BNS 2023 § 113
Definition
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 terrorist act provision (replacing UAPA § 15 as the primary substantive offence for many terrorism prosecutions); does not create a civil pre-attack intervention mechanism equivalent to the ERPO or Channel programme.
- Statute
- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Section 113
- Covers
- Terrorist act, general criminal-code offence
- Relationship to UAPA
- Replaces UAPA Section 15 as primary offence in many prosecutions
- Does not provide
- A civil pre-attack intervention mechanism like ERPO or the Channel programme
Common questions
Why does the definition note the absence of an ERPO- or Channel-style mechanism?+
Jurisdictions like the US (Extreme Risk Protection Orders) and the UK (Channel programme) have civil, pre-charge tools that intervene before an attack occurs, based on risk assessment rather than proven criminal conduct. BNS Section 113 is a post-act criminal offence, so India's framework relies on different, largely law-enforcement-led mechanisms for early intervention.
How does BNS Section 113 differ in practice from UAPA Section 15 which it succeeds?+
Both define terrorist act in broadly similar substantive terms, but UAPA carries its own specialised procedural regime, such as extended detention and designation powers, that BNS alone does not provide. Investigators often invoke both statutes together, using BNS 113 for the substantive charge and UAPA for the procedural and investigative powers.
Related terms
- BTAC (Behavioral Threat Assessment Center)
- The FBI unit that provides training, research, and case consultation on targeted violence threat assessment; operational successor to the Behavioral Threat Assessment...
- Channel Programme
- The UK's statutory civil intervention pathway for individuals assessed as vulnerable to radicalisation; operated through multi-agency Channel panels, placed on statutory footing...
- ERPO (Extreme Risk Protection Order)
- A US civil-law mechanism (enacted in 21 states as of 2025) allowing courts to temporarily remove firearms from persons assessed as an...
- Leakage
- Intentional or unintentional communication of intent to commit violence to a third party. One of TRAP-18's eight proximal warning behaviours and the...
- Pathway-to-Violence Model
- A five-stage sequential model (grievance, ideation, research and planning, probing and preparation, attack) developed by Calhoun and Weston and elaborated by the...
- TRAP-18 (Terrorist Radicalization Assessment Protocol)
- An 18-indicator threat assessment framework developed by Meloy and colleagues, comprising 8 proximal warning behaviours (pathway, fixation, identification, novel aggression, energy burst,...
- WAVR-21
- Workplace Assessment of Violence Risk, 21-factor version. A structured threat-assessment tool used in occupational and institutional settings that integrates language analysis with...