The new criminal laws came in force on July 1, 2023. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita introduced several changes in the acts which constitute an offence. One of the major changes that was highlighted by the legal experts was the inception of community service as punishment under BNS 2023. We must say that it is an applaudable step by the law makers, since you get to hit two targets with a single arrow. While the person may not get away easily even in petty offences, and the community service as punishment eventually helps a cause, be it cleaning, environment, or the sense of care for orphans/elderly, as the case may be. While crimes are the negative aspects of humanity, community service may hold the tendency to deviate the accused persons towards a positive direction which may assist them in building a future as a better human. Here, we are set to discuss the concept of community service under BNS in a detailed manner.
Punishments in Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita
Section 4 of the BNS 2023 embodies the punishments for offences under the same. While the Indian Penal Code contained five punishments, namely death penalty, life imprisonment, imprisonment for a fixed term, forfeiture of property and fine, the BNS introduced a new kind of punishment. Section 4 introduced community service punishment under the new criminal laws.
Community service as punishment under BNS
The concept of community service in India is not new, since Courts have imposed community service punishment in several matters before. As seen in trends, it has included cleaning of certain places like police stations, to planting saplings. It may be noted that the same have been exercised as a bail condition or even as a condition to quash FIR, if that was the case.
What are the types of community service punishment?
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita lays out community service as a punishment under BNS. However, what may be imposed as a punishment in the name of community service is not specified. Thus, it is up to the Court to exercise its discretion while imposing community service as a punishment for offenders. As mentioned before, the Courts in India have exercised their discretion to impose community service even before community service as punishment under BNS was introduced. Some of the community service examples are mentioned below:
- In Om Kumar & Ors v The State of NCT of Delhi (2024), the Delhi High Court ordered the accused family to plant 50 saplings as a condition to quash FIR after parties reached an amicable settlement.
- The Goa Bench of Bombay High Court ordered two engineering students to do community service at an old age home in Goa for 2 months, contributing 2 hours on a daily basis. The two students were accused of stealing certain items during a conference at their institute, which included potato chips, pens, chocolates, etc.
- The Delhi High Court in New Delhi Nature Society v. Shri Vinay Sheel Saxena (2023) ordered two Delhi Police cops to plant 100 trees. The two cops were accused of getting into an altercation with a lawyer.
- The Delhi High Court in Sagar v. State of NCT of Delhi (2023) ordered parties (24 persons) accused in an attempt to commit culpable homicide to do basic cleaning work at 4 Police Stations at Mehrauli, Fatehpur Beri, Maidan Garhi, and Neb Sarai. The Court quashed the FIR after parties claimed to have amicably settled their dispute.
- The Bombay High Court in 2016 ordered 20 youth to perform community service as a condition for quashing an FIR. The matter involved an assault case between two groups. The Court ordered the first group to clean and sweep the Mira Road Railway Station every Sunday for 3 months. The other group was directed to clean a Municipal School in Thane for the same duration, i.e., every Sunday for 3 months.
- In Parvez Jilani Shaikh v. State of Maharashtra (2015), the Bombay High Court ordered the accused to perform community service at BARC Hospital after parties sought to quash the criminal proceedings with the claim to have settled the matter amicably.
How many offences have community service as a punishment?
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has laid some of the offences wherein community service under BNS is proposed as a punishment, with or without imprisonment or fine. The said legal provisions are:
- Section 202 of the BNS 2023 provides for the offence of a Public servant unlawfully engaging in trade and lays the punishment of simple imprisonment up to 1 year, or with fine / with both / with community service.
- Section 209 of BNS hints at non-appearance in response to a proclamation under BNSS and provides for imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both, or with community service.
- Section 226 discusses the offence of atttempt to commit suicide to compel or restrain exercise of lawful power and lays the punishment – simple imprisonment for up to 1 year, or with fine, or with both, or with community service as punishment under BNS 2023.
- Section 303 (2) provides for community service as a punishment for theft in case the value of stolen property is below Rs 5000, which is returned, and it was his/her first conviction.
- Section 355 of BNS discusses the offence of misconduct in public by a drunken person and provides for imprisonment up to 24 hours or fine up to Rs 1000 or community service punishment.
- Section 356 (2) lays the punishment for defamation including simple imprisonment up to 2 years or with fine or community service.
Closure
While what we discussed are community service as some conditions after ruckus created which concluded with settlement, the BNS holds community service as punishment for offenders. It means that the criminal matters in the times to come will show what community service examples the Courts order to exercise their discretionary power while deciding actual matters. Let’s see how creative Courts can get while exercising discretionary power and imposing community service as punishment under BNS.
