BNS Section 92: Causing death of a quick unborn child by an act amounting to culpable homicide (2026)

Explainer · Criminal Law · BNS

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Section 92 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) punishes a person who causes the death of a quick unborn child by an act that would have been culpable homicide if it had killed a person. The BNS has been in force since 1 July 2024. Section 92 replaced Section 316 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The punishment is imprisonment of either description for up to ten years, and a fine. If you still look up "section 316 IPC", this is the provision you now need. This explainer sets out what Section 92 covers, its ingredients, how it maps to the old law, and where it sits among the related offences. Last verified October 2026.

01Why the section number changed

For generations, the offence of causing the death of a quick unborn child sat in Section 316 of the Indian Penal Code. Since 1 July 2024 the IPC is replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and this offence now sits in Section 92 of the BNS.

This matters in daily practice. An FIR for an offence committed on or after 1 July 2024 is registered under the BNS, so it cites Section 92, not Section 316. An older matter keeps its IPC number, because the law that applies is the law on the date of the offence. For some years you will see both numbers in live cases, so you need to read each one correctly.

02What Section 92 covers

Section 92 deals with a narrow but serious situation. A person does an act so grave that, if it had caused the death of a living person, it would amount to culpable homicide. The act does not kill that person, but it causes the death of a quick unborn child. That is the offence under Section 92.

A "quick" unborn child means a foetus that has reached the stage of quickening, that is, the stage where the movements of the child can be felt. The section protects the unborn child at this advanced stage of pregnancy.

03Ingredients of the offence

To bring a case under Section 92, the prosecution must show two things:

• The accused did an act under such circumstances that, if the act had caused the death of a person, the accused would have been guilty of culpable homicide. In other words, the mental element and the danger of the act are those of culpable homicide.
• That act caused the death of a quick unborn child.

The key is the quality of the act. Section 92 borrows the standard of culpable homicide and applies it where the victim who dies is the quick unborn child rather than a person already born. The death of the unborn child is the result that completes the offence.

04Old to new: IPC 316 to BNS 92

Section 316 of the IPC is now Section 92 of the BNS. The wording and the punishment are carried over, so case law under the old Section 316 still guides how Section 92 is read.

This is largely a renumbering. The substance of the offence is the same.

05Punishment and classification

The punishment under Section 92 is imprisonment of either description for a term that may extend to ten years, and the offender is also liable to a fine. "Either description" means the court may order simple or rigorous imprisonment.

On classification, the offence under Section 92 is treated as:

• 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 of Session: it is dealt with as a serious offence against the person.

06How it differs from the miscarriage offences

Section 92 is one of a small group of BNS provisions that protect the unborn child. It is important not to confuse it with the miscarriage offences.

• Causing miscarriage is a separate offence (Section 88 of the BNS, the old Section 312 IPC), and causing miscarriage without the woman’s consent is dealt with separately again.
• Section 92 is not about procuring a miscarriage. It is about a violent or dangerous act, carrying the mental element of culpable homicide, that ends the life of a quick unborn child.

So the line is the nature of the act. A medical or consensual termination is governed by the miscarriage provisions and the law on medical termination of pregnancy. Section 92 is reserved for acts that would have been culpable homicide had a person died.

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 Section 92 case rests on close facts: the nature of the act, how far the pregnancy had progressed, and medical evidence on what caused the death of the quick unborn child. To argue it you need to see how courts have read the old Section 316 and the new Section 92. Claw opens up 30 crore and more judgments for that search, covering the Supreme Court from 1950 and the High Courts from 1990, and it tracks cases, orders and hearings across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, with any search answered in under 5 seconds.

Claw keeps customer documents out of the training of its AI models, so your case papers stay yours. Start a free Claw account to follow a Section 92 matter by party or advocate name. To search the wider body 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 92, 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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