IPC 504 → BNS 352: Insult (Breach of Peace)

IPC 504 (now BNS 352): Intentional Insult to Provoke a Breach of the Peace

IPC Section 504 punishes intentional insult that gives provocation likely to cause the insulted person to break the public peace or commit another offence. From 1 July 2024 it continues as Section 352 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023.

Punishment under BNS 352 (same as IPC 504)

Imprisonment up to 2 years, or fine, or both. The penalty is unchanged from old IPC 504.

What changed from IPC to BNS?

There is no major change — only the numbering moved from IPC 504 to BNS 352. The gist remains a deliberate insult with knowledge that it is likely to provoke a breach of the peace. New FIRs cite BNS 352.

Worked example

During a heated argument, A hurls abusive, deliberately provocative words at B in public, intending B to lose self-control and retaliate. The intentional insult, calculated to provoke a breach of the peace, attracts BNS 352 — even if B does not in fact react.

Practical notes

• For advocates: BNS 352 is routinely paired with criminal-intimidation charges. Compare the definition of criminal intimidation (IPC 503) and its punishment (IPC 506 to BNS 351(2)), and, where a woman's modesty is insulted, IPC 509 (BNS 79).
• The defence usually turns on the absence of intent, or that the words were not such as were likely to provoke a breach of the peace.