IPC Section 71: Limit of punishment of offence made up of several offences
Indian Penal Code, 1860 · Chapter 3: Punishments
Repealed on 1 July 2024 and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS).
¶Where anything which is an offence is made up of parts, any of which parts is itself an offence, the offender shall not be punished with the punishment of more than one of such his offences, unless it be so expressly provided.
¶1[Where anything is an offence falling within two or more separate definitions of any law in force for the time being by which offences are defined or punished, or where several acts, of which one or more than one would by itself or themselves constitute an offence, constitute, when combined, a different offence, the offender shall not be punished with a more severe punishment than the Court which tries him could award for any one of such offences.]
¶Illustrations (a) A gives Z fifty strokes with a stick. Here A may have committed the offence of voluntarily causing hurt to Z by the whole beating, and also by each of the blows which make up the whole beating. If A were liable to punishment for every blow, he might be imprisoned for fifty years, one for each blow. But he is liable only to one punishment for the whole beating.
¶(b) But if, while A is beating Z, Y interferes, and A intentionally strikes Y, here, as the blow given to Y is no part of the act whereby A voluntarily causes hurt to Z, A is liable to one punishment for voluntarily causing hurt to Z, and to another for the blow given to Y.
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¶1. Added by Act 8 of 1882, sec. 4.
Study: explanations and related material
Now BNS 9 (same provision). IPC → BNS converterSource: BPR&D BNS–IPC corresponding section table (UP Police, 2024-06-28), p3
Official reference: Delhi District & Sessions Judge: government historical reference — source link checked: 2 October 2026.Recorded edition / snapshot date: 2024-06-30.Mobile-app reference import; the recorded snapshot date is not a fresh legal-currency guarantee. The linked government text is an independent authoritative reference, not certification that this website reproduces the same edition. The source link was checked, not every provision or subsequent amendment. Check commencement notifications, savings and jurisdiction-specific variations separately. Historical code retained for reference; read the repeal/savings provisions in the successor code.
This text is for reference, not legal advice. Consult the official source for the authoritative text.
Other sections in this chapter
- 53. Punishment
- 53A. Construction of reference to transportation
- 54. Commutation of sentence of death
- 55. Commutation of sentence of imprisonment for life
- 55A. Definition of "appropriate Government"
- 56. Sentence of Europeans and Americans to penal servitude
- 57. Fractions of terms of punishment
- 58. Offenders sentenced to transportation how dealt with until transported
- 59. Transportation instead of imprisonment
- 60. Sentence may be (in certain cases of imprisonment) wholly or partly rigorous or simple
- 61. Sentence of forfeiture of property
- 62. Forfeiture of property, in respect of offenders punishable with death, transportation or imprisonment
- 63. Amount of fine
- 64. Sentence of imprisonment for non-payment of fine
- 65. Limit to imprisonment for non-payment of fine, when imprisonment and fine awardable
- 66. Description of imprisonment for non-payment of fine
- 67. Imprisonment for non-payment of fine when offence punishable with fine only
- 68. Imprisonment to terminate on payment of fine
- 69. Termination of imprisonment on payment of proportional part of fine
- 70. Fine levied within six years, or during imprisonment- Death not to discharge property from liability
- 72. Punishment of person guilty of one of several offences, the judgment stating that it is doubtful of which
- 73. Solitary confinement
- 74. Limit of solitary confinement
- 75. Enhanced punishment for certain offences under Chapter XII or Chapter XVII after previous conviction