BNS Section 106 (IPC 304A): causing death by negligence
What IPC 304A became, the lower ceiling for doctors, the hit-and-run clause that was left out on 1 July 2024, and what follows for arrest, bail and compensation.
Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code is now section 106 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Causing death by a rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide is punishable with up to five years and fine; where a registered medical practitioner does it while performing a medical procedure, up to two years and fine. It is cognizable, bailable and not compoundable. Section 106(2), on hit-and-run, was excluded when the Sanhita came into force on 1 July 2024.
Punishes causing a death by a rash or negligent act that does not amount to culpable homicide, with a lower ceiling for a registered medical practitioner performing a medical procedure.
- Now
- BNS 106 — Causing death by negligence
- Was
- IPC 304A
- Punishment
- Up to 5 years and fine; up to 2 years and fine for a registered medical practitioner
- Arrest without warrant
- Cognizable
- Bail
- Bailable
- Compounding
- Not compoundable
- Tried by
- Magistrate of the first class
Read this first: Section 106(2), the ten-year hit-and-run offence, was excluded when the Sanhita came into force on 1 July 2024 (S.O. 850(E)). Whether it has been brought into force since could not be confirmed from the Gazette. The classification below is for section 106(1).
Carried over under a new number, but the Government’s own comparison table marks this provision as altered rather than merely renumbered. What is punishable, or how severely, is not identical.
| IPC 304A | becomes BNS 106 | substantively-changed |
|---|
Key takeaways
- Section 106(1) carries up to five years and fine — or up to two years for a registered medical practitioner performing a medical procedure.
- Section 106(2), the ten-year hit-and-run offence, was left out of the 1 July 2024 commencement notification.
- Bailable means an arrested person must be released once they offer bail (BNSS s. 478).
- A death by negligence cannot be settled privately: section 106 is not compoundable.
- A court that convicts may direct the fine to compensate the family of the person who died (BNSS s. 395(1)(c)).
What BNS 106 actually requires
Every part below has to be present. This is not a list of factors to be weighed — if one element is missing, the offence is not made out at all, however bad the conduct looks.
- The accused did an act
Something done, by anyone — driving, operating, building, treating.
and - That caused the death of a person
The death must result from that act.
and - The act was rash or negligent
Either is enough under section 106(1). Section 106(2), as enacted, needs both — “rash and negligent driving”.
and - And it did not amount to culpable homicide
If the act was done with the intention or knowledge that makes it culpable homicide, section 105 or 103 applies instead.
Broken out from section 106(1). The lower ceiling applies where the act is done by a registered medical practitioner while performing a medical procedure, as defined in the Explanation.
- In force from 1 July 2024
106(1) — causing death by a rash or negligent act
Up to 5 years, and fine. Cognizable, bailable, Magistrate of the first class.
- In force from 1 July 2024
106(1) — by a registered medical practitioner performing a medical procedure
Up to 2 years, and fine. Cognizable, bailable, Magistrate of the first class.
- Excluded from the 1 July 2024 commencement
106(2) — death by rash and negligent driving, escaping without reporting to a police officer or Magistrate
Up to 10 years, and fine. S.O. 850(E) of 23 February 2024 excepted it; whether it has been brought into force since could not be confirmed from the Gazette.
Section 106 as enacted; commencement from S.O. 850(E) and S.O. 848(E), both of 23 February 2024, as published in the Gazette and footnoted by India Code, and the Ministry of Home Affairs statement of 10 December 2024. Checked 13 September 2026.
Is BNS 106 bailable, cognizable and compoundable?
Arrest, bail and the court come from the First Schedule to the BNSS; compounding comes from section 359. What follows from each label is given with it.
106(1) — Causing death by negligence
- ArrestCognizable
The police may register a case and begin investigating on their own, and may arrest without a warrant from a Magistrate. You do not need a court order to get an investigation started.
- BailBailable
Bail is a right, not a request. The officer in charge or the court must release you on bail once you offer it — there is no discretion to refuse.
- CompoundingNot compoundable
The complainant cannot end the case by settling it. BNSS s. 359 lists every offence that may be compounded and this one is not on either list, so only the court can end the case.
- Tried byMagistrate of the first class
Tried by a Judicial Magistrate of the first class, whose sentencing power is capped, so the charge is expected to stay within that cap.
106(1) — Causing death by negligence by registered medical practitioner
- ArrestCognizable
The police may register a case and begin investigating on their own, and may arrest without a warrant from a Magistrate. You do not need a court order to get an investigation started.
