Wrongful Restraint Under the BNS (Section 126): IPC 341 Mapping (2026)

Explainer · BNS · Offences Against the Human Body

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

The freedom to move where you have a right to go is a basic liberty. When one person voluntarily blocks another from doing so, the law calls it wrongful restraint. Since 1 July 2024 the offence has a new address. The Indian Penal Code has been replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), and wrongful restraint is now Section 126. This explainer sets out what Section 126 says, which old IPC sections it replaces, the punishment, and whether the offence is cognizable and bailable. Last verified October 2026.

01The problem: blocking a person’s path

Personal liberty includes the simple freedom to move. When one person voluntarily blocks another from going where he has a right to go, the law steps in, even if the block lasts only a short time and causes no injury. This can be a shopkeeper barring a customer from leaving, a group standing across a road to stop a vehicle, or a neighbour blocking a shared path.

The practical problem today is the number. For generations wrongful restraint was defined in Section 339 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and punished under Section 341. From 1 July 2024 both have been folded into Section 126 of the BNS, with the definition in Section 126(1) and the punishment in Section 126(2). A complaint drawn today must use Section 126, while a search for older authorities still needs Sections 339 and 341.

Wrongful restraint is voluntarily obstructing a person so he cannot go where he has a right to go. In the new code it is Section 126 of the BNS, the old Sections 339 and 341 of the IPC.

02What Section 126 covers

Section 126(1) of the BNS defines the offence. A person wrongfully restrains another when he voluntarily obstructs that person so as to prevent him from proceeding in any direction in which that person has a right to proceed.

Three points follow from the wording:

• The obstruction must be voluntary. An accidental block is not wrongful restraint.
• The person obstructed must have a right to proceed. You cannot complain of being stopped from going where you had no right to go.
• No injury or touching is needed. The wrong is complete once the lawful movement is blocked.

The section carries an exception from the old law: the good faith obstruction of a private way over land or water, which a person believes he has a lawful right to obstruct, is not an offence. This protects a genuine dispute about a right of way.

03Restraint versus confinement

Wrongful restraint is the wider and lighter offence. Its graver cousin is wrongful confinement, where the person is not merely stopped from going one way but is kept within set limits so that he cannot leave at all.

A locked room is confinement. Blocking a single path, while the person can still turn and go elsewhere, is restraint. The difference decides which section applies and how heavy the punishment is. Wrongful confinement is dealt with under Section 127 of the BNS. For that offence, see wrongful confinement under Section 127.

04The old-to-new mapping

The definition and the punishment, which were two sections in the IPC, are now two sub-sections of one BNS section.

So the search term "section 341 IPC in BNS" points to Section 126. For the wider renumbering, see the IPC to BNS section converter.

05Punishment and classification

The punishment under Section 126(2) is simple imprisonment for a term that may extend to one month, or fine that may extend to five thousand rupees, or both. The imprisonment is simple, not rigorous, and the term is short, which reflects that restraint is the lighter liberty offence.

On classification, the offence is treated as:

• Cognizable or not: non-cognizable, so in general the police need a Magistrate’s order to investigate.
• Bailable or not: bailable.
• Triable by: any Magistrate, and the offence is generally compoundable by the person restrained.

The old Section 341 of the IPC carried the same one month of simple imprisonment, but a fine of only up to five hundred rupees. The BNS has raised the fine to five thousand rupees, and kept the rest the same.

06What changed, and what did not

In substance the offence is carried over from the IPC almost unchanged. The BNS kept the definition of wrongful restraint, kept the exception for the good faith obstruction of a private way, and kept the one-month maximum of simple imprisonment. The main changes are the structure, with the definition and punishment now gathered in one Section 126, and the higher fine, raised from five hundred rupees to five thousand rupees.

Because the offence is substantially the same, case law decided under Sections 339 and 341 of the IPC still guides how Section 126 is read. For research that means covering both the old and the new numbers.

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.

Wrongful restraint is rarely charged on its own; it tends to sit in a first information report beside assault, confinement or criminal intimidation, so it has to be read together with those sections, and the 2024 renumbering makes both the research and the tracking harder. Claw softens that. Its search spans more than 30 crore judgments, with the Supreme Court from 1950 and the High Courts from 1990, so you can pull authorities under both Section 126 of the BNS and the old Sections 339 and 341 of the IPC, each result returned in under 5 seconds. It also keeps the cases, orders and hearings in a live matter in view, by party name or advocate name, across 9,102 courts, benches and forums. For the wider view, see case search across Indian courts.

Claw does not file a case or give legal advice, and it does not use customer documents to train its AI models. Register for a free Claw account to search the old and new numbers and follow a matter by party name or advocate name.

08Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023): indiacode.nic.in
• Ministry of Home Affairs (new criminal laws): mha.gov.in
• Bare text of BNS Section 126 (reference): devgan.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This explainer is general information, not legal advice. Section numbers and punishments change through amendments and notifications, so check the current official text and take advice from counsel before you act.

09Frequently asked questions