BNS Section 141: Importation of a Girl or Boy From a Foreign Country (IPC 366B Mapping) (2026)
What Section 141 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) covers: importing a girl or boy into India from a foreign country for illicit intercourse, how it maps to Section 366B of the old IPC, the punishment, and the classification. Last verified October 2026.
Explainer · Criminal Law · BNS
Section 141 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) punishes the importation of a girl or boy into India from a foreign country for illicit intercourse. It is the new home of the offence that lawyers knew as Section 366B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The punishment is imprisonment up to ten years, and a fine. If you searched for "BNS Section 141" expecting something else, note that the numbers in the BNS do not line up with the old IPC, so you need to read the new section on its own terms. This explainer sets out what Section 141 covers, who it protects, how it maps to the old law, and the punishment. Last verified October 2026.
- Section: BNS Section 141 punishes importing a girl or boy into India from a foreign country for illicit intercourse.
- Old section: it replaced Section 366B of the IPC, in force from 1 July 2024.
- Who is protected: a girl under 21 years or a boy under 18 years. The old law covered only girls.
- Punishment: imprisonment up to 10 years, and a fine. Cognizable, non-bailable, triable by the Court of Session.
01Why the number trips people up
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC) from 1 July 2024. The BNS did not simply rename the old code. It reorganised and renumbered almost every offence. So the section number you remember from the IPC rarely points to the same offence in the BNS.
Section 141 is a good example. Many people assume a low number like 141 belongs to a general offence against the body or to unlawful assembly, as it did under the old scheme. It does not. In the BNS, Section 141 sits in the chapter on offences against woman and child, and it deals with a very specific wrong: bringing a child into India from abroad for illicit intercourse. Reading the new number correctly is the first step, because an FIR for an offence committed on or after 1 July 2024 cites the BNS, not the IPC.
02What Section 141 covers
Section 141 of the BNS punishes the importation of a girl or boy from a foreign country for the purpose of illicit intercourse. It targets cross-border procurement, where a child is brought into India so that the child may be used, or is likely to be used, for forced or seduced sexual intercourse with another person.
The protection is age based, and the two ages are different:
- a girl under twenty-one years of age; and
- a boy under eighteen years of age.
The old IPC provision protected only girls. The BNS version is wider because it now covers boys as well, which is part of a broader move in the new code to make several offences gender neutral.
A procurement offence, not a trafficking count
Section 141 is about the act of bringing the child into India with the stated intent. Trafficking of persons and exploitation of a trafficked person are dealt with separately under their own sections of the BNS. Read Section 141 for the cross-border importation element, and check the trafficking provisions where the facts involve recruitment, transport, harbouring or receipt for exploitation.
03Key ingredients
To bring a case under Section 141, the prosecution must show each of these elements:
- Importation into India: the accused brought, or caused to be brought, the child into India from any country outside India.
- A protected child: a girl under twenty-one years, or a boy under eighteen years.
- The guilty mind: the accused intended that the child may be, or knew it to be likely that the child will be, forced or seduced to illicit intercourse with another person.
The intercourse need not actually take place. The offence is complete on the importation coupled with the required intention or knowledge. It is the purpose behind bringing the child into the country that the section strikes at.
04Old to new: IPC 366B to BNS 141
Section 366B of the IPC is now Section 141 of the BNS. The core of the offence, importing a child from abroad for illicit intercourse, is carried over. The main substantive change is that the new section protects boys as well as girls.
| Point | Old law (IPC) | New law (BNS) |
|---|---|---|
| Section number | Section 366B | Section 141 |
| Who is protected | Girl under 21 | Girl under 21, boy under 18 |
| Punishment | Up to 10 years, and fine | Up to 10 years, and fine |
Because the punishment and the basic conduct are the same, older judgments on Section 366B of the IPC still guide how Section 141 is read, except on the new point about boys, where the law is fresh.
05Punishment and classification
The punishment under Section 141 is imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and the offender is also liable to a fine.
On classification, the offence under Section 141 is:
- 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 treated as a serious offence against a child.
Why it is treated seriously
The section protects children from being brought into the country for sexual exploitation. That is why it carries a long maximum sentence and is placed with the gravest offences for trial, even though the harm it names is the risk of exploitation rather than a completed assault.
06What changed from the old law
The biggest change is the reach of the section. By protecting boys under eighteen along with girls under twenty-one, the BNS closes a gap in the old law, which spoke only of girls. The punishment and the structure of the offence are otherwise carried forward.
The second change is practical: the number. A charge for this conduct committed on or after 1 July 2024 reads Section 141 of the BNS, while an older matter keeps its IPC 366B tag, because the law that applies is the law on the date of the offence. For some years you will see both numbers in live files, so you need to read each correctly.
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.
Charges under Section 141 are tried in the Sessions court, and the way its ingredients are read keeps developing case by case. With Claw you can move through more than 30 crore judgments and follow the cases, orders and hearings on this section by party or advocate name, across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, with results back in under five seconds. The search reaches Supreme Court decisions from 1950 and High Court decisions from 1990, so you can see exactly how a given court has treated the importation and the intent elements, or keep watch on a live matter.
Claw does not use customer case documents to train its AI models, so the files you work on stay private. Register for a free Claw account to look up Section 141 prosecutions 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 141, 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.
09Frequently asked questions
What does BNS Section 141 deal with?
Section 141 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 punishes importing a girl under twenty-one years or a boy under eighteen years into India from a foreign country, where the accused intends or knows it is likely that the child will be forced or seduced to illicit intercourse with another person.
Which IPC section is BNS 141?
It corresponds to Section 366B of the old Indian Penal Code. The conduct and the ten-year maximum are carried over, but the BNS version now protects boys as well as girls.
What is the punishment under BNS Section 141?
Imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and the offender is also liable to a fine.
Is the offence under Section 141 bailable?
No. The offence is cognizable and non-bailable, and it is triable by the Court of Session. Bail is not a matter of right and is decided by the court.
Does the child have to be actually abused for the offence to be made out?
No. The offence is complete once the child is imported into India with the required intent or knowledge. The illicit intercourse does not have to take place.
Can I track a case under Section 141 in Claw?
Yes. Claw lets you search more than 30 crore judgments and follow the cases, orders and hearings that cite Section 141, by party or advocate name, across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, with results in under five seconds. It researches and tracks the matter but does not give legal advice.