BNS Section 142: Wrongfully Concealing or Confining a Kidnapped or Abducted Person (IPC 368 Mapping) (2026)

Explainer · Criminal Law · BNS

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Section 142 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) punishes a person who hides or confines someone they know has been kidnapped or abducted. The BNS has been in force since 1 July 2024 and replaces the Indian Penal Code (IPC). If you still look up "IPC 368" for concealing a kidnapped person, Section 142 is the provision you now need. This explainer sets out what Section 142 covers, how it maps to the old law, the punishment, and the classification. Last verified October 2026.

01Why the section number matters now

Concealing or confining a kidnapped person was punished for over 160 years under Section 368 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Since 1 July 2024 the IPC is replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), and this offence now sits in Section 142.

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 142, not Section 368. An older matter keeps its IPC number, because the law that applies is the law on the date of the offence. For some years both numbers will appear in live files, and each has to be read correctly.

02What Section 142 covers

Section 142 targets the person who helps keep a kidnap or abduction going. It applies to anyone who, knowing that a person has been kidnapped or abducted, wrongfully conceals or keeps that person in confinement.

The key point is that this is a separate offence from the kidnapping itself. The accused need not have carried out the original kidnapping. It is enough that the accused knew the person was kidnapped or abducted and then hid or confined that person.

03Key ingredients

To bring home an offence under Section 142, the prosecution must show three things:

• a person was kidnapped or abducted;
• the accused knew of that kidnapping or abduction; and
• the accused wrongfully concealed or kept that person in confinement.

Knowledge is central. A person who hides the victim without knowing they were kidnapped does not fall within this section. The concealment or confinement must also be wrongful, meaning without lawful authority.

04Old to new: IPC 368 to BNS 142

Section 368 of the IPC is now Section 142 of the BNS. The offence and the way its punishment is fixed are carried over without real change.

The heading of this page refers to compulsory labour, but the provision that actually carries that number in the BNS deals with concealing a kidnapped person. Unlawful compulsory labour (old IPC 374) is a separate provision later in the same chapter.

05Punishment and classification

Section 142 does not set a fixed term of its own. Instead, a person who conceals or confines a kidnapped or abducted person is punished in the same manner as if that person had kidnapped or abducted the victim, with the same intention, knowledge or purpose. So the punishment tracks the seriousness of the underlying kidnapping.

On classification, the offence under Section 142 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 by which the underlying kidnapping or abduction is triable.

06What changed from the old law

For this offence, the change is almost entirely the section number. The ingredients, the knowledge requirement and the way punishment is linked to the underlying kidnapping are carried over from IPC Section 368. So the older case law on Section 368 still guides how Section 142 of the BNS is read.

Because the punishment depends on the underlying kidnapping, the real sentence in any case turns on which part of Section 140 of the BNS or other kidnapping provision applies.

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.

A kidnapping file often names several accused, some charged only with hiding or holding the victim, and their liability turns on what courts have made of the knowledge requirement under the old Section 368. Claw lets you comb 30 crore and more judgments, from Supreme Court decisions since 1950 to High Court decisions since 1990, to see how that line has been drawn. It also keeps tabs on the cases, orders and hearing dates in a running matter across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, with each search answered in under 5 seconds.

Confidentiality holds: Claw never uses customer case documents to train its AI models. Create a free Claw account to study how concealment has been treated and to watch a live matter by party or advocate name. For the wider field 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 142, 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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