Amendments to IPC

How many times has the Indian Penal Code been amended?

Amendments have been made multiple times in the Indian Penal Code after it was drafted. Many recommendations from the 42nd report of the law commission 1971  have still not been adopted. The provisions for anti-dowry laws and stringent punishment for rape laws are some of them.

Major Amendments  :  Two of the major amendments were the criminal law amendment of 2013 and the Criminal Law Amendment Bill of 2018.

The Case that inspired the 2013 Amendment

Lakshmi Vs Union of India

WRIT PETITION (C)NO.129 OF 2006

Lakshmi was a 16 year old girl who had suffered through an acid attack. Her only fault was that she had refused a marriage proposal at the age where marriage is even illegal.

Lakshmi filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court of India in the year 2006. She asked for compensation as well as the amendment of the laws related to acid attacks and other such attacks in the country. Apart from this, she also asked for the complete ban on the sale of acids in the common markets.

Supreme Court formulated guidelines. As per the guidelines,

1. Acid should strictly not be sold to anyone who is below the age of majority .i.e. 18 years.
2. A photo id proof was also made mandatory for those who wished to purchase acid.

The 2013 Amendment of IPC

The Section 326A and 325B after the 2013 amendment read as follows:

• Section 326A read that “Whoever causes permanent or partial damage or deformity to, or burns or voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid, etc. maims or disfigures or disables, any part of parts of the body of a person or causes grievous hurt by throwing acid on or by administering acid to that person, or by using any other means with the intention of causing or with the knowledge that he is likely to cause such injury or hurt, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and with fine: Provided that such fine shall be just and reasonable to meet the medical expenses of the treatment of the victim. Provided further that any fine imposed under this section shall be paid to the victim.”
• Section 326B read that “Whoever throws or attempts to throw acid on any person or attempts to voluntarily throwing or attempting to throw acid, administer acid to any person, or attempts to use any other means, with the intention of causing permanent or partial damage or deformity or burns or maiming or disfigurement or disability or grievous hurt to that person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than five years but which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.”

Criminal Amendment Act, 2018

This Act was furthered to strengthen the rape laws.

1. The minimum punishment for rape of women increased from seven years to ten years.
2. Rape and gang rape of girls below the age of 12 years will carry minimum imprisonment of twenty years and is extendable to life imprisonment or death
3. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 institutes some new criminal offences namely Section 376AB, Section 376BA and Section 376DB in the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

Section 376AB specifically deals with the cases where a minor who is below 12 years of age has been raped. The minimum punishment for an offence under Section 376AB is 20 years which may extend to life imprisonment (which means remainder of a person’s natural life) and the maximum sentence maybe that to death.

Section 376DA and 376DB deals with the issue of gang rape of women under 16 years of and under 12 years of age respectively. Section 376DA has introduced a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment in the instance of gang raping a girl under 16 years of age and Section 376DB has introduced a minimum punishment of life imprisonment (which means remainder of persons natural life) and the maximum punishment is of death penalty in the instance of gang raping a girl under 12 years of age.

• The insertion of Section 153A and 509 was made to counter the racially motivated crimes. However, this did not receive support from all the states to that extent.