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Section331
The Indian Penal Code, 1860

Voluntarily causing grievous hurt to extort confession, or to compel restoration of property

Repealed From 01 Jan 1862 Act 45 of 1860 As on 15 Oct 2026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This provision is repealed. Repealed by section 358 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) with effect from 1 July 2024.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 331 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 deals with voluntarily causing grievous hurt to extort confession, or to compel restoration of property. Whoever voluntarily causes grievous hurt for the purpose of extorting from the sufferer or from any person interested in the sufferer any confession or any information which may lead to the detection of an offence or misconduct, or for the purpose of constraining the sufferer or any person intereste 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 Repealed by section 358 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) with effect from 1 July 2024, but conduct before that date is still charged, tried and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 voluntarily causes grievous hurt for the purpose of extorting from the sufferer or from any person interested in the sufferer any confession or any information which may lead to the detection of an offence or misconduct, or for the purpose of constraining the sufferer or any person

interested in the sufferer to restore or to cause the restoration of any property or valuable security, or to satisfy any claim or demand or to give information which may lead to the restoration of any property or valuable security shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Section 331, The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act 45 of 1860).

Now in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita

BNS 120 Voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to extort confession, or to compel restoration of property 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 The repealed enactment still governs what happened while it was in force.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

  1. Uttar Pradesh Dacoity Affected Areas Act s. 30

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. Manik vs The State of Maharashtra Home Department Secretary

    Supreme Court of India 25 Sep 2024 Persuasive (Supreme Court - Split Opinion) Reportable 2024 INSC 734

    Court's Decision & Legal Precedent

    When a dead body is recovered and subjected to autopsy and necrotomic evidence is adduced to establish cause of death, failure to prove that the dead body is of the person allegedly murdered by the accused must have fatal and adverse consequence on the prosecution case. The case of an untraceable dead body is different from a case where the dead body is traced and evidence is adduced to prove the identity of the deceased. In the latter case, upon failure to prove identity, the prosecution cannot be permitted to advance a case that the dead body is untraceable. However, this principle applies only when the prosecution itself has put forth the case that the dead body was recovered. In such circumstances, when once identification of the dead body as that of the alleged victim based on fingerprint test is reversed by the High Court, in the absence of appeal by the State or the victim, it cannot be said that the dead body is that of the alleged victim, either for holding the accused guilty of murder under Section 302 IPC or under Section 304 IPC. (Justice C.T. Ravikumar's view, which represents the majority position on this specific issue)

    On this section: Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by public servant; conviction set aside due to lack of evidence of grievous hurt

    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 331

What have the courts held on Section 331 of the Indian Penal Code?

Manik vs The State of Maharashtra Home Department Secretary (25 Sep 2024) is the leading judgment on this section among those set out below: Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by public servant; conviction set aside due to lack of evidence of grievous hurt.

How do I find court cases under Section 331 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 331, section 331 IPC, section 331 of the Indian Penal Code. People searching for it also type ipc 331(4) and ipc 331 3 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 Manik vs The State of Maharashtra Home Department Secretary (25 Sep 2024).

What should I read with Section 331 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 120 (Voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to extort confession, or to compel restoration of property), which replaced it; conduct before that date is still charged, tried and appealed under this section.

When did Section 331 of the Indian Penal Code come into force?

Section 331 of the Indian Penal Code, cited as IPC 331, 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.