BNS Section 222: Omission to Assist a Public Servant When Bound by Law to Give Assistance (IPC 187 Mapping) (2026)

Explainer · Criminal Law · BNS

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Section 222 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) punishes a person who is bound by law to help a public servant and who intentionally omits to give that help. It is the new home of the offence that lawyers knew as Section 187 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The punishment has two levels, and it rises when the help was demanded for certain purposes. If you searched for "BNS Section 222" expecting something else, remember that the BNS renumbered the old code, so the number alone can mislead. This explainer sets out what Section 222 covers, the two punishment levels, how it maps to the old law, and the classification. Last verified October 2026.

01Why the number trips people up

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC) from 1 July 2024 and renumbered almost every offence. So the IPC number you remember rarely points to the same provision in the BNS.

Section 222 is one such case. In the BNS it sits in the chapter on contempts of the lawful authority of public servants. It punishes a person who, though bound by law to help a public servant, holds back that help. Reading the new number correctly matters, because a charge for conduct on or after 1 July 2024 is drawn under the BNS and cites Section 222, not the old IPC number.

02What Section 222 covers

Section 222 of the BNS punishes a person who is bound by law to render or furnish assistance to a public servant in the execution of his public duty, and who intentionally omits to give that assistance.

The duty to assist must come from the law. A person is not punished simply for declining to help as a matter of goodwill. The section bites only where the law itself requires the person to help, and the person, being so bound, intentionally fails.

03Key ingredients

To bring a case under Section 222, the prosecution must show:

• A legal duty to assist: the accused was bound by law to render or furnish assistance to a public servant in the execution of his public duty;
• Intentional omission: the accused intentionally omitted to give that assistance.

For the higher level, the prosecution must also show that the assistance was lawfully demanded for one of the specified purposes, such as preventing an offence or arresting a person. The purpose of the demand decides which level of punishment applies.

04Old to new: IPC 187 to BNS 222

Section 187 of the IPC is now Section 222 of the BNS. The offence is carried over, with the fine amounts expressed in current figures.

Because the structure is carried forward, older judgments on Section 187 of the IPC continue to guide how Section 222 is read.

05Punishment and classification

Section 222 sets two levels of punishment:

• General case: simple imprisonment for a term up to one month, or a fine up to two thousand five hundred rupees, or both.
• For specified purposes: where the assistance was demanded for executing a court process, preventing an offence, suppressing a riot or affray, arresting a person, or recapturing an escapee, simple imprisonment up to six months, or a fine up to five thousand rupees, or both.

On classification, the offence under Section 222 is:

• Non-cognizable: the police generally need the order of a Magistrate to investigate.
• Bailable: bail is a matter of right, subject to conditions.
• Triable by any Magistrate.

06What changed from the old law

For this offence, the change is mostly the number and the updated fine figures, now stated as two thousand five hundred rupees and five thousand rupees. The conduct, the two-tier structure, and the intention requirement are carried over from Section 187 of the IPC, so the settled case law continues to apply.

The practical point is the transition. A charge for conduct on or after 1 July 2024 reads Section 222 of the BNS, while an older matter keeps its IPC 187 tag, because the law that applies is the law on the date of the offence.

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.

An omission-to-assist charge usually sits beside other offences against the lawful authority of public servants, such as non-attendance in obedience to an order, so counsel need to see how courts have read the duty element. Claw spans more than 30 crore judgments and returns a search in under 5 seconds, with coverage from the Supreme Court of 1950 and the High Courts of 1990. You can surface the rulings on when a legal duty to assist arose, or follow a live matter through its hearings and orders across the 9,102 courts, benches and forums Claw tracks.

Claw does not use customer case documents to train its AI models. Create a free Claw account to find a Section 222 matter by party or by the advocate on record, and to follow it as it is listed. To range across the entire body of decided 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 222, 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.

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