BNS Section 133: Assault or Criminal Force With Intent to Dishonour a Person (IPC 355 Mapping) (2026)

Explainer · Criminal Law · BNS

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Section 133 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the new criminal code in force since 1 July 2024, punishes assault or criminal force used to dishonour a person. It replaced Section 355 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The punishment is imprisonment up to two years, or a fine, or both. If you still look up "section 355 IPC", this is the provision you now need. This explainer sets out what Section 133 covers, how it maps to the old law, the punishment, and the classification. Last verified October 2026.

01Why the section number matters now

Assault or force used to insult or humiliate a person, such as slapping someone to shame them in public, was punished under Section 355 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Since 1 July 2024 the IPC is replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), and this offence is now Section 133.

This matters in practice. An FIR for an offence committed on or after 1 July 2024 is registered under the BNS, so it cites Section 133, not Section 355. An older case keeps its IPC number, because the law that applies is the law on the date of the offence. So for a while you will see both numbers in live matters.

02What Section 133 covers

Section 133 of the BNS punishes assault or the use of criminal force on a person with the intention of dishonouring that person, so long as the act was not done on grave and sudden provocation given by that person.

The focus is on the motive of humiliation, not on causing physical injury. The harm the law is concerned with is the insult or loss of dignity, which is why even a minor act of force, done to dishonour, falls here. The exception for grave and sudden provocation keeps genuinely provoked reactions out of this section.

03Key ingredients

To bring a case under Section 133, the prosecution must show:

• an assault or use of criminal force on a person, as those terms are defined in the code;
• that it was done with the intention of dishonouring that person; and
• that it was not on grave and sudden provocation given by that person.

The terms "assault" and "criminal force" carry the meanings given earlier in the code, so read this section with Section 129 (criminal force) and the assault definition. The provocation exception is a defence point: if the act was a response to grave and sudden provocation, this section does not apply.

04Old to new: IPC 355 to BNS 133

Section 355 of the IPC is now Section 133 of the BNS. The elements, assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour, are carried over.

Note one common error. Some lists pair "Section 133" with the old Section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant). That is wrong. The deter-public-servant offence is Section 132 of the BNS. Section 133 is about the intent to dishonour a person.

05Punishment and classification

The punishment under Section 133 is imprisonment of either description for up to two years, or a fine, or both.

On classification, the offence is:

• Non-cognizable: the police generally need the order of a court before they can investigate.
• Bailable: bail is available as of right.
• Triable by any Magistrate.

This classification is stated on the bare-text source for the section.

06What changed from the old law

For this offence, the change is mostly the number. The elements, assault or criminal force to dishonour a person, with the provocation exception, are carried over, so case law under Section 355 of the IPC still guides how Section 133 is read.

Keep Section 133 apart from the other assault offences in the chapter: the basic punishment for assault or criminal force is Section 131, the offence against a public servant is Section 132 (old Section 353 IPC), and the definition of criminal force is Section 129. This is general information, not legal advice, so check the current text and take advice from counsel before you act.

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.

Insult-and-assault complaints are common in personal disputes, and the intent to dishonour is usually the question that is fought at trial and on appeal. Claw lets you read how courts have handled that intent under the new Section 133 and the old Section 355, across more than 30 crore judgments that answer in under 5 seconds and that carry the High Court record back to 1990 and the Supreme Court to 1950. For a matter that is live, Claw follows its cases, orders and hearings across 9,102 courts, benches and forums.

Claw never uses the documents you upload to train its AI models, so your file on a dishonour complaint stays private. Create a free Claw account to look up and follow these cases by party or advocate name. For the wider 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 133, 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