Threatened for Money or With Harm? Sections 308, 351 BNS vs IPC 383-389, 503-507

A threat made to extract money is extortion; a threat made merely to cause alarm or force an act is criminal intimidation. Both are consolidated and renumbered under Sections 308 and 351 of India's Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, replacing IPC Sections 383-389, 503, 506 and 507, with extortion's base punishment more than doubled.

The situation

A person receives a threat — over the phone, by message, in writing, or face to face — demanding money or property, or simply intended to frighten them into doing or not doing something. The threat may invoke violence, an accusation of a crime, damage to property, or harm to someone's reputation. Sometimes the threat is made anonymously, with the sender concealing their identity. The person wants to know which offence this is, and how seriously the law now treats it.

Old law vs new law at a glance

What the law requires now, step by step

Step 1 — Is the threat aimed at extracting property?

Section 308(1) BNS defines extortion:

"Whoever intentionally puts any person in fear of any injury to that person, or to any other, and thereby dishonestly induces the person so put in fear to deliver to any person any property, or valuable security or anything signed or sealed which may be converted into a valuable security, commits extortion."

The section's illustrations, carried over from the IPC, cover a threat to publish a defamatory libel, a threat of wrongful confinement of a child, a threat to send club-men to plough up a field, and putting a person in fear of grievous hurt — and one illustration is specific to a threat made electronically:

"A threatens Z by sending a message through an electronic device that "Your child is in my possession, and will be put to death unless you send me one lakh rupees." A thus induces Z to give him money. A has committed extortion."

The base punishment under Section 308(2) BNS is imprisonment up to seven years, or fine, or both — more than double the three-year maximum under Section 384 IPC.

Step 2 — Does the threat escalate to death, grievous hurt, or a serious accusation?

Where the threat used to extort property is one of death or grievous hurt, Section 308(5) BNS raises the punishment to imprisonment up to ten years, and the offender "shall also be liable to fine", matching Section 386 IPC. Where the threat is of an accusation of an offence punishable with death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, Section 308(7) BNS keeps the same ten-year maximum as Section 388 IPC. The corresponding provisions for putting (or attempting to put) a person in fear in order to commit extortion, without yet completing it, are graded lower only for death/grievous-hurt threats — up to seven years under Section 308(4) BNS (matching Section 387 IPC); for an accusation threat, Section 308(6) BNS carries the same ten-year maximum as Section 308(7) (matching Section 389 IPC).

Step 3 — Was any property actually delivered?

This is the dividing line between extortion and criminal intimidation. If the threat caused the victim to hand over property or a valuable security, the offence is extortion under Section 308 BNS. If the threat was made only to cause alarm, or to compel the victim to do or not do something, without necessarily involving property, the offence is criminal intimidation under Section 351 BNS. Section 351(1) BNS:

"Whoever threatens another by any means, with any injury to his person, reputation or property, or to the person or reputation of any one in whom that person is interested, with intent to cause alarm to that person, or to cause that person to do any act which he is not legally bound to do, or to omit to do any act which that person is legally entitled to do, as the means of avoiding the execution of such threat, commits criminal intimidation."

Step 4 — How serious is the threat for the purpose of criminal intimidation?

An ordinary threat is punished under Section 351(2) BNS with imprisonment up to two years, or fine, or both — unchanged from the first paragraph of Section 506 IPC. Where the threat is more serious, Section 351(3) BNS raises the maximum to seven years:

"Whoever commits the offence of criminal intimidation by threatening to cause death or grievous hurt, or to cause the destruction of any property by fire, or to cause an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years, or to impute unchastity to a woman, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or with fine, or with both."

This mirrors the second paragraph of Section 506 IPC without change.

Step 5 — Was the threat made anonymously?

Section 351(4) BNS carries forward Section 507 IPC's separate treatment of anonymous threats:

"Whoever commits the offence of criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication, or having taken precaution to conceal the name or abode of the person from whom the threat comes, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, in addition to the punishment provided for the offence under sub-section (1)."

The additional term, up to two years, is "in addition to the punishment provided for the offence under sub-section (1)" — the criminal-intimidation offence that Section 351(1) defines and Section 351(2) or (3) punishes. Section 507 IPC provided the same two-year addition "in addition to the punishment provided for the offence by the last preceding section", that is, Section 506 IPC.

What changed — and what did not

• Modified: Base punishment for extortion — three years under Section 384 IPC to seven years under Section 308(2) BNS.
• Modified: The Section 377-linked life-imprisonment enhancement that Sections 388 and 389 IPC attached to extortion-by-accusation does not appear in the corresponding text of Section 308(6)-(7) BNS.
• Expanded: Section 308(1) BNS's illustrations now expressly include a threat sent "through an electronic device."
• Identical: Every other punishment tier for extortion (two, seven and ten years across Sections 385-389 IPC) carries over unchanged into Section 308(3)-(7) BNS.
• Identical (save two words): The definition and punishment structure of criminal intimidation, including the two-year addition for anonymous threats, carries over from Sections 503, 506 and 507 IPC into Section 351 BNS; the only textual change to the definition is the addition of "by any means" in Section 351(1) BNS.
• Merged: Seven IPC sections on extortion (383-389) become one section with seven sub-sections (Section 308 BNS); three IPC sections on criminal intimidation (503, 506, 507) become one section with four sub-sections (Section 351 BNS).

