IPC 421-424 vs BNS 320-323: Fraudulent Deeds and Dispositions (2026)

In India, Sections 320 to 323 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) replaced Sections 421 to 424 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) from 1 July 2024. The offences are worded the same; Section 320 adds a six-month minimum term, and Sections 322 and 323 raise the maximum from two to three years.

At a glance

IPC	BNS	Offence	Punishment (BNS text)	Classification (BNSS First Schedule)	Change
421	320	Removing, concealing or transferring property without adequate consideration to prevent its distribution among creditors	Imprisonment of either description of not less than 6 months, up to 2 years, or fine, or both	Non-cognizable; bailable; any Magistrate	Modified (minimum term added)
422	321	Preventing a debt or demand from being made available for payment of debts	Imprisonment up to 2 years, or fine, or both	Non-cognizable; bailable; any Magistrate	Identical
423	322	Executing a deed of transfer or charge containing a false statement of consideration or of the beneficiary	Imprisonment up to 3 years, or fine, or both	Non-cognizable; bailable; any Magistrate	Modified (2 → 3 years)
424	323	Concealing or removing property, assisting in that, or dishonestly releasing a claim	Imprisonment up to 3 years, or fine, or both	Non-cognizable; bailable; any Magistrate	Modified (2 → 3 years)

The CrPC First Schedule classified Sections 421 to 424 IPC as non-cognizable, bailable and triable by any Magistrate (the "Ditto" entries for Sections 423 and 424 trace to the Section 422 row). The classification is unchanged.

What changed

Modified — Section 320 (IPC 421): "imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both" becomes "imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both". The words "or with fine, or with both" are kept. On a reading of the text, the minimum governs a sentence of imprisonment, and a sentence of fine alone remains available.
Identical — Section 321 (IPC 422): same words, same heading ("Dishonestly or fraudulently preventing debt being available for creditors") and same punishment.
Modified — Section 322 (IPC 423): "for a term which may extend to two years" becomes "three years"; the alternatives "or with fine, or with both" are unchanged.
Modified — Section 323 (IPC 424): "for a term which may extend to two years" becomes "three years"; the alternatives are unchanged.
Identical — offence descriptions and headings: the operative words of all four sections and their marginal headings are carried over, under the same sub-heading "Of fraudulent deeds and dispositions of property". (The India Code IPC text prints the sub-heading as "Of fraudulent feeds and dispositions of property".)
Identical — classification and compounding: see "What this means in practice".

Statutory text (relevant extract)

Extract, Section 421 IPC (repealed from 1 July 2024):

… shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

Extract, Section 320 BNS:

… shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

Extract, Section 322 BNS:

Whoever dishonestly or fraudulently signs, executes or becomes a party to any deed or instrument which purports to transfer or subject to any charge any property, or any interest therein, and which contains any false statement relating to the consideration for such transfer or charge …

How it works — the ingredients

All four sections turn on the mental element "dishonestly or fraudulently" (Section 323 also uses "dishonestly" alone for releasing a claim). "Dishonestly" means doing anything with the intention of causing wrongful gain to one person or wrongful loss to another (Section 2(7) BNS). "Fraudulently" means doing anything "with the intention to defraud but not otherwise" (Section 2(9)). Wrongful gain and wrongful loss are defined in Section 2(36) and (37), and Section 2(38) adds that a person gains wrongfully by retaining as well as acquiring, and loses wrongfully by being kept out of property as well as being deprived of it.

Section 320 — defeating distribution among creditors

An act: removing, concealing or delivering property to any person, or transferring or causing it to be transferred to any person "without adequate consideration".
Intention or knowledge: "intending thereby to prevent, or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby prevent, the distribution of that property according to law among his creditors or the creditors of any other person".
Dishonesty or fraud.

Section 321 — keeping a debt out of the creditors' reach: dishonestly or fraudulently preventing "any debt or demand due to himself or to any other person" from being made available according to law for payment of his debts or the other person's debts.

Section 322 — false deeds of transfer or charge

Signing, executing or becoming a party to a deed or instrument that "purports to transfer or subject to any charge any property, or any interest therein".
The deed contains a false statement either about the consideration for the transfer or charge, or about "the person or persons for whose use or benefit it is really intended to operate".
Dishonesty or fraud.

