IPC 307 in the new BNS 2023

If you have been named in an FIR or notice under this section, the section number alone does not decide the outcome — the facts, the evidence and the procedure do. Many cases turn on procedural lapses, bail strategy and the exact ingredients of the offence.

Attempt to murder is one of the most serious charges that can be laid where the victim survives, and the point most often misunderstood about it is that no injury is required at all. What the section punishes is an act done with the state of mind that would have made it murder had death followed. Under the BNS it sits at Section 109.

What the section requires

For the offence to be made out, these ingredients have to be established:

• the accused did an act
• the act was done with such intention or knowledge, and under such circumstances, that if it had caused death the accused would have been guilty of murder
• no injury need actually have been caused — the offence is complete on the act being done with that intention or knowledge

What changed from the IPC

The provision is carried over without substantive change, and the tiered punishment structure is retained. Where no hurt is caused the maximum is ten years and a fine. Where hurt is caused, the offender is liable to imprisonment for life or to the punishment already mentioned. Where the offender is under sentence of life imprisonment and causes hurt, the punishment may extend to death or imprisonment for the remainder of that person's natural life. The renumbering carries one practical trap: Section 109 in the old IPC was abetment, so an old reference to 'Section 109' means something entirely different from a BNS reference to the same number.

How this section is distinguished from related offences

The line that decides most of these cases is between attempt to murder under BNS 109 and attempt to commit culpable homicide under BNS 110, which replaced IPC 308. The difference lies entirely in the state of mind: if death resulting from the act would have been murder, the charge is 109; if it would have been culpable homicide not amounting to murder, the charge is 110, which carries a much lower maximum. Below both sit the hurt provisions, principally grievous hurt by dangerous weapons under BNS 118, which is charged where the intention to kill cannot be established but a serious injury was inflicted. Reducing a 109 charge to 118 or 110 is the objective in a large proportion of contested cases.

How the case proceeds

The offence is cognizable and non-bailable and is tried by a Court of Session. Bail is a matter of judicial discretion rather than right, and it is normally sought before the Sessions Court or the High Court. Because the charge turns on intention rather than outcome, the investigation focuses on the weapon used, the part of the body targeted, the degree of force and whether the assault was repeated — the material from which intention is inferred.

Evidence that usually decides these cases

Intention is almost never proved directly, so it is built from physical particulars. The nature of the weapon is the starting point — a firearm or a sharp-edged weapon supports an intention to kill in a way that a blunt object usually does not. The part of the body targeted matters greatly, because injuries to the head, neck, chest or abdomen are treated as directed at vital parts, while injuries to the limbs are not. The force used, inferred from the depth and dimensions of the wound recorded in the medical report, and whether blows were repeated or a single blow was struck, complete the picture. Recovery of the weapon, ballistic and forensic reports, and any conduct showing preparation or lying in wait are the other principal strands. Where eyewitness accounts describe an assault that the medical evidence does not support, the contradiction is usually the centre of the defence.

How courts approach sentencing

Where no hurt is caused, the maximum is ten years and a fine. Where hurt is caused, the offender is liable to imprisonment for life or to the punishment already mentioned. Where the offender is already under sentence of life imprisonment and causes hurt, the punishment may extend to death or to imprisonment for the remainder of that person's natural life. Sentencing turns heavily on how close the act came to causing death and on whether the attack was premeditated or arose from a sudden quarrel.

Defences that commonly apply

The most common and most effective approach is not denial but reduction: establishing that the state of mind required for murder was absent, so the offence falls under BNS 110 or under the hurt provisions instead. Material supporting this includes injuries to non-vital parts, a single blow rather than repeated blows, a weapon of opportunity picked up during a quarrel rather than carried to the scene, and evidence that the accused stopped voluntarily. Private defence is available where the accused was responding to a reasonable apprehension of harm, and it requires proportionality. Where the incident arose from a sudden fight without premeditation, that supports the argument that the killing, had it occurred, would have fallen within the exceptions to murder and therefore that the charge should be under 110.

How a case under this section typically progresses

The case begins with an FIR and the medical examination of the injured person, and the injury report generated in those first hours frames everything that follows. Investigation covers weapon recovery, forensic examination and witness statements, and a charge sheet follows. Because the offence is triable by a Court of Session, the case is committed to that court, charges are framed and trial follows. Applications to have the charge framed under BNS 110 or under the hurt provisions rather than under 109 are argued at the charge stage and are frequently the most consequential hearing in the case.

Documents worth gathering early

Obtain the FIR, the medico-legal certificate and the complete hospital record including the wound certificate, operation notes and discharge summary, since the description and location of the injuries is what the charge stands or falls on. The seizure memo and forensic or ballistic report relating to the weapon are equally important. Photographs of the scene and of the injuries, taken close to the incident and therefore dated, are valuable. Where there is a history between the parties — a prior dispute, a prior complaint, a property matter — keep those papers, because premeditation and motive are argued from them. Request CCTV from the location in writing immediately, since it is routinely overwritten within days.

Note on bail and cognizability. Whether an offence is cognizable, and whether it is bailable, is set by the First Schedule to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) 2023, not by the BNS section itself. Because that classification decides whether police can arrest without a warrant and how bail is approached, check it for your specific section with an advocate rather than relying on a general summary.

If you have been named under this section

Understand at the outset that the survival of the complainant, and even the absence of any injury, is not a defence to this section. The contest is about state of mind, and it is fought on the physical particulars: what weapon, aimed where, with what force, and whether the accused desisted or was stopped. The medical evidence therefore matters as much to the defence as to the prosecution, because an injury inconsistent with an intention to kill is the most direct route to having the charge reduced.

Common misunderstandings

"If nobody was injured there is no case."
Injury is not an ingredient. The offence is complete when an act is done with the intention or knowledge that would have made resulting death murder.

"The victim survived, so it must be a hurt case."
Survival determines nothing. Whether the charge is attempt to murder or hurt depends on the intention behind the act, not on how much damage it happened to cause.

"BNS 109 is the same as IPC 109."
It is not. IPC 109 dealt with abetment. BNS 109 is attempt to murder, replacing IPC 307. Old references to Section 109 must be read against the IPC, not the BNS.

"The complainant can withdraw the case."
Attempt to murder is a serious non-compoundable offence prosecuted by the State. A complainant turning hostile affects the evidence but does not end the prosecution.

Related BNS sections

• BNS 109 — Attempt to murder
• BNS 110 — Attempt to commit culpable homicide (IPC 308)
• BNS 103 — Murder (IPC 302)
• BNS 118 — Grievous hurt by dangerous weapons (IPC 326)

Which code applies to your case

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 replaced the Indian Penal Code 1860 with effect from 1 July 2024, and the change is not retrospective. The date the offence is alleged to have been committed decides which code governs it. An offence alleged to have occurred on or after 1 July 2024 proceeds under the BNS. An offence alleged to have occurred before that date continues to be investigated, tried, appealed and punished under the IPC, even where the FIR was registered later. Cases from the transition period frequently cite both numbering systems, which is why the old section number remains worth knowing.

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General information for understanding the IPC→BNS change, not legal advice. The BNS restructured many offences — confirm the exact section, sub-section and punishment with a licensed advocate.