Compounding of offences
Section 359 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 deals with compounding of offences. The offences punishable under the sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) specified in the first two columns of the Table next following may be compounded by the persons mentioned in the third column of that Table: --- TABLE Offence Section of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 app The Act came into force on 01 Jul 2024.
(1) The offences punishable under the sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) specified in the first two columns of the Table next following may be compounded by the persons mentioned in the third column of that Table: ---
TABLE
Offence
Section of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 applicable
Person by whom offencemay be compounded
1
2
3 Enticing or taking away or detaining with criminal intent a married woman.Voluntarily causing hurt.
84The husband of the woman and the woman. Voluntarily causing hurt.
115(2) The person to whom the hurt is caused Voluntarily causing hurt on provocation.
122(1) The person to whom the hurt is caused. Voluntarily causing grievous hurt on grave and sudden provocation.
122(2) The person to whom the hurt is caused. Wrongfully restraining or confining any person.
126(2), 127(2) The person restrained or confined. Wrongfully confining a person for three days or more.
127(3) The person confined. Wrongfully confining a person for ten days or more.
127(4) The person confined. Wrongfully confining a person in secret.
127(6) The person confined. Assault or use of criminal force.
131,133,136 The person assaulted or to whom criminal force is used. Uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person.
302 The person whose religious feelings are intended to be wounded. Theft.
303(2) The owner of the property stolen. Dishonest misappropriation of property.
314 The owner of the property misappropriated. Criminal breach of trust by a carrier, wharfinger, etc.
316(3) The owner of the property in respect of which the breach of trust has been committed. Dishonestly receiving stolen property knowing it to be stolen.
317(2) The owner of the property stolen. Assisting in the concealment or disposal of stolen property, knowing it to be stolen.
317(5) The owner of the property stolen. Cheating.
318(2) The person cheated. Cheating by personation.
319(2) The person cheated. Fraudulent removal or concealment of property, etc., to prevent distribution among creditors.
320 The creditors who are affected thereby. Fraudulently preventing from being made available for his creditors a debt or demand due to the offender.
321 The creditors who are affected thereby. Fraudulent execution of deed of transfer containing false statement of consideration.
322 The person affected thereby. Fraudulent removal or concealment of property.
323 The person affected thereby. Mischief, when the only loss or damage caused is loss or damage to a private person.
324(2), 324(4) The person to whom the loss or damage is caused. Mischief by killing or maiming animal. .
325 The owner of the animal. Mischief by injury to works of irrigation by wrongfully diverting water when the only loss or damage caused is loss or damage to private person.
326(a) The person to whom the loss or damage is caused. Criminal trespass.
329(3) The person in possession of the property trespassed upon. House-trespass.
329(4) The person in possession of the property trespassed upon. House-trespass to commit an offence (other than theft) punishable with imprisonment.
332(c) The person in possession of the house trespassed upon. Using a false trade or property mark.
345(3) The person to whom loss or injury is caused by such use. Counterfeiting a property mark used by another.
347(1) The person to whom loss or injury is caused by such use. Selling goods marked with a counterfeit property mark.
349 The person to whom loss or injury is caused by such use. Criminal intimidation.
351(2), 351(3) The person intimidated. Insult intended to provoke a breach of peace.
352 The person insulted. Inducing person to believe himself an object of divine displeasure.
354 The person induced. Defamation, except such cases as are specified against section 356(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, (45 of 2023) column 1 of the Table under sub-section (2).
356(2) The person defamed. Printing or engraving matter, knowing it to be defamatory.
356(3) The person defamed. Sale of printed or engraved substance containing defamatory matter, knowing it to contain such matter.
356(4) The person defamed. Criminal breach of contract of service.
357 The person with whom the offender has contracted.
(2) The offences punishable under the sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) specified in the first two columns of the Table next following may, with the permission of the Court before which any prosecution for such offence is pending, be compounded by the persons mentioned in the third column of that Table:.---
TABLE
Offence
Section of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, applicable
Person by whom offencemay be compounded
1
2
3 Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.
79 The woman whom it was intended to insult or whose privacy was intruded upon. Marrying again during the life-time of a husband or wife.
82(1) The husband or wife of the person so marrying. Causing miscarriage.
88 The woman to whom miscarriage is caused. Voluntarily causing grievous hurt.
117(2) The person to whom hurt is caused. Causing hurt by doing an act so rashly and negligently as to endanger human life or the personal safety of others.
125(a) The person to whom hurt is caused. Causing grievous hurt by doing an act so rashly and negligently as to endanger human life or the personal safety of others.