- BailBailable
Bail is a right, not a request. The officer in charge or the court must release you on bail once you offer it — there is no discretion to refuse.
- CompoundingNot compoundable
The complainant cannot end the case by settling it. BNSS s. 359 lists every offence that may be compounded and this one is not on either list, so only the court can end the case.
- Tried byMagistrate of the first class
Tried by a Judicial Magistrate of the first class, whose sentencing power is capped, so the charge is expected to stay within that cap.
Read from the First Schedule to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (printed page 181), and section 359 for compounding.
The First Schedule also prints a row for section 106(2) — cognizable, non-bailable, Magistrate of the first class (printed page 181). That entry was excepted from the BNSS provisions brought into force on 1 July 2024 by S.O. 848(E), so it is not shown above.
Punishment for causing death by negligence, against the offences around it
Section 106(1) sets imprisonment of either description for up to five years, and the offender is also liable to fine. Where a registered medical practitioner does the act while performing a medical procedure, the ceiling is two years, and fine. Neither limb has a minimum. Section 106(2), as enacted, carries up to ten years and fine for causing death by rash and negligent driving and escaping without reporting it to a police officer or a Magistrate soon after — but see the commencement note above before relying on it.
- BNS 105 — culpable homicide with intentionlife, or 5 to 10 years
- BNS 105 — culpable homicide with knowledge onlyup to 10 years
- BNS 106(2) — hit-and-run, as enacted (commencement not confirmed)up to 10 years
- BNS 106(1) — causing death by negligencethis pageup to 5 years
- BNS 106(1) — by a registered medical practitionerthis pageup to 2 years
From the section text. The full-width bar is imprisonment for life, which has no equivalent in years. A maximum is a ceiling, not what a court awards.
What happens, and how long each part takes
- FIR, or a preliminary enquiry firston the report; an enquiry takes up to 14 days
For the five-year limb, police may, with a DSP-rank officer’s permission, first enquire whether there is a prima facie case (BNSS s. 173(3)).
- Inquest reportwithin 24 hours
Where a death is by accident or machinery, police report the apparent cause of death to the District or Sub-divisional Magistrate (s. 194).
- From here it is not yours to control
Everything below happens on the investigating agency’s timetable and the court’s, not yours. You can follow it and you can be heard in it; you cannot set its pace.
Arrest, or a notice to appearduring investigationArrest only on section 35(1)(b)’s conditions, with reasons recorded; otherwise a notice (s. 35(3)). An arrested person who offers bail is released (s. 478).
- Police report to the Magistrateprogress update to the informant within 90 days
Custody before a charge-sheet is capped at sixty days for an offence below ten years (s. 187(3)(ii)); the informant is told of progress within ninety days (s. 193(3)(ii)).
- Trial before a Magistrate of the first classtypically months to years
The five-year limb is a warrant-case; the two-year medical limb a summons-case, which may be tried summarily (ss. 2(1)(x), (z), 283(2)).
The time limits are the BNSS’s own. No provision fixes how long the trial takes.
Crime head: Causing Death by Negligence (Section 106 BNS / Section 304-A IPC). NCRB reports by crime head rather than by section, so this is the closest head to the provision and not a count of cases under it.
- Chargesheeting rate, 202476.6%
Of the cases police finished investigating, the share that ended in a chargesheet rather than being closed.
- Conviction rate, 202434.6%
Of the trials that completed, the share that ended in conviction. Not the share of registered cases — most are still pending.
- Trials still pending at the end of 202491.6%
Of all cases before the courts that year, including those carried over from earlier years, the share not yet decided when the year closed.
NCRB, Crime in India 2024, Tables 17A.1 and 18A.1. The 2024 volume counts IPC cases for January to June and BNS cases from 1 July in the same head. 26,278 convictions in 75,912 completed trials.
Not a count of section 106(2) cases. The sub-head sits within Causing Death by Negligence, spans January to June 2024 under the Indian Penal Code as well, and is not defined by NCRB by reference to any sub-section.
- Cases registered, 2024
- 53,230
- Chargesheeting rate
- 69.4%
- Conviction rate
- 56.3%
NCRB, Crime in India 2024, Table 17A.1 row 25A.1 and the matching row of 18A.1. 14,301 convictions in 25,393 completed trials; 90.1% of trials pending at the end of the year.
