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Section222
The Indian Penal Code, 1860

Intentional omission to apprehend on the part of public servant bound to apprehend person under sentence or lawfully committed

Repealed From 01 Jan 1862 Act 45 of 1860 As on 15 Oct 2026

Act 45 of 1860 Ministry Home Affairs Enacted 06 Oct 1860 In force 01 Jan 1862 Cited by 1 provision

This provision is repealed. Repealed by section 358 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) with effect from 1 July 2024.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 222 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 deals with intentional omission to apprehend on the part of public servant bound to apprehend person under sentence or lawfully committed. Whoever, being a public servant, legally bound as such public servant to apprehend or to keep in confinement any person under sentence of a Court of Justice for any offence [or lawfully committed to custody], intentionally omits to apprehend such person, or intentionally suffers such person to escap 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 Repealed by section 358 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) with effect from 1 July 2024, but conduct before that date is still charged, tried and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, being a public servant, legally bound as such public servant to apprehend or to keep in confinement any person under sentence of a Court of Justice for any offence [or lawfully committed to custody], intentionally omits to apprehend such person, or intentionally suffers such person to escape or intentionally aids such person in escaping or attempting to escape from such confinement, shall be punished as follows, that is to say:-

with [imprisonment for life] or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to fourteen years, with or without fine, if the person in confinement, or who ought to have been apprehended, is under sentence of death; or

with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, with or without fine, if the person in confinement, or who, ought to have been apprehended, is subject, by a sentence of a Court of Justice, or by virtue of a commutation of such sentence, to [imprisonment for life] or imprisonment for a term of ten years or upwards; or

with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both, if the person in confinement, or who ought to have been apprehended is subject, by a sentence of a Court of Justice, to imprisonment for a term not extending to ten years [or if the person was lawfully committed to custody].

Section 222, The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act 45 of 1860).

Now in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita

BNS 260 Intentional omission to apprehend on part of public servant bound to apprehend person under sentence or lawfully committed Text carried over almost unchanged 97%

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 1

  1. s. 225A Omission to apprehend, or sufferance of escape, on part of public servant, in cases not otherwise, provided for

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.

  1. Santosh Kumar vs State of U.p.

    High Court 26 Jun 2019 Persuasive (Other High Court)

    Court's Decision & Legal Precedent

    In criminal bail applications under Section 439 CrPC, the court must consider the complicity of the accused, the severity of the punishment prescribed for the offense, and the totality of facts and circumstances. When co-accused persons have been released on bail and the applicant has been in prolonged custody without evidence of flight risk or witness tampering, bail may be granted with appropriate conditions to ensure court attendance and witness protection.

    On this section: The applicant was charged under Section 222 IPC (intentionally omitting to give notice of certain offences by public servants). The court considered this charge in assessing the severity of the offense for bail purposes.

    Read the full order on eCourts India

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 222

What have the courts held on Section 222 of the Indian Penal Code?

Santosh Kumar vs State of U.p. (26 Jun 2019) is the leading judgment on this section among those set out below: The applicant was charged under Section 222 IPC (intentionally omitting to give notice of certain offences by public servants). The court considered this charge in assessing the severity of the offense for bail purposes.

How do I find court cases under Section 222 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 222, section 222 IPC, section 222 of the Indian Penal Code. 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 Santosh Kumar vs State of U.p. (26 Jun 2019).

What should I read with Section 222 of the Indian Penal Code, and has it changed?

1 other provision in this corpus refers back to it. For anything done on or after 1 July 2024 the provision to read is BNS 260 (Intentional omission to apprehend on part of public servant bound to apprehend person under sentence or lawfully committed), which replaced it; conduct before that date is still charged, tried and appealed under this section.

When did Section 222 of the Indian Penal Code come into force?

Section 222 of the Indian Penal Code, cited as IPC 222, 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.