Section 323 — removal, concealment and release of claims: any one of three acts done dishonestly or fraudulently — concealing or removing "any property of himself or any other person"; assisting in its concealment or removal; or dishonestly releasing "any demand or claim to which he is entitled". The words "of himself" mean an owner can commit the offence in respect of his own property (see Teeka below).

Neighbouring offences

Criminal breach of trust (Section 316 BNS) and cheating (Section 318 BNS) require entrustment and deception respectively; on a reading of the text, these four sections need neither.
Mischief (Section 324 BNS) begins immediately after Section 323 and covers destroying or damaging property with intent to cause wrongful loss. Illustration (d) to Section 324 is a debtor who destroys his effects to stop a creditor obtaining satisfaction of a debt; destroying is not among the acts listed in Section 320 (removing, concealing, delivering or transferring).

What this means in practice

For creditors and complainants

All four offences are non-cognizable. Under Section 174(1) BNSS the officer in charge of the police station enters the substance of the information and refers the informant to the Magistrate, and under Section 174(2) no police officer may investigate without the order of a Magistrate having power to try the case. A complaint to the Magistrate is the other route.
The complaint should set out the specific act (the transfer, concealment, deed or release), the property, and — for Section 320 — why the transfer was "without adequate consideration" and how it defeats distribution among creditors. For Section 322 it should identify the recital said to be false. Usha Chakraborty (below) shows an FIR quashed because the allegations did not carry the ingredients.

For the accused and the defence advocate

All four offences are bailable.
Under Section 359(1) BNSS, Sections 320 and 321 may be compounded by "the creditors who are affected thereby", and Sections 322 and 323 by "the person affected thereby", without the court's permission. Section 320(1) CrPC listed Sections 421 to 424 IPC the same way.
Section 283(2) BNSS lets a Magistrate, for recorded reasons and after hearing the accused, try summarily offences not punishable with imprisonment "for a term exceeding three years". On a reading of that text, all four offences fall within it, including Sections 322 and 323 at their new three-year maximum.
On a reading of Section 320, a court that chooses imprisonment must impose at least six months; the fine-only alternative is still in the section.

For owners of attached or charged property

Section 323 applies to "any property of himself". Teeka (below) holds that once property is attached in execution, legal possession vests in the court, so an owner who removes it unlawfully acts dishonestly.

Judgments that still matter

Teeka and Others v. State of Uttar Pradesh, [1962] 1 S.C.R. 75 (1961 INSC 44) — 15 February 1961. K. Subba Rao and Raghubar Dayal JJ. (judgment by Subba Rao J.) dismissed appeals against convictions including one under Section 424 IPC (report p. 86). Buffaloes owned by the first appellant had been attached in execution of a decree and were removed by force from the decree-holder, who held them as bailee of the sapurdar. The Court held: "When an attachment is made, the legal possession of a thing attached vests in the court." An owner who unlawfully takes the attached thing makes a wrongful gain and causes wrongful loss to the court or its officers, so the first appellant "dishonestly removed the buffaloes within the meaning of s. 424" (p. 81). The report does not show paragraph numbers. Section 323 BNS repeats the words construed ("any property of himself", "dishonestly or fraudulently … removes").

Usha Chakraborty & Anr. v. State of West Bengal & Anr., Supreme Court, 30 January 2023 (2023 INSC 35). C.T. Ravikumar and Ajay Rastogi JJ. (judgment by Ravikumar J.) set out the ingredients of each offence alleged in an FIR that included Section 423 IPC. It said the essential ingredient of Section 423 is that the deed "was contained a false statement relating to the consideration or relating to the persons" for whose use or benefit it was intended to operate, so that the section "deals with twin specific frauds in the matter of execution of deeds or instruments of transfer or charge" (para 6.1). Finding the allegations vague, without the essential ingredients, and the dispute "essentially of civil nature" (para 10), it quashed the FIR and further proceedings against the appellants (paras 12–13). Section 322 BNS uses the same words.

Why these still matter: the operative words of Sections 421 to 424 IPC are repeated in Sections 320 to 323 BNS. On a reading of the text, judgments construing those words remain relevant; judgments on sentence under the IPC do not account for the new minimum in Section 320 or the three-year maximum in Sections 322 and 323.

