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Section178
The Indian Penal Code, 1860

Refusing oath or affirmation when duly required by public servant to make it

Repealed From 01 Jan 1862 Act 45 of 1860 As on 16 Oct 2026

Act 45 of 1860 Ministry Home Affairs Enacted 06 Oct 1860 In force 01 Jan 1862 Cited by 16 provisions

This provision is repealed. Repealed by section 358 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) with effect from 1 July 2024. It is reproduced because conduct before that date is still charged, tried and appealed under it.

Section 178 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 deals with refusing oath or affirmation when duly required by public servant to make it. Whoever refuses to bind himself by an oath [or affirmation] to state the truth, when required so to bind himself by a public servant legally competent to require that he shall so bind himself, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which ma The Act came into force on 01 Jan 1862. Repealed by section 358 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) with effect from 1 July 2024, but conduct before that date is still charged, tried and appealed under it.

Whoever refuses to bind himself by an oath [or affirmation] to state the truth, when required so to bind himself by a public servant legally competent to require that he shall so bind himself, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.

Section 178, The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act 45 of 1860).

Now in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita

BNS 213 Refusing oath or affirmation when duly required by public servant to make 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 The repealed enactment still governs what happened while it was in force.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.

Referred to by 16

  1. Armed Forces Tribunal Act s. 15 Jurisdiction, powers and authority in matters of appeal against court martial
  2. Kerala State Commission for Minorities Act s. 12 Powers of the Commission
  3. Kerala State Commission for Minorities Act, 2014 (5 of 2014) s. 12 Powers of the Commission
  4. Maharashtra Police Act s. 22Q Powers and functions of State Police Complaints Authority
  5. Meghalaya Police Act, 2010 (Act No. 7 of 2011) s. 81 Powers of the Accountability Commission
  6. Mizoram Police Act s. 109 Powers of the Commission
  7. Sikkim Police Act s. 141
  8. Tripura Police Act s. 67 Powers of the Commission
  9. Uttar Pradesh Commission for Minorities Act s. 15 Penalty
  10. Uttar Pradesh Commission for Minorities Act s. 14
  11. Uttar Pradesh Commission for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act s. 18 Penalty
  12. Uttar Pradesh Commission for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act s. 18

and 4 more

Judgments citing this section

These may be obiter dicta or a precedent, for you to study. These are the judgments where this section is quoted.

  1. High Court 19 Aug 2021 HPHC010018162019

    … In these circumstances, order dated 05.12.2017 is passed by this Court with prayer to Ld. C.J.M. Kangra at Dharamshala to take action against the Editor of Punjab Kesri Group for alleging commission of offencespunishable under Section 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 182 & 187 of the Indian Penal code. Editor of Punjab Kesri Group Newspaper intentionally and without reasons has not filed required publication report, required information and has failed to appear before the court. He intentionally and without reasons has also failed to assist this court and also sent false …

    Read this order on eCourtsIndia

Questions about Section 178

What does Section 178 of the Indian Penal Code deal with?

Section 178 of the Indian Penal Code is headed "Refusing oath or affirmation when duly required by public servant to make it". Whoever refuses to bind himself by an oath [or affirmation] to state the truth, when required so to bind himself by a public servant legally competent to require that he shall so bind himself, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which ma

How do I find court cases under Section 178 of the Indian Penal Code?

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: IPC 178, section 178 IPC, section 178 of the Indian Penal Code. Each opens the full list of orders on eCourtsIndia, where it can be narrowed by court, year and outcome.

What should I read with Section 178 of the Indian Penal Code, and has it changed?

16 other provisions in this corpus refer back to it. For anything done on or after 1 July 2024 the provision to read is BNS 213 (Refusing oath or affirmation when duly required by public servant to make it), which replaced it; conduct before that date is still charged, tried and appealed under this section.

When did Section 178 of the Indian Penal Code come into force?

Section 178 of the Indian Penal Code, cited as IPC 178, came into force on 01 Jan 1862, having been enacted on 06 Oct 1860. It is no longer in force.

Other sections of this Act

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. Recovered from the consolidated text published by India Code (item 7b7d4fe6-206b-4e33-81f1-b98b018acaf6). This page is not a substitute for legal advice.