125(b) The person to whom hurt is caused. Assault or criminal force in attempting wrongfully to confine a person.
135 The person assaulted or to whom the force was used. Theft, by clerk or servant of property in possession of master.
306 The owner of the property stolen. Criminal breach of trust.
316(2) The owner of the property in respect of which breach of trust has been committed. Criminal breach of trust by a clerk or servant.
316(4) The owner of the property in respect of which the breach of trust has been committed. Cheating a person whose interest the offender was bound, either by law or by legal contract, to protect.
318(3) The person cheated. Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property or the making, alteration or destruction of a valuable security.
318(4) The person cheated. Defamation against the President or the Vice-President or the Governor of the State or the Administrator of the Union territory or a Minister in respect of his public functions when instituted upon a complaint made by the public prosecutor.
356(2) The person defamed.
(3) When an offence is compoundable under this section, the abetment of such offence or an attempt to commit such offence (when such attempt is itself an offence) or where the accused is liable under sub-section (5) of section 3 or section 190 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023), may be compounded in like manner.
(4) (a) When the person who would otherwise be competent to compound an offence under this section is a child or of unsound mind, any person competent to contract on his behalf may, with the permission of the Court, compound such offence;
(b) When the person who would otherwise be competent to compound an offence under this section is dead, the legal representative, as defined in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) of such person may, with the consent of the Court, compound such offence.
(5) When the accused has been committed for trial or when he has been convicted and an appeal is pending, no composition for the offence shall be allowed without the leave of the Court to which he is committed, or, as the case may be, before which the appeal is to be heard.
(6) A High Court or Court of Session acting in the exercise of its powers of revision under section 442 may allow any person to compound any offence which such person is competent to compound under this section.
(7) No offence shall be compounded if the accused is, by reason of a previous conviction, liable either to enhanced punishment or to a punishment of a different kind for such offence.
(8) The composition of an offence under this section shall have the effect of an acquittal of the accused with whom the offence has been compounded.
(9) No offence shall be compounded except as provided by this section.
Section 359, The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (Act 46 of 2023).
Replaces a provision of the Code of Criminal Procedure
CRPC 320 Compounding of offences Close, with changes 85%
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.
This section refers to
Referred to by 1
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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Narinder Singh v. State of Punjab
Decided under Code of Criminal Procedure 320, which this section replaces. The court did not have this Act before it.
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
Judgment of Main Case order-4.pdf 2014-03-27 labelled Judgment (not same-date ROP order-5). Crl A 686/2014. Sikri J. DATE-CHECK flagged 2013-10-08 HC date, 2010-07-14 FIR and 2013-07-22 compromise from the facts (false positive); the body is the 2014 reportable. CrPC 320 compounding is not the same as s.482 quashing. Heinous offences (including a true s.307) are not to be quashed on a private settlement; but a 307 charge that appears over-added on the injury/weapon/timing of settlement may still be quashed. Gian Singh 2012 PDF was ROP-only; this is the labelled teaching file for s.320. Do not remap CrPC 482 (already filled).
On this section: Successor of CrPC 320 (mapping.csv close, score 0.8495). The compounding-versus-quashing teaching carries to BNSS 359.
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 359
What have the courts held on Section 359 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita?
Narinder Singh v. State of Punjab (27 Mar 2014) is the leading judgment on this section among those set out below, though it was decided under CRPC 320, which this section replaced -- the court never mentioned this Act: Successor of CrPC 320 (mapping.csv close, score 0.8495). The compounding-versus-quashing teaching carries to BNSS 359.
How do I find court cases under Section 359 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha 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: BNSS 359, section 359 BNSS, section 359 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. People searching for it also type bnss 359 1 in hindi and bnss 359 2 in hindi. 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 Narinder Singh v. State of Punjab (27 Mar 2014).
What should I read with Section 359 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and has it changed?
Its own text turns on Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 190 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), section 3 (Construction of references), section 356 (Inquiry, trial or judgment in absentia of proclaimed offender), section 442 (High Court's powers of revision), so none of them can safely be read on its own. 1 other provision in this corpus refers back to it. It carries forward CrPC 320 (Compounding of offences), so the judgments decided under that provision are the case law on this one.
When did Section 359 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita come into force?
Section 359 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, cited as BNSS 359, 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
- 187. Procedure when investigation cannot be completed in twenty-four hours1122 words
- 2. Definitions956 words
- 243. Trial for more than one offence930 words
- 35. When police may arrest without warrant881 words
- 480. When bail may be taken in case of non-bailable offence823 words
- 401. Order to release on probation of good conduct or after admonition810 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 14 Oct 2026. This page is not a substitute for legal advice.