Death by medical negligence under BNS 106: what the two-year limb changes
Section 106(1) gives a lower ceiling where the act is done by a registered medical practitioner while performing a medical procedure. The Explanation limits that to a practitioner with a qualification recognised under the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 whose name is on the National or a State Medical Register. The classification is the same for both limbs, but the two-year ceiling moves the case across several procedural thresholds in the BNSS.
| Anyone else | Registered medical practitioner | |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum | 5 years and fine | 2 years and fine |
| Type of case | Warrant-case — over two years (BNSS s. 2(1)(z)) | Summons-case (s. 2(1)(x)) |
| Preliminary enquiry before investigation | Possible, with a DSP-rank officer’s permission, within 14 days (s. 173(3)) | Not available — under three years |
| Summary trial | Not possible — over three years (s. 283(2)) | Possible, at the Magistrate’s discretion after hearing the accused |
| Limit for taking cognizance | None under s. 514 | Three years (s. 514(2)(c)) |
| Arresting someone over sixty or infirm | No extra permission | Needs a DSP-rank officer’s prior permission (s. 35(7)) |
| First Schedule | Cognizable, bailable, Magistrate of the first class | Cognizable, bailable, Magistrate of the first class |
Section 106(1) and BNSS ss. 2, 35, 173, 283 and 514. First Schedule, printed page 181.
If a family member died in an accident or through negligence
The police must register an FIR and give you a free copy (BNSS s. 173(2)). Where a person has been killed by an accident or by machinery, the police must inform the Executive Magistrate empowered to hold inquests, investigate at the body, and forward a report of the apparent cause of death within twenty-four hours (s. 194). You must be told how the investigation is progressing within ninety days (s. 193(3)(ii)).
If the accused is convicted and fined, the court may order the fine paid to the family members entitled to damages under the Fatal Accidents Act, 1855 (s. 395(1)(c)). Separately, the State victim compensation scheme can pay even where the driver or other offender is never traced, on an application to the District or State Legal Services Authority (s. 396(4)). Compensation in a later civil claim takes account of anything already paid (s. 395(5)).
If you have been accused: the procedure and your rights
Arrest is not automatic. For an offence punishable with up to seven years, police may arrest only where section 35(1)(b)’s conditions are met and reasons are recorded; otherwise they issue a notice to appear, and a person who complies is not arrested unless the officer records reasons (BNSS s. 35(3)–(5)).
An arrested person must be told the full particulars of the offence and, because section 106(1) is bailable, that they are entitled to bail and may arrange sureties (s. 47). A person of their choice must be informed (s. 48), and production before a Magistrate is due within the twenty-four hours fixed by law (s. 187(1)). A person who offers bail must be released; one who cannot give a bail bond within a week may be presumed indigent, and an indigent person unable to furnish a surety must be released on a bond without one (s. 478(1)). Free legal aid is available to anyone in custody, subject to the legal services authority’s satisfaction.
More questions about this page
What is 304A IPC in BNS?▼
Is BNS 106 bailable?▼
Is the hit-and-run provision in BNS 106(2) in force?▼
What is the punishment for a doctor under BNS 106?▼
Can a case under BNS 106 be settled by compromise?▼
What is the difference between BNS 105 and BNS 106?▼
Official sources checked
The statutes, rules and regulator pages the statements on this page were checked against.
- Read 13 September 2026. Section 106(1), its Explanation and 106(2) from the enacted text. Footnote 1 to section 1(2) in the India Code record and PDF: “1st July, 2024, except the provision of sub-section (2) of section 106, vide notification No. S.O. 850(E), dated, 23rd February, 2024”.
- India Code footnote: 1 July 2024 “except the provisions of the entry relation to Section 106(2) in the first Schedule”, vide S.O. 848(E) of 23 February 2024.
- States that the BNS provisions “except sub-section (2) of section 106” came into force from 1 July 2024.
- The notification itself: the Central Government “appoints the 1st day of July, 2024 as the date on which the provisions of the said Sanhita, except the provision of sub-section (2) of section 106, shall come into force.” No later notification on section 106(2) was found; the Gazette’s search could not be run, so none is ruled out.
- Printed page 181, read by eye. 106(1): cognizable; bailable; Magistrate of the first class. 106(2): cognizable; non-bailable; Magistrate of the first class.
- Arrest, bail, preliminary enquiry, inquest, custody limits, compounding, compensation and limitation.
- IPC 304A → BNS 106, marked as changed.
- Causing Death by Negligence head (row 25) and its Hit and Run sub-head (row 25A.1) of Table 17A.1, with the matching rows of 18A.1. Retrieved 13 September 2026.
What to do next
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- NALSA — National Legal Services Authority
- NALSA legal aid helpline (toll-free): 15100
- Your District Legal Services Authority. Every district has one, at the district court, and it is the office that arranges a lawyer.
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Last reviewed September 2026.