IPC 370 → BNS 143: Trafficking

IPC 370 (now BNS 143): Trafficking of Person

IPC Section 370 criminalised trafficking in persons — recruiting, transporting, harbouring, transferring or receiving a person for the purpose of exploitation. From 1 July 2024 it continues as Section 143 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023, carrying forward the detailed, victim-protective framework introduced by the 2013 amendment.

Punishment under BNS 143

For ordinary trafficking: rigorous imprisonment for a term not less than seven years, extendable to ten years, and also liable to fine. The offence is graded upward for aggravated forms: trafficking of more than one person, or of a child, is punishable with rigorous imprisonment not less than ten years up to imprisonment for life; trafficking of more than one child, not less than fourteen years up to life; a repeat conviction for child trafficking, imprisonment for life; and involvement of a public servant or police officer, imprisonment for life (the remainder of that person's natural life) — each also liable to fine.

What changed from IPC to BNS?

The key feature is the comprehensive definition of trafficking that BNS 143 retains in full. The means listed — threats, force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power, or inducement including the giving of payments — and the purpose of exploitation are reproduced unchanged. Two explanations carry over: "exploitation" includes physical and sexual exploitation, slavery, servitude and forced removal of organs; and the consent of the victim is immaterial. In substance the offence and its grading are the same; the section number moved from 370 to 143.

Worked example

A recruits a young woman from a village with a false promise of a city job, transports her, and hands her to C, who confines her for forced labour. Because A recruited and transported her by deception for exploitation, A commits trafficking under BNS 143 — and her initial willingness to travel is no defence, since the victim's consent is immaterial. Were the victim a child, the minimum sentence would rise to ten years.

Practical notes

• For advocates: pin down the correct grade — the number of victims and whether any victim is a child decide whether the seven-to-ten-year band or the ten-years-to-life band applies. Trafficking frequently overlaps with kidnapping (IPC 363 to BNS 137), and where sexual exploitation follows, rape (IPC 376 to BNS 64) may be charged in addition.
• For the accused / citizens: this is a grave, cognizable and non-bailable offence carrying a mandatory minimum of rigorous imprisonment. The victim's apparent consent, or any "voluntary" travel, does not negate the charge.