Which law applies to your case

Section 358(2) BNS saves any penalty or punishment incurred under the IPC and lets proceedings be instituted, continued or enforced "as if that Code had not been repealed"; on a reading of that provision, conduct before 1 July 2024 is charged under Sections 421 to 424 IPC. Procedure in matters pending on that date continues under the CrPC (Section 531(2)(a) BNSS). Article 20(1) of the Constitution bars "a penalty greater than that which might have been inflicted under the law in force at the time of the commission of the offence"; on a reading of that Article, the six-month minimum in Section 320 and the three-year maximum in Sections 322 and 323 cannot be applied to earlier conduct. See which law applies to an offence before 1 July 2024.

Frequently asked questions

What are the BNS equivalents of Sections 421 to 424 IPC? Sections 320, 321, 322 and 323 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 replace Sections 421, 422, 423 and 424 IPC, in the same order and under the same sub-heading, "Of fraudulent deeds and dispositions of property". The words describing each offence are unchanged. The punishments in Sections 320, 322 and 323 are heavier.

What changed in the punishment for defeating creditors under Section 320 BNS? Section 320 BNS provides imprisonment of either description "for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both". Section 421 IPC had no minimum. On a reading of the text, the six-month minimum applies when the court imposes imprisonment, since the section still allows fine alone.

Is executing a sale deed with a false consideration a crime under the BNS? Yes. Section 322 BNS punishes whoever dishonestly or fraudulently signs, executes or becomes a party to a deed or instrument that transfers or charges property and contains a false statement about the consideration or about the person for whose use or benefit it is really intended to operate. The maximum is now three years, up from two years under Section 423 IPC.

Can an owner commit an offence by removing his own property? Yes, if he does so dishonestly or fraudulently. Section 323 BNS covers concealing or removing "any property of himself or any other person". In Teeka v. State of Uttar Pradesh, [1962] 1 S.C.R. 75, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of an owner who forcibly removed his buffaloes after they had been attached in execution of a decree, holding that legal possession of attached property vests in the court.

Are these offences bailable and compoundable? The BNSS First Schedule lists Sections 320 to 323 BNS as non-cognizable, bailable and triable by any Magistrate. Under Section 359(1) BNSS, Sections 320 and 321 may be compounded by the creditors who are affected, and Sections 322 and 323 by the person affected, without the court's permission. The CrPC treated Sections 421 to 424 IPC the same way.

Does every property dispute attract Section 322 BNS? No. In Usha Chakraborty v. State of West Bengal (2023 INSC 35), the Supreme Court described Section 423 IPC as dealing with "twin specific frauds" — a false recital of consideration or of the beneficiary in a deed of transfer or charge — and quashed an FIR whose allegations did not carry those ingredients. Section 322 BNS uses the same words.

Which law applies to a fraudulent transfer made before 1 July 2024? Section 358(2) BNS lets proceedings for offences under the IPC be instituted or continued as if that Code had not been repealed, so on a reading of that text earlier conduct is charged under Sections 421 to 424 IPC. Article 20(1) of the Constitution bars a penalty greater than the law in force at the time; on a reading of that Article, the new minimum and the higher maximums cannot be applied to earlier conduct.

Sources

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Gazette text): Sections 2(7), 2(9), 2(36)–(38), 320 to 323, 324 (Illustration (d)) and 358.
Indian Penal Code, 1860 (India Code text): Sections 421 to 424.
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (Gazette text): Sections 174, 283, 359 and 531, and the First Schedule entries for Sections 320 to 323 BNS.
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973: Section 320 and the First Schedule entries for Sections 421 to 424 IPC.
Constitution of India: Article 20(1).
Judgments read in full text: Teeka v. State of Uttar Pradesh (1962_1_75_86_EN.md); Usha Chakraborty v. State of West Bengal (Diary_18547-2022_Judgment.md).

This page explains the statutory text and the judgments cited as they stand. It is not legal advice; for a specific case, consult an advocate.

Sections 421–424 IPC vs Sections 320–323 BNS — Fraudulent Deeds and Dispositions of Property