IPC 498A Is Now BNS 85–86 — What the Renumbering Does and Doesn't Change

This entry exists because “IPC 498A” is still the phrase almost everyone uses — in arguments, in memes, in old news coverage still circulating — even though the Indian Penal Code it belonged to has been replaced.

What actually happened

India’s three central criminal codes were replaced effective 1 July 2024: the Indian Penal Code by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Code of Criminal Procedure by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and the Indian Evidence Act by the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA). The matrimonial-cruelty offence that lived at IPC Section 498A now lives at BNS Sections 85 and 86.

What changed in substance

Renumbering, primarily. The core definition of cruelty — the two limbs covering conduct likely to drive a woman to suicide or grave injury, and harassment tied to unlawful property demands — carries forward in substance. This is not a case where OIM is correcting a factual claim about what the law does; it’s flagging that the label most people still use points at a code that no longer governs new cases.

Why this matters practically, not just pedantically

Old articles, old case summaries, and years of Supreme Court commentary — including Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar — were written against IPC numbering. Court directions and safeguards established under the old code continue to apply in substance, but if you’re reading anything that cites “Section 498A” without noting the BNS renumbering, you’re reading something that hasn’t been updated since before July 2024, on a topic where getting the current citation right matters if you ever need to reference it precisely — to a lawyer, in a document, or in an argument you want to survive fact-checking.

The standing correction

Wherever OIM refers to this provision, it leads with the current BNS numbering and notes the legacy IPC number for recognition — never the reverse. If you spot an OIM page that still leads with the old number, that’s a bug; use the correction channel described on the Updates page.