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Indian Penal Code, 1860 · Chapter XXI: Of Defamation

Section 502: Sale of printed or engraved substance containing defamatory matter

The Indian Penal Code, 1860 was repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 from 1 July 2024. It still applies to offences and proceedings from before that date.

Now in the BNS section 356 (Defamation)

In plain words

Selling or offering for sale printed or engraved material knowing it contains defamatory matter is punishable with simple imprisonment for up to two years, or fine, or both.

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 sells or offers for sale any printed or engraved substance containing defamatory matter, knowing that it contains

such matter, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

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 (Legislative Department), the text of the Act as it stood before its repeal. 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.

Supreme Court judgments citing the section 502