BNS Section 98: Selling a child for purposes of prostitution, etc
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 · Chapter 5: Of Offences Against Woman and Child
Also available in: हिंदी
98. Whoever sells, lets to hire, or otherwise disposes of any child with intent that such child shall at any age be employed or used for the purpose of prostitution or illicit intercourse with any person or for any unlawful and immoral purpose, or knowing it to be likely that such child will at any age be employed or used for any such purpose, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Explanation 1.—When a female under the age of eighteen years is sold, let for hire, or otherwise disposed of to a prostitute or to any person who keeps or manages a brothel, the person so disposing of such female shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to have disposed of her with the intent that she shall be used for the purpose of prostitution.
Explanation 2.—For the purposes of this section “illicit intercourse” means sexual intercourse between persons not united by marriage or by any union or tie which, though not amounting to a marriage, is recognised by the personal law or custom of the community to which they belong or, where they belong to different communities, of both such communities, as constituting between them a quasi-marital relation.
Bare act text for reference, current to 1 July 2024. It is not legal advice; check the official gazette for authoritative text.
Other sections in this chapter
- 63. Rape
- 64. Punishment for rape
- 65. Punishment for rape in certain cases
- 66. Punishment for causing death or resulting in persistent vegetative state of victim
- 67. Sexual intercourse by husband upon his wife during separation
- 68. Sexual intercourse by a person in authority
- 69. Sexual intercourse by employing deceitful means, etc
- 70. Gang rape
- 71. Punishment for repeat offenders
- 72. Disclosure of identity of victim of certain offences, etc
- 73. Printing or publishing of any matter relating to Court proceedings without permission
- 74. Assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty
- 75. Sexual harassment
- 76. Assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe
- 77. Voyeurism
- 78. Stalking
- 79. Word, gesture or act intended to insult modesty of a woman
- 80. Dowry death
- 81. Cohabitation caused by man deceitfully inducing belief of lawful marriage
- 82. Marrying again during the lifetime of husband or wife
- 83. Marriage ceremony fraudulently gone through without lawful marriage
- 84. Enticing or taking away or detaining with criminal intent a married woman
- 85. Husband or relative of the husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty
- 86. Cruelty defined
- 87. Kidnapping, abducting, or inducing a woman to compel her marriage, etc
- 88. Causing miscarriage
- 89. Causing miscarriage without woman’s consent
- 90. Death caused by an act done with the intent to cause miscarriage
- 91. Act done with intent to prevent a child being born alive or to cause to die after birth
- 92. Causing the death of a quick unborn child by an act amounting to culpable homicide
- 93. Exposure and abandonment of a child under twelve years of age, by parent or person having care of it
- 94. Concealment of birth by secret disposal of a dead body
- 95. Hiring, employing, or engaging a child to commit an offence
- 96. Procuration of a child
- 97. Kidnapping or abducting a child under ten years of age with the intent to steal from its person
- 99. Buying a child for purposes of prostitution, etc