House-Trespass and House-Breaking Under the BNS (Section 331): IPC 445 Mapping (2026)

Explainer · BNS · Offences Against Property

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Breaking into a house is not a single offence. The law grades it by how the entry was made, whether it was at night, what the intruder meant to do inside, and whether anyone was hurt. Since 1 July 2024 these graded offences have a new address. The Indian Penal Code has been replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), and the punishment for house-trespass and house-breaking is now Section 331. This explainer sets out what Section 331 says, which old IPC sections it replaces, the graded punishment, and whether the offences are cognizable and bailable. Last verified October 2026.

01The problem: a graded offence, renumbered

House-breaking is one of the oldest offences against property, and the code has always punished it in grades. A simple trespass into a dwelling is one thing. A break-in at night, with a plan to steal, with a weapon ready, or ending in injury, is far more serious, and the punishment climbs with each of those facts.

The practical problem today is the number, and it is a little more involved than most. The definitions and the punishments used to sit across several IPC sections (442 to 446 for the definitions, and 453 to 460 for the punishments). The BNS has reorganised them. The definitions now sit in Sections 329 and 330, and the graded punishment sits in Section 331.

House-breaking is graded by time, intent, and harm. Under the BNS the definitions sit in Sections 329 and 330, and the punishment in Section 331.

02The definitions come first (Sections 329 and 330)

To read Section 331 you need the defined terms, which the BNS places just before it.

• Criminal trespass and house-trespass (Section 329): house-trespass is criminal trespass into a building, tent, or vessel used as a human dwelling, or as a place of worship, or for the custody of property.
• House-breaking, lurking house-trespass, and the night forms (Section 330): house-breaking is committed where a person effects entry (or departure) in one of the ways the section lists, such as through a passage they made, or through a passage not meant for human entry, or by opening a fastening. Lurking house-trespass is house-trespass committed by taking steps to conceal the trespass. The forms committed after sunset and before sunrise are treated as "by night".

See the separate explainer on criminal trespass under Section 329 for the base definition.

03What Section 331 says

Section 331 of the BNS sets the punishment for lurking house-trespass and house-breaking, in grades. In plain terms the grades are:

• the basic offence of lurking house-trespass or house-breaking;
• the same committed by night (after sunset and before sunrise);
• the offence committed in order to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment, with a higher grade where the intended offence is theft;
• the night form of that, again higher where theft is intended;
• the offence where the intruder has made preparation to cause hurt, assault, wrongful restraint, or fear;
• the night form of that; and
• the offence where grievous hurt is caused, or where someone is prepared to cause death or grievous hurt, which is the gravest grade.

The point of the grading is simple: the more dangerous the entry and the intent, the higher the sentence.

04The old-to-new mapping

The BNS reorganised the old scattered sections into three: two for definitions and one for the graded punishment.

For the wider picture, see the IPC to BNS section mapping.

05Punishment and classification

The punishment climbs with the grade. In outline:

• Basic lurking house-trespass or house-breaking: imprisonment up to two years, and fine.
• By night: imprisonment up to three years, and fine.
• To commit an offence punishable with imprisonment: up to three years; and up to ten years where the intended offence is theft.
• The night form of that: up to five years; and up to fourteen years where theft is intended.
• With preparation to cause hurt, assault, restraint, or fear: up to ten years (up to fourteen for the night form), and fine.
• Where grievous hurt is caused: imprisonment for life, or imprisonment up to ten years, and fine.

On classification, these offences are cognizable. The bail status and the trying court vary by grade: the lighter grades are generally triable by a Magistrate, while the gravest grades (such as those carrying up to fourteen years or life, or where grievous hurt is caused) are more serious and non-bailable, and are tried by higher courts.

06Where 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.

On a Section 331 matter the two jobs are research and tracking, and the 2024 renumbering makes both harder. Claw lets you search 30 crore and more judgments, a record that runs from the Supreme Court in 1950 and the High Courts from 1990, so you can pull authorities under both Section 331 of the BNS and the old Sections 453 to 460 of the IPC, with results in under five seconds. It also tracks the live case, its orders and hearings under this section, by party name or advocate name, across 9,102 courts, benches and forums. For the wider view, see case search across Indian courts.

Claw does not file a case or give legal advice, and it does not use customer documents to train its AI models. Open a free Claw account to look up and follow house-breaking matters by party or advocate name.

07Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023): indiacode.nic.in
• Ministry of Home Affairs (new criminal laws): mha.gov.in
• BNS Section 331 (reference text): devgan.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This explainer is general information, not legal advice. Section numbers and punishments change through amendments and notifications, so check the current official text and take advice from counsel before you act.

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