Section 103

This provision replaces Section 302 of the old Indian Penal Code, which had defined murder's punishment since 1860. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 kept the core punishment structure but added a new second clause specifically targeting mob lynching. This addition followed years of public concern over lynchings tied to caste, religion, and other identity markers, and reflects the Supreme Court's 2018 call in Tehseen Poonawalla v. Union of India for Parliament to consider a dedicated anti-lynching law.

Because the BNS came into force only in 2024, there is no case law yet interpreting Section 103 directly. However, courts have long shaped how 'murder' is understood and punished under the equivalent old provision (IPC Section 302). In Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab (1980), the Supreme Court held that the death penalty must be reserved for the 'rarest of rare' cases, requiring judges to weigh aggravating and mitigating factors before choosing death over life imprisonment — a standard expected to continue guiding sentencing under Section 103(1). The mob-lynching clause in Section 103(2) is new and untested, though its drafting closely tracks the Supreme Court's concerns in Tehseen Poonawalla about identity-based group violence.

• Myth: Death penalty is automatic for every murder conviction.
  Fact: Courts generally prefer life imprisonment and reserve the death penalty for the 'rarest of rare' cases, a standard set by the Supreme Court in Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab (1980).
• Myth: Section 103(2) only applies if exactly five people are involved.
  Fact: The clause applies to groups of five or more, meaning it covers larger mobs too, not just a group of precisely five.
• Myth: Only the person who physically killed the victim can be punished in a mob lynching case.
  Fact: Under Section 103(2), every member of the group acting in concert can be punished as if they committed the murder themselves.