BNS Section 150: Concealing a Design to Wage War Against the Government of India (IPC 123 Mapping) (2026)

Explainer · Criminal Law · BNS

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Section 150 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) punishes concealing a design to wage war against the Government of India. It is the new home of the offence that lawyers knew as Section 123 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The punishment is imprisonment up to ten years, and a fine. If you searched for "BNS Section 150" expecting a different offence, remember that the BNS renumbered the old code, so the number alone can mislead. This explainer sets out what Section 150 covers, the offences against the State around it, how it maps to the old law, and the punishment. Last verified October 2026.

01Why the number trips people up

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC) from 1 July 2024 and renumbered almost every offence. So the IPC number you remember rarely points to the same provision in the BNS.

Section 150 is a clear example. In the BNS it is not an offence against a woman, a child or property. It sits in the chapter on offences against the State, and it punishes the concealment of a plan to wage war against the Government of India. Reading the new number correctly matters, because a charge for conduct on or after 1 July 2024 is drawn under the BNS and cites Section 150, not the old IPC number.

02What Section 150 covers

Section 150 of the BNS punishes a person who, by any act or by any illegal omission, conceals the existence of a design to wage war against the Government of India. The concealment must be done with the intent to facilitate, or with knowledge that it is likely to facilitate, the waging of that war.

The section does not punish the waging of war itself, which is dealt with by other provisions in the same chapter. It punishes the person who knows of such a design and hides it so that the war is made easier to carry out.

03Key ingredients

To bring a case under Section 150, the prosecution must show each of these elements:

• A design to wage war: there is an existing plan or design to wage war against the Government of India.
• Concealment: the accused conceals the existence of that design, by an act or by an illegal omission.
• The guilty mind: the accused intends by the concealment to facilitate the waging of the war, or knows it to be likely that the concealment will facilitate it.

Both the act of concealment and the mental element must be shown. An innocent failure to report, without the intent or knowledge the section requires, does not fit.

04Old to new: IPC 123 to BNS 150

Section 123 of the IPC is now Section 150 of the BNS. The offence and the punishment are carried over, with the wording kept close to the old text.

Because the text is carried forward, older judgments on Section 123 of the IPC continue to guide how Section 150 is read.

05Punishment and classification

The punishment under Section 150 is imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and the offender is also liable to a fine.

On classification, the offence under Section 150 is:

• Cognizable: the police can register an FIR and investigate without prior approval of a court.
• Non-bailable: bail is not a matter of right and is decided by the court.
• Triable by the Court of Session: it is treated as a serious offence against the State.

06What changed from the old law

For this offence, the change is mostly the number. The conduct, the mental element, and the punishment are carried over from Section 123 of the IPC, so the settled case law on offences against the State continues to apply.

The practical point is the transition. A charge for conduct on or after 1 July 2024 reads Section 150 of the BNS, while an older matter keeps its IPC 123 tag, because the law that applies is the law on the date of the offence. For some years both numbers will appear in live files.

07Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

Offences against the State begin in the Sessions court and frequently climb to the High Courts and the Supreme Court on bail and on appeal. Claw lets you search more than 30 crore judgments and keep track of the cases, orders and hearings on this section by party or advocate name, across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, with results in under five seconds. The record reaches back to the Supreme Court from 1950 and the High Courts from 1990, so you can trace how courts have read the concealment and intent elements, or watch a live matter move up the ladder.

Claw does not use customer case documents to train its AI models, so your work remains private. Open a free Claw account to follow Section 150 matters by party or advocate name. To search the wider body of law, see case search across Indian courts.

08Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the BNS, 2023): indiacode.nic.in
• PRS Legislative Research (BNS overview and IPC comparison): prsindia.org
• Section 150, BNS (bare text): devgan.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This explainer is general information, not legal advice. The law changes through amendments and judgments, so check the current text and take advice from counsel before you act.

09Frequently asked questions