Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 · Chapter IV: Of Abetment, Criminal Conspiracy and Attempt
Section 58: Concealing design to commit offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life
In plain words
Deliberately hiding a plan to commit an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life, or lying about it, to make the offence easier is a crime. Hiding it by encryption or other information hiding tools counts too.
- If the offence is committed: up to seven years in prison.
- If it is not committed: up to three years in prison and a fine.
Example: A knows a dacoity is planned at one place and misleads the Magistrate into watching another place. If the dacoity happens, A is punishable.
A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.
Official text
Whoever intending to facilitate or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby facilitate the commission of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life, voluntarily conceals by any act or omission, or by the use of encryption or any other information hiding tool, the existence of a design to commit such offence or makes any representation which he knows to be false respecting such design shall,.
(a) if that offence be committed, be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years; or.
(b) if the offence be not committed, with imprisonment of either description, for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Illustration
A, knowing that dacoity is about to be committed at B, falsely informs the Magistrate that a dacoity is about to be committed at C, a place in an opposite direction, and thereby misleads the Magistrate with intent to facilitate the commission of the offence. The dacoity is committed at B in pursuance of the design. A is punishable under this section.
Corresponding sections were matched by comparing the wording of both official texts, and for the IPC and BNS, also against a published correspondence table. Wording, punishments and structure often changed, so read both sections before relying on the match.
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 25 August 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 58
No Supreme Court judgment in our database cites this section yet.