Section 58 is still an active law that governs prisoner detention in India.

Section 58 was repealed in 1955 and has no legal effect today; it exists only as a historical entry in the IPC.

Indian Penal Code, 1860

Section 58

repealed

Offenders sentenced to transportation how dealt with until transported.

Repealed by the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1955 (26 of 1955), S. 117 and Sch.§

Why this exists

Section 58 originally dealt with the punishment of 'transportation' (sending convicts to penal colonies, such as the Andaman Islands, during colonial rule) and set out how such offenders were to be kept in custody until they were actually transported. As India moved away from the practice of transportation as a punishment and reformed its criminal procedure after independence, this provision became obsolete. It was formally repealed by the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1955, as part of a broader modernization of criminal law that removed transportation-related provisions no longer suited to the country's penal system.

Common misconceptions

Myth: Section 58 is still an active law that governs prisoner detention in India.
Fact: Section 58 was repealed in 1955 and has no legal effect today; it exists only as a historical entry in the IPC.