Abetment of Suicide Under the BNS (Section 108): IPC 306 Mapping (2026)

Explainer · Criminal Law · BNS

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Abetment of suicide is punished under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the new criminal code in force since 1 July 2024. Section 108 replaced Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It punishes a person who abets the suicide of another, with imprisonment up to ten years and a fine. This explainer sets out what Section 108 covers, what must be proved, how it maps to the old law, and what changed. Last verified October 2026.

01A serious and often misread charge

When a person takes their own life, the law asks whether someone drove them to it. Abetment of suicide punishes a person who instigated, conspired in, or intentionally aided the suicide of another. It is a grave charge, and it is also one that courts watch carefully, because grief and blame can turn an ordinary quarrel into an allegation that does not meet the legal test.

Since 1 July 2024 the offence is Section 108 of the BNS, not Section 306 of the IPC. The substance is unchanged, so the careful standards built up under Section 306 still apply.

02What Section 108 covers

Section 108 of the BNS says that if any person commits suicide, whoever abets the commission of that suicide shall be punished with imprisonment up to ten years and a fine. Two things must be present:

• A suicide actually took place. There must be a completed act of suicide.
• The accused abetted it. The accused must have abetted the suicide within the meaning the code gives to "abetment".

03What abetment means

"Abetment" is defined in the general abetment provisions of the BNS. In plain terms, a person abets a suicide if they:

• instigate the person to commit suicide, meaning they actively provoke, incite, or urge the act;
• engage in a conspiracy that leads to the suicide; or
• intentionally aid the suicide by an act or illegal omission.

Courts have held that mere harassment is not enough. There must be a positive act, close in time, that left the person with no option but suicide.

Mere knowledge that a person had suicidal thoughts is not abetment. Words spoken in anger or on the spur of the moment are generally not treated as instigation. The prosecution has to show a real and proximate link between the accused’s conduct and the suicide.

04Old to new: IPC 306 to BNS 108

Section 306 of the IPC is now Section 108 of the BNS, re-enacted without change in substance.

The definition of abetment, earlier in the IPC, now sits in the general abetment provisions of the BNS, but the test is the same.

05Punishment and classification

The punishment under Section 108 is imprisonment of either description up to ten years, and a fine.

On classification, abetment of suicide under Section 108 is:

• Cognizable: the police can register an FIR and investigate without court approval.
• Non-bailable: bail is decided by the court.
• Triable by the Court of Session.

06What changed from the old law

For abetment of suicide, nothing of substance changed. The punishment, the ingredients, and the meaning of abetment are carried over from Section 306. The change is the section number, so the settled case law on Section 306, including the requirement of a proximate and positive act of instigation, continues to apply.

Where a death is caused directly rather than abetted, the right provisions are murder under Section 103 or culpable homicide under Section 105. Cruelty by a husband or his relatives is dealt with under Section 85 of the BNS.

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.

Abetment-of-suicide cases turn almost entirely on how courts have read instigation and proximity on similar facts, so research is central to both prosecution and defence. Offences and procedure under Section 108 are charged and litigated in cases across India. Claw lets you search and track cases, orders and judgments by section, party or advocate across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, with 30 crore+ judgments and results in under 5 seconds, so you can pull how courts have applied the test, or follow a live matter by party or advocate name.

Claw does not use customer case documents to train AI models. Create a FREE Claw account to search and track cases under this section by party or advocate name. For wider research, 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 108, 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.

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