Exposure and abandonment of child under twelve years of age, by parent or person having care of it
Section 93 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 deals with exposure and abandonment of child under twelve years of age, by parent or person having care of it. Whoever being the father or mother of a child under the age of twelve years, or having the care of such child, shall expose or leave such child in any place with the intention of wholly abandoning such child, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to se The Act came into force on 01 Jul 2024.
Whoever being the father or mother of a child under the age of twelve years, or having the care of such child, shall expose or leave such child in any place with the intention of wholly abandoning such child, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or with fine, or with both.
Explanation.—This section is not intended to prevent the trial of the offender for murder or culpable homicide, as the case may be, if the child die in consequence of the exposure.
Section 93, The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Act 45 of 2023).
Replaces a provision of the Indian Penal Code
IPC 317 Exposure and abandonment of child under twelve years, by parent or person having care of it Text carried over almost unchanged 99%
Measured by comparing the text of the two provisions, not taken from an official correspondence table — there is no machine-readable one. See both texts side by side before relying on it.
Both regimes are live. The repealed enactment still governs what happened while it was in force. We never redirect one to the other.
Cross-references
Extracted from the operative text of the enactments themselves. Every destination below exists in our corpus.
How this offence is classified
From the First Schedule to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, which classifies every offence under the Sanhita. Cognizable means a police officer may arrest without warrant; bailable means bail is a matter of right rather than of the court's discretion.
| Offence | Punishment | Cognizable | Bailable | Triable by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exposure of a child under 12 years of age by parent or person having care of it with intention of wholly abandoning it. | Imprisonment for 7 years, or fine, or both. | Cognizable. | Bailable. | Magistrate of the first class. |
Related judgements & precedents
These are some judgments that construed this section, and hold precedence value. They hold authority on how to read, interpret and use this section.
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Ragini vs The State of M.p.
Decided under Indian Penal Code 317, which this section replaces. The court did not have this Act before it.
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
When circumstantial evidence establishes that an accused woman delivered a child shortly before the discovery of a dead newborn child, and the accused fails to provide any satisfactory explanation regarding the whereabouts of the delivered child despite being examined under Section 313 Cr.P.C., and medical evidence confirms the time of delivery coincides with the time of death of the recovered child, the chain of circumstantial evidence is complete and sufficient to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused delivered the child and caused its homicidal death. The absence of DNA testing does not adversely affect the prosecution case when ocular and medical evidence are conclusive.
On this section: Conviction for concealment of birth - the court applied this section to convict the appellant for concealing the birth of the child and disposing of the body in the well
The holding above is the ratio decidendi as extracted from the judgment by eCourts India, reproduced unaltered — it is a rendering of the court's reasoning, not a substitute for its words. Read the order itself before relying on it.
Questions about Section 93
What have the courts held on Section 93 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita?
Ragini vs The State of M.p. (22 Jun 2017) is the leading judgment on this section among those set out below, though it was decided under IPC 317, which this section replaced -- the court never mentioned this Act: Conviction for concealment of birth - the court applied this section to convict the appellant for concealing the birth of the child and disposing of the body in the well.
Is Section 93 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita bailable?
Bailable, under the First Schedule to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.
Is Section 93 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita cognizable?
Cognizable. "Cognizable" means a police officer may arrest without warrant; "non-cognizable" that they may not. An offence under this section is triable by Magistrate of the first class.
How do I find court cases under Section 93 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita?
In judgments and charge sheets this section is written several ways, and each form finds a different set of orders. These search the full text of every order eCourtsIndia holds, best matches first: BNS 93, section 93 BNS, section 93 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. People searching for it also type bns 93 94 and bns 93 punishment. Each opens the full list of orders on eCourtsIndia, where it can be narrowed by court, year and outcome. 1 reported judgment on this section is set out on this page, beginning with Ragini vs The State of M.p. (22 Jun 2017).
What should I read with Section 93 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and has it changed?
2 other provisions in this corpus refer back to it. It carries forward IPC 317 (Exposure and abandonment of child under twelve years, by parent or person having care of it), so the judgments decided under that provision are the case law on this one.
When did Section 93 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita come into force?
Section 93 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, cited as BNS 93, came into force on 01 Jul 2024, having been enacted on 25 Dec 2023. It is in force as at the date shown on this page.
Other sections of this Act
- 2. Definitions2199 words
- 356. Defamation1543 words
- 335. Making a false document1318 words
- 101. Murder1177 words
- 303. Theft1104 words
- 3. General explanations858 words
Source and method. Compiled from the enactments of Parliament and of the State legislatures as published on India Code, and republished together with commentary and other original matter under section 52(1)(q)(ii) of the Copyright Act, 1957. Structured, cross-referenced and maintained by eCourtsIndia. Text as in force on 15 Oct 2026. This page is not a substitute for legal advice.