BNS Section 200: Punishment for Non-Treatment of a Victim (IPC 166B Mapping) (2026)

Explainer · Criminal Law · BNS

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Section 200 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) punishes a hospital that refuses to treat a victim. It is not a document offence, and it is not about public servants framing records. If you searched for "BNS Section 200" expecting something else, that is because the sections were renumbered when the BNS replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on 1 July 2024. This explainer sets out what Section 200 really says, how it maps to the old law, the punishment, and the classification. Last verified October 2026.

01Why the number can mislead

The section numbers of our criminal law changed on 1 July 2024. The Indian Penal Code (IPC) was replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS). Many old offences kept their text but got a new number, and some numbers now point to a completely different offence.

Section 200 of the BNS is a good example. It does not deal with a public servant framing a false document. It deals with a hospital that fails to treat a victim. So if you reach this section from an old note or a search, read the actual words and do not rely on the number alone.

02What Section 200 covers

Section 200 of the BNS punishes a person in charge of a hospital who does not treat a victim as the law requires. The hospital may be public or private, and it may be run by the Central Government, a State Government, a local body, or any other person.

The duty to treat comes from Section 449 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), the new procedure code. Section 449 requires hospitals to give first aid or medical treatment, free of cost, to victims of certain offences, such as acid attacks and sexual offences. Section 200 of the BNS adds the punishment when that duty is broken.

03Key ingredients

To make out an offence under Section 200, these points must be shown:

• the accused was in charge of a hospital, public or private;
• a victim covered by Section 449 of the BNSS came within reach of that hospital;
• the accused contravened Section 449, that is, failed to give the free treatment the law requires.

The offence targets the person responsible for the hospital, not every member of staff. The focus is on the failure to provide the treatment that the victim was legally entitled to receive.

04Old to new: IPC 166B to BNS 200

Section 200 of the BNS carries forward Section 166B of the IPC. Section 166B was added to the IPC after the 2013 criminal law amendments, which followed the Nirbhaya case and strengthened protection for victims of serious offences.

The substance is the same. The duty that used to sit in Section 357C of the old Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) now sits in Section 449 of the BNSS, and the punishment that used to be Section 166B of the IPC is now Section 200 of the BNS. Only the numbers changed.

05Punishment and classification

The punishment under Section 200 is imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or fine, or both.

On classification, the offence under Section 200 is:

• Non-cognizable: the police generally need an order of a Magistrate before they investigate.
• Bailable: bail is a matter of right, subject to the usual conditions.
• Triable by a Magistrate of the first class.

06What this means in practice

For a litigator or a hospital adviser, the practical point is clear. A refusal to treat a victim covered by Section 449 of the BNSS can now attract a criminal charge under Section 200 of the BNS, with up to one year in jail.

Because the text is carried over from Section 166B of the IPC, older judgments and commentary on Section 166B still help you read Section 200. When you research the point, look for both the old and the new numbers. For the wider duty on hospitals and the police to help a victim, read it with the duty to inform a relative or friend after an arrest and the victim-treatment provisions of the BNSS.

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.

Whether a hospital crossed the line into non-treatment is fought fact by fact, read with Section 449 of the BNSS and the old Section 166B of the IPC. Claw holds more than 30 crore judgments and returns each search in under 5 seconds, so you can trace how a High Court has weighed a refusal to treat a victim, or watch a live matter move through its hearings and orders across the 9,102 courts, benches and forums it covers. That record reaches back to the Supreme Court of 1950 and the High Courts from 1990.

Claw does not train its AI models on customer case files. Set up a free Claw account to look up a hospital-duty matter by party or by the advocate arguing it, and to follow it as it is listed. For the wider search across all of reported law, see case search across Indian courts.

08Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the BNS, 2023): indiacode.nic.in
• Section 200, BNS (bare text and classification): devgan.in
• PRS Legislative Research (BNS and IPC comparison): prsindia.org
• 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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