Voluntarily causing hurt
Section 321 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 deals with voluntarily causing hurt. Whoever does any act with the intention of thereby causing hurt to any person, or with the knowledge that he is likely thereby to cause hurt to any person, and does thereby cause hurt to any person, is said "voluntarily to cause hurt". 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 Repealed by section 358 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) with effect from 1 July 2024, but conduct before that date is still charged, tried and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 does any act with the intention of thereby causing hurt to any person, or with the knowledge that he is likely thereby to cause hurt to any person, and does thereby cause hurt to any person, is said "voluntarily to cause hurt".
Section 321, The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act 45 of 1860).
Now in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita
BNS 115 Voluntarily causing hurt Text carried over almost unchanged 90%
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 The repealed enactment still governs what happened while it was in force.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
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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Badrinarayana Jaganathan vs The State of Karnataka
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
Criminal proceedings initiated on allegations that fail to disclose prima facie ingredients of the offences charged, where the underlying dispute is fundamentally civil in nature (employment termination), and where procedural irregularities and discrepancies suggest deliberate misclassification of the matter to transform a civil dispute into criminal proceedings for purposes of coercion or settlement, constitute an abuse of legal process and travesty of justice warranting quashing of the chargesheet and proceedings under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The essential ingredients of criminal offences must be strictly established: Section 323 requires voluntary act of causing actual hurt; Sections 504 and 509 require specific intentional insult with contextual details and intent to provoke or shock sense of decency; Section 506 requires threat with intent to cause alarm, not mere assertion of consequences of lawful termination. Mere allegations without substantiation of these ingredients do not justify continuation of criminal proceedings.
On this section: Definition of voluntarily causing hurt - read conjointly with Sections 319 and 323 to establish essential ingredients
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Haricharan Ram& ORS. vs State of Bihar
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
In criminal cases involving rioting and causing hurt, conviction cannot rest solely on the uncorroborated testimony of a single witness, particularly when key prosecution witnesses (such as the informant, investigating officer, and medical officer) are not examined. Furthermore, documents cannot be marked under Section 294 CrPC if their genuineness is disputed by the defense. When the informant is not examined in court, the prosecution cannot prove that the accused caused hurt to the informant with the requisite intention or knowledge as required under Section 323 IPC. The burden of proof remains on the prosecution to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, and procedural irregularities in the admission of evidence can render a conviction unsustainable.
On this section: Definition of voluntarily causing hurt - cited to explain the elements required for conviction under Section 323
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 321
What have the courts held on Section 321 of the Indian Penal Code?
Badrinarayana Jaganathan vs The State of Karnataka (24 Jan 2025) is the leading judgment on this section among those set out below: Definition of voluntarily causing hurt - read conjointly with Sections 319 and 323 to establish essential ingredients. Another 1 judgment on this section is set out below, 1 of them from the Supreme Court.
How do I find court cases under Section 321 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 321, section 321 IPC, section 321 of the Indian Penal Code. People searching for it also type ipc 321 punishment and ipc 321 in bns. Each opens the full list of orders on eCourtsIndia, where it can be narrowed by court, year and outcome. 2 reported judgments on this section are set out on this page, beginning with Badrinarayana Jaganathan vs The State of Karnataka (24 Jan 2025).
What should I read with Section 321 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 115 (Voluntarily causing hurt), which replaced it; conduct before that date is still charged, tried and appealed under this section.
When did Section 321 of the Indian Penal Code come into force?
Section 321 of the Indian Penal Code, cited as IPC 321, came into force on 01 Jan 1862, having been enacted on 06 Oct 1860. It is no longer in force.
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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.