Indian criminal law | Offences affecting the human body

Section 331 IPC: Voluntarily Causing Grievous Hurt to Extort Confession or Compel Restoration of Property

Section 331 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 punished deliberately causing grievous hurt to obtain a confession or information, or to force the restoration of property or satisfaction of a demand. The corresponding provision under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 is Section 120(2).

Section 331 IPC: Original statutory text

The statutory passage above retains the substantive text of Section 331 IPC appearing in the original webpage.

Essential ingredients of the offence

1. Voluntarily causing grievous hurt: The accused must cause an injury qualifying as grievous hurt, with the requisite intention or knowledge.
2. Specified coercive purpose: The act must be for obtaining a confession or information that may disclose an offence or misconduct; or for compelling restoration of property or valuable security, satisfaction of a claim or demand, or information leading to recovery.
3. Person subjected to coercion: The provision covers pressure directed at the sufferer or at a person interested in the sufferer, as its wording specifies.
4. Evidence of purpose: The prosecution must establish the link between the injury and the prohibited objective, not merely that a serious injury occurred.

Relevant statutory definitions

Grievous hurt: Section 320 IPC

Section 320 IPC identifies eight categories of grievous hurt, including emasculation, permanent privation of sight or hearing, privation of a member or joint, destruction or permanent impairment of their powers, permanent disfiguration of the head or face, fracture or dislocation of a bone or tooth, and hurt endangering life or causing severe bodily pain or inability to follow ordinary pursuits for twenty days. Under the BNS, the corresponding definition appears in Section 116.

Voluntarily causing grievous hurt: Section 322 IPC

Section 322 IPC describes voluntarily causing grievous hurt, involving the relevant intention or knowledge and actual grievous hurt. The BNS counterpart is found in Section 117(1).

Confession, valuable security and restoration

A confession generally refers to an admission of guilt in relation to an offence; rules governing its evidentiary use are distinct from the criminal prohibition against coercing it. Valuable security is defined in Section 30 IPC as a document creating, extending, transferring, restricting, extinguishing or releasing a legal right, or acknowledging legal liability or the absence of a legal right. Restoration in this section concerns returning property or valuable security, or providing information facilitating its return.

Punishment under Section 331 IPC

Conviction under Section 331 IPC may attract imprisonment of either description for up to ten years and fine. The provision does not specify a minimum sentence or provide for life imprisonment. The sentence depends on the proved facts and applicable sentencing law.

Current law: Section 120(2) BNS

Section 120(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 addresses voluntarily causing grievous hurt to extort confession or compel restoration of property, with punishment extending to ten years and fine. Section 120(1) separately deals with causing hurt for those purposes and prescribes punishment extending to seven years and fine.

Illustrations of how the provision may operate

Coerced confession: An investigator deliberately causes a fracture to force a person to confess to a suspected offence. If the statutory mental element, injury and coercive purpose are proved, the conduct may fall under Section 331 IPC or the corresponding BNS provision, depending on the date of the act.

Coerced disclosure of property: A person deliberately inflicts grievous hurt to compel another to reveal where allegedly stolen property is kept. The provision may apply even though the objective concerns recovery rather than a confession.

Forced payment: Deliberately inflicting grievous hurt to compel satisfaction of a demand may engage this offence when its ingredients are met. The mere existence of an alleged debt does not authorise violence.

These are explanatory examples, not findings about any actual case.

Custodial violence and evidentiary safeguards

The offence is not confined to police officers: its opening word, "Whoever", extends to any person satisfying the ingredients. Where a confession is obtained through threats or physical violence, separate rules governing the admissibility of confessions may also arise under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, or the earlier Indian Evidence Act where applicable. An unlawfully obtained confession does not become lawful merely because it is connected with an investigation.

Medical records, injury reports, forensic evidence, contemporaneous complaints, witness testimony, custody records and communications concerning the demanded confession or property may all be relevant. Whether an injury legally amounts to grievous hurt requires careful assessment of the statutory categories and the evidence.

Related IPC provisions

Indian Penal Code index provides the wider statutory context. Section 330 IPC deals with the corresponding coercive purpose where hurt, rather than grievous hurt, is caused. Section 327 IPC concerns hurt to extort property or compel an illegal act, and Section 329 IPC addresses grievous hurt for those purposes. Section 331 IPC specifically addresses coercion to obtain confessions, investigative information, property restoration or satisfaction of claims and demands.

Official legal sources

• India Code — Indian Penal Code, 1860, including Sections 30, 320, 322, 330 and 331.
• Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Act 45 of 2023) — Sections 116, 117 and 120.
• India Code — Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.
• Ministry of Home Affairs — notifications concerning the new criminal laws.

Frequently asked questions

Disclaimer: This article is general legal information and is not a substitute for advice about the facts of an individual case.