such person’s declose was employed by him as a clerk or servant is dealt under: (A) Section 404 of IPC, (B) Section 401 of IPC, (C) Section 403 of IPC, (D) Section 402 of IPC
Answer: Section 404 of IPC

Question: Making preparation to commit dacoity is dealt under: (A) Section 400 of IPC, (B) Section 398 of IPC, (C) Section 401 of IPC, (D) Section 399 of IPC
Answer: Section 399 of IPC

UPSC Notes
State Formation in India	Marginal Standing Facility Rate
Mountain Passes in India	Environmental Movements in India
Article 21	Article 12
Types of Missiles in India	Article 23 And 24
India China Relations	Competition Commission of India
Press Information Bureau	Article 370