Historical background and Scheme of the IPC

Before the advent of the British, the penal law prevailing

in India, for the most part, was the Mohammedan law.
There were many small states and they were using their
own penal laws. Due to administrative necessities, the
British felt a need for a single penal law for the whole of
India. The objective of this Act is to provide a general
Penal Code for India.
The first law commission was appointed in 1834 with
Lord Macauley, the then Law Minister as its chairman,
Sarvshri Macleod, Anderson, and Millet were the other
members of the Commission. The first draft of the Indian
Penal Code was prepared by the First Law Commission.
The draft was based on the simple codification of the law
of England. It was revised by Sir Barnes Peacock, Sir J W
Colville, and several others. The drafting was completed
in 1850 and it was presented to the legislative council in
1856. The bill was passed on October 6th, 1860. It
received the assent of the Governor-General on the same
date and thus became the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The
Code came into operation on 1st January 1862. The IPC
defines offences and also provides for their punishment.
It extends to the whole of India.
The Indian Penal Code is the main criminal code for the
country. It includes all the criminal offences including
crimes related to human body, property, conspiracy,
crimes against the state or Public Tranquillity, etc.
Anyone found guilty of a crime is punishable under the
IPC. It contains substantive criminal law. It is to be used
with the procedural or adjectival law which is contained
in the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 and the Indian
Evidence Act, which discusses the evidentiary value in
the criminal trial.
The Scheme of the Act:
The Indian Penal Code of 1860, sub-divided into 23
chapters, comprises 511 sections. The Code starts with
an introduction, provides explanations and exceptions
used in it, and covers a wide range of offences.
The Penal Code can broadly be divided into four
segments. Chapters I to V contain general matters
relating to the extent, definitions, principles of liability
etc. Chapters VI to XV deal with public matters between
individuals and the state. Chapters XVI to XXII are
mainly concerned with offences committed by individuals
against individuals or legal persons other than the state.
The last chapter XXIII is residuary in nature, laying down
the principles of punishment for attempt to commit an
offence if no specific provision has been made therefor.
The basic outline of the code is given in the table below:
Chapter I : Introduction: Sections 1 to 5
Chapter II: General Explanations: Sections 6 to 52
Chapter III: Of Punishments: Sections 53 to 75
Chapter IV: General Exceptions and of the Right of
Private Defence: Sections 76 to 106
Chapter V: Of Abetment: Sections 107 to 120
Chapter VA: Criminal Conspiracy: Sections 120A and
120B
Chapter VI: Of Offences against State: (Sections 121 to
130
Chapter VII: Of Offences Relating to the Army, Navy, and
Air Force: Sections 131 to 140
Chapter VIII: Of Offences against the Public Tranquility:
Sections 141 to 160
Chapter IX: Of Offences by or Relating to Public
Servants: Sections 161 to 171
Chapter IXA: Of Offences Relating to Elections: Sections
171 (A to I)
Chapter X: Of Contempts of Lawful; Authority of Public
Servants: Sections 172 to 190
Chapter XI: Of False Evidence and Offence against Public
Justice: Sections 191 to 229
Chapter XII: Of Offences Relating to Coin and
Government Stamps: Sections 230 to 263
Chapter XIII: Of Offences Relating to Weight and
Measures: (Sections 264 to 267
Chapter IV: Of offences Affecting the Public Health,
Safety, Convenience, Decency and Morals: Sections 268
to 294
Chapter XV: Of Offences Relating to Religion: Sections
295 to 298
Chapter XVI: Of Offences affecting the Human Body:
● Of Offences Affecting Life including murder, culpable
homicide (Sections 299 to 311)
● Of the Causing of Miscarriage, of Injuries to Unborn
Children, of the Exposure of Infants, and of the
Concealment of Births (Sections 312 to 318)
● Of Hurt (Sections 319 to 338)
● Of Wrongful Restraint and Wrongful Confinement
(Sections 339 to 348)
 ● Of Criminal Force and Assault (Sections 349 to 358)
● Of Kidnapping, Abduction, Slavery and Forced
Labour (Sections 359 to 374)
● Sexual Offences including rape and Sodomy
(Sections 375 to 377)
Chapter XVII: Of Offences Against Property:
● Of Theft (Sections 378 to 382) Of Extortion (Sections
383 to 389)
● Of Robbery and Dacoity (Sections 390 to 402)
● Of Criminal Misappropriation of Property (Sections
403 to 404)
● Of Criminal Breach of Trust (Sections 405 to 409)
● Of the Receiving of Stolen Property (Sections 410 to
414)
● Of Cheating (Section 415 to 420)
● Of Fraudulent Deeds and Disposition of Property
(Sections 421 to 424)
● Of Mischief (Sections 425 to 440)
● Of Criminal Trespass (Sections 441 to 462)
Chapter XVIII: Offences relating to Documents and
Property Marks:
● Offences relating to Documents (Section 463 to
477-A)
● Offences relating to Property and Other Marks
(Sections 478 to 489)
● Offences relating to Currency Notes and Bank Notes
(Sections 489A to 489E)
Chapter XIX: Of the Criminal Breach of Contracts of
Service: Sections 490 to 492
Chapter XX: Of Offences Relating to Marriage: Sections
493 to 498
Chapter XXA: Of Cruelty by Husband or Relatives of
Husband: Section 498A
Chapter XXI: Of Defamation: Sections 499 to 502
Chapter XXII: Of Criminal intimidation, Insult and
Annoyance: Sections 503 to 510
Chapter XXIII: Of Attempts to Commit Offences: Section
511

Conclusion:
The Indian Penal Code, 1860 is a visionary and laborious
work of three decades (1834-1860) of the Law
Commissioners, particularly, of Lord Macaulay, the main
architect of the Code. It has codified the then prevailing
English criminal law. It is pertinent to note that the
Indian Penal Code, 1860 which has been amended only
sparingly since its enactment in the post-British era, is
in operation as a major substantive penal law of India
since about the last 150 years. Only three chapters,
namely offences relating to criminal conspiracy, election
and cruelty to married women, have been added to its
original 23 chapters.
Besides the general substantive criminal law codified in
Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Central and State
Legislations have enacted various legislations forming
part of the penal law of the land to deal with specific
subject matters. The special law is applicable to the
particular subject while the local law makes the law
applicable to a particular part of India. Any wrongful act
which is thus prohibited under the general, special or
local laws and visited with punishment is deemed to be
an offence even though a civil liability may also arise out
of the wrongful conduct.
The process of criminal investigation, prosecution, and
adjudication necessarily warrant changes and
transformation in tune with the developments in science.
In fact, the technological and information revolution has
swept the whole world. However, if there has been a great
impetus to the economic development because of modern
technology, it has also created worldwide insecurity
because of sophisticated weapons being readily available
because of transnational terrorism which has raised its
ugly head due to a variety of reasons. Thus the Act
should be modified as per the requirements of the
present era.