Only the people actually planning the war can be punished; someone who just stays quiet about it is safe.

The law specifically punishes people who conceal knowledge of such a plan if their silence is meant to help, or is likely to help, the war effort — even if they never join the plot themselves.

This section only applies to active soldiers or armed rebels.

It applies to any person — including ordinary civilians — who conceals such a design through an act or an illegal omission, regardless of their role in the actual plot.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Section 150

Concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage war

Whoever by any act, or by any illegal omission, conceals the existence of a design to wage war against the Government of India, intending by such concealment to facilitate, or knowing it to be likely that such concealment will facilitate, the waging of such war, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.§

Why this exists

This provision descends from Section 123 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, drafted under British colonial rule when the state was deeply concerned about conspiracies, rebellions, and armed uprisings against its authority. The law recognized that people who quietly know about a plan to wage war and choose to stay silent — protecting the plotters by their silence — can be almost as dangerous as the plotters themselves, because their concealment lets the plan mature. Independent India retained this offence, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 carries it forward largely unchanged, reflecting continued concern about protecting the state from armed insurrection and organized violence aimed at overthrowing government authority.

Common misconceptions

Myth: Only the people actually planning the war can be punished; someone who just stays quiet about it is safe.
Fact: The law specifically punishes people who conceal knowledge of such a plan if their silence is meant to help, or is likely to help, the war effort — even if they never join the plot themselves.
Myth: This section only applies to active soldiers or armed rebels.
Fact: It applies to any person — including ordinary civilians — who conceals such a design through an act or an illegal omission, regardless of their role in the actual plot.