Which law applies to your case

Whether a threat is charged under the IPC or the BNS depends on when it was made, not on when the complaint is filed. Section 358(2) BNS preserves this: the IPC's repeal does not affect "any penalty, or punishment incurred in respect of any offences committed against the Code so repealed", and such proceedings "may be instituted, continued or enforced... as if that Code had not been repealed." For a threat made before 1 July 2024, the applicable sections are the IPC's 383-389, 503, 506 and 507; for a threat made on or after that date, they are the BNS's 308 and 351. For the full transition rule, see Which law applies to an offence committed before 1 July 2024.

Practical checklist

For the person threatened:

• Preserve the exact form of the threat — the message, call recording, letter or note — and note the date it was received, since that fixes whether the IPC or the BNS governs.
• Note whether any property or money was actually handed over as a result of the threat, which distinguishes an extortion charge from a criminal-intimidation charge.
• Note whether the threat named one of the aggravating categories in Section 351(3) BNS — death, grievous hurt, destruction by fire, a serious offence, or imputing unchastity to a woman — or Section 308's death/grievous-hurt/serious-accusation categories, since these carry higher punishment.
• Note whether the sender's identity was concealed or the communication was anonymous, which is a separate, additional element under Section 351(4) BNS.

For the advocate:

• Fix the date of the threat first, to determine whether IPC Sections 383-389/503, 506, 507 or BNS Sections 308/351 apply.
• Distinguish extortion from criminal intimidation on the facts by asking whether property was actually delivered as a result of the threat.
• Match the specific threat made to the correct Section 308 or Section 351 sub-section — the punishment differs materially between the base offence, the death/grievous-hurt variant, and the serious-accusation variant.
• Where the threat was anonymous, separately plead Section 351(4) BNS in addition to the underlying sub-section.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between extortion and criminal intimidation under the new law?

Extortion under Section 308(1) BNS requires the threat to actually induce the victim to deliver property or a valuable security. Criminal intimidation under Section 351(1) BNS is broader — it covers a threat of injury to person, reputation or property made to cause alarm, or to make the victim do or omit an act, whether or not any property changes hands.

Has the punishment for extortion increased under BNS?

The base punishment has. Section 384 IPC capped ordinary extortion at three years; Section 308(2) BNS raises this to seven years. The punishments for the more serious, threat-specific forms of extortion — by fear of death or grievous hurt, or by fear of a serious accusation — keep the same seven- or ten-year maximums as Sections 386-389 IPC, except that the life-imprisonment enhancement Sections 388-389 IPC attached where the accusation was of a Section 377 IPC offence does not appear in Section 308(6)-(7) BNS.

Is threatening someone anonymously, such as through an unsigned letter or an anonymous number, treated more seriously?

Yes. Section 351(4) BNS (successor to Section 507 IPC) adds imprisonment which may extend to two years, "in addition to the punishment provided for the offence under sub-section (1)", where the threat is made anonymously or the sender has taken care to conceal their identity.

What kinds of threats attract the higher seven-year punishment for criminal intimidation?

Section 351(3) BNS sets the seven-year maximum where the threat is to cause death or grievous hurt, to destroy property by fire, to cause an offence punishable with death, life imprisonment or up to seven years, or to impute unchastity to a woman. An ordinary threat not falling in one of these categories is punished under Section 351(2) at up to two years.

Do I need to prove I actually paid money for it to be extortion?

Yes, on the wording of Section 308(1) BNS, extortion requires that the threat "dishonestly induces the person so put in fear to deliver" property or a valuable security. If nothing was delivered, the conduct may still amount to criminal intimidation under Section 351 BNS, or to putting (or attempting to put) a person in fear in order to commit extortion, which is separately punished under Sections 308(3), 308(4) and 308(6) BNS.

Have the criminal intimidation sections been merged under BNS?

Yes. Sections 503, 506 and 507 of the IPC — definition, punishment, and the anonymous-threat enhancement — are consolidated into a single Section 351 BNS with four sub-sections, at the same punishment levels.

Related on Veritect

• Which law applies to an offence committed before 1 July 2024
• Victim of an online or digital arrest scam
• Someone enters or occupies your property
• Section 415-420 IPC vs Section 318-319 BNS — Cheating
• Section 506 IPC vs Section 351 BNS — Criminal Intimidation (IPC 503, 506, 507)
• Section 384 IPC vs Section 308 BNS — Extortion (IPC 383-389)

Statutory sources

• Indian Penal Code, 1860 — Sections 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 503, 504, 505, 506, 507 (repealed w.e.f. 1 July 2024)
• Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 — Sections 308, 351, 358

This guide explains the statutory text of the BNS, BNSS and BSA as enacted. It is not legal advice; for a specific case, consult an advocate.