IPC 285 → BNS 287: Negligence (Fire)

IPC 285 (now BNS 287): Negligent Conduct with Respect to Fire or Combustible Matter

IPC Section 285 punished any rash or negligent act with fire or any combustible matter that endangered human life or was likely to cause hurt or injury, and equally the knowing or negligent failure to take precautions sufficient to guard against probable danger from fire or combustible matter in one's possession. It covers both doing something dangerous and failing to do something protective. From 1 July 2024 it continues as Section 287 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023.

Punishment under BNS 287

The punishment is the same as under IPC 285 — imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both. The offence is bailable and triable by any Magistrate. As with rash driving, the danger created is enough to complete the offence; actual injury is not a necessary ingredient, although it strongly aggravates the matter.

What changed from IPC to BNS?

There is no major substantive change. The provision is carried over and renumbered from IPC 285 to BNS 287, sitting in the BNS chapter on offences affecting public health, safety, convenience, decency and morals. Both limbs survive intact — reckless acts with fire or combustibles, and negligent omission to take adequate precautions with such material under one's control.

Worked example

A shopkeeper stores several open cans of petrol beside a lit stove at the back of a crowded shop and leaves them unattended. Even before any fire breaks out, the failure to take obvious precautions against a probable and serious danger to the people around him brings his conduct squarely within BNS 287. If the petrol ignites and someone is injured, far graver charges are added on top.

Practical notes

• For advocates: Identify which limb is alleged — a positive rash act, or a negligent omission to take sufficient precautions — and frame the evidence accordingly. The standard is what a reasonable person in possession of that fire or combustible matter ought to have foreseen and guarded against.
• For the accused / citizens: Liability can attach to careless storage or handling even where nothing actually caught fire. Compare the parallel negligence offences of rash driving on a public way (IPC 279 to BNS 281) and negligent conduct with an animal (IPC 289 to BNS 291).