THE INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860 – A GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

This Article is written by Soumya Joshi & this article discuss the concepts of IPC, 1860 – Introduction & Background..

Introduction

IPC, 1860 was the official criminal code in independent India until it was replaced by Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in December 2023. IPC, 1860 was inherited by our forefathers from British India. Its goal was to give an overall reformatory code to the country. It has 511 sections across 23 parts, furnishing the rundown of crimes alongside their definitions and disciplines.It includes a thorough arrangement of regulations tending to all considerable parts of criminal regulation, characterizing common regulation privileges, obligations, wrongdoings, and disciplines. Meaningful Criminal Regulation, inside the IPC, determines the meanings of violations like ‘Assault,’ ‘murder,’ and ‘robbery,’ and diagrams the qualities of these wrongdoings and the comparing punishments. The IPC carefully characterizes every offence, consolidating all vital components to comprise the offence. Thus, the IPC is the lawful instrument that portrays culpable offences and their related punishments.

Historical background of IPC,1860

The roots of IPC, 1860 can be traced back to the colonial era. The draft of the Indian Penal Code of 1860 was prepared by the first law commission, which was headed by Thomas Babington Macaulay in the year 1834. Many of its elements and definitions were taken from the Napoleonic Code and the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825. In the year 1837, the first final draft of the IPC was submitted before the then Governor General of colonial India. Two more decades were taken by subsequent revisions and amendments. The final drafting of the code was completed by the year 1850 and was presented before the Legislative Council in the year 1856 but due to the revolt of 1857 it was delayed. Indian Penal Code is also known as the Macaulay Code as Thomas Macaulay was the chairman of the first law commission.After undergoing numerous revisions and amendments by Barnes Peacock, who would later become the first Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, the code went into effect on January 1, 1860.

Before the approach of the English, the correctional regulation winning in India, generally, was the Muhammedan regulation. For the initial not many long stretches of its organization, the East India Organization didn’t obstruct the criminal law of the nation and albeit in 1772, during the organization of Warren Hastings, the Organization interestingly meddled, and consequently till 1861, occasionally, the English Government modified the Muhammedan regulation, yet up to 1862, when the Indian Punitive Code came into activity, the Muhammedan regulation was without a doubt the premise of the criminal regulation besides in the administration towns. The administration of Muslim criminal law in India spanned a significant amount of time and even contributed numerous terms to the vocabulary of Indian law.

Structure of the code

CHAPTER	SECTIONS COVERED	OFFENCES
I	Sections 1 to 5	Introduction
II	Sections 6 to 52	General Explanation
III	Sections 53 to 75	Punishment
IV	Sections 76 to 106	General Exception
V	Sections 107 to 120	Abetment
V-A	Sections 120 A to 120 B	Criminal Conspiracy
VI	Sections 121 to 130	Offences against state
VII	Sections 131 to 140	Relation to army, navy, air force
VIII	Sections 141 to 160	Against public tranquility
IX	Sections 161 to 171	Against public servant
IX-A	Sections 171 (A) to 171 (I)	Relating to election
X	Sections 172 to 190	Relating to contempt of lawful authority of PS
XI	Sections 191 to 229	False evidence& against public justice
XII	Sections230 to 263	Offences relating to coin and Government Stamps
XIII	Sections 264 to 267	Relating to weight and measure
XIV	Sections 268 to 294	affecting the Public Health, Safety, Convenience, Decency and Morals
XV	Sections 295 to 298	Offences relating to religion
XVI	Sections 299 to 377	Of Offences Affecting Life including murder, culpable homicide (Sections 299 to 311)Of the Causing of Miscarriage, of Injuries to Unborn Children, of the Exposure of Infants, and of the Concealment of Births (Sections 312 to 318)Of Hurt (Sections 319 to 338)Of Wrongful Restraint and Wrongful Confinement (Sections 339 to 348)Of Criminal Force and Assault (Sections 349 to 358)Of Kidnapping, Abduction, Slavery, and Forced LabourSexual Offences including rape and Sodomy
XVII	Sections 378 to 462	Of Theft Of Extortion Of Robbery and Of Criminal Misappropriation of Property Of Criminal Breach of Trust Of the Receiving of Stolen Property Of Cheating Of Fraudulent Deeds and Disposition of Property of Mischief of Criminal Trespass
XVIII	Sections 463 to 489(E)	Offences relating to Documents Offences relating to Property and Other Marks Offences relating to Currency Notes and Bank Notes
XIX	Sections 490 to 492	Criminal Breach of Contracts of Service
XX	Sections 493 to 498	Offences related to marriage
XX- A	Sections 499 to 498	Cruelty by Husband or Relatives of Husband
XXI	Section 498A	Defamation
XXII	Sections503 to 510	Criminal intimidation, Insult and Annoyance
XXIII	Section 511	Attempts to Commit Offences

Conclusion

The Indian Penal Code has opened another section in the Indian general set of laws. It has given the establishment of a wide range of legitimate intercessions. A complete code tends to be practically every considerable part of criminal regulation. It is partitioned into four areas and contains 23 parts and 511 segments. Throughout the previous 160 years, it has been in activity as a critical considerable corrective law of India.India’s most important legal framework is the Indian Penal Code, which dates back to the colonial era. It has given the premise to tending to criminal offences and has affected general sets of laws in different nations that were essential for the English Domain. The code has been altered to mirror the advancing idea of society and the lawful scene in India.