Indian Penal Code 1860 / Section 4

Section 4 IPC: Extension of Code to Extra-Territorial Offences

Section 4 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 extended the IPC beyond the territorial limits of India in specified circumstances. This article states the provision and explains its scope under the law applicable immediately before the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 came into force.

Historical law note: This page explains Section 4 IPC in the legal framework applicable before the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 came into force on 1 July 2024. It is retained for research, legacy matters and offences governed by the earlier law.

Text of Section 4 IPC

4. Extension of Code to extra-territorial offences. The provisions of this Code apply also to any offence committed by:

(1) any citizen of India in any place without and beyond India;

(2) any person on any ship or aircraft registered in India wherever it may be; and

(3) any person in any place without and beyond India committing an offence targeting a computer resource located in India.

Explanation. In this section:

(a) the word "offence" includes every act committed outside India which, if committed in India, would be punishable under this Code;

(b) the expression "computer resource" shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (k) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000).

Meaning and Scope of Section 4 IPC

Ordinarily, criminal law operates within the territory of the country that enacts it. Section 4 created specified extra-territorial applications of the IPC. In other words, the location of the act outside India did not by itself prevent application of the IPC where one of the statutory connections in Section 4 existed.

Definition of Computer Resource

For Section 4 IPC, "computer resource" took its meaning from Section 2(1)(k) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. That definition covers a computer, computer system, computer network, data, computer database or software.

The computer-resource limb was inserted by the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 and came into force on 27 October 2009. Its purpose was to provide an express territorial connection where conduct outside India targeted a computer resource located in India.

Illustration Under Section 4 IPC

A, who is a citizen of India, commits a murder in Uganda. He can be tried and convicted of murder in any place in India in which he may be found.

The illustration demonstrates the citizenship basis of extra-territorial jurisdiction. Section 4 identified when the IPC extended to conduct abroad; the procedural law governing inquiry and trial also had to be considered.

Section 4 IPC and Section 188 CrPC

For the pre-BNSS procedural framework, Section 188 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 dealt with offences committed outside India by an Indian citizen, or by a non-citizen on a ship or aircraft registered in India. It provided that the person could be dealt with as if the offence had been committed at a place in India where the person might be found. The proviso required previous sanction of the Central Government before such an offence could be inquired into or tried in India.

Section 4 IPC and Section 188 CrPC therefore addressed different but connected questions: Section 4 concerned the substantive extra-territorial reach of the IPC, while Section 188 governed aspects of the criminal procedure for specified offences committed outside India.

Legislative Notes

  1. Section 4 was substituted by Act 4 of 1898, section 2.
  2. The clauses concerning extra-territorial application were substituted by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950.
  3. Clause (3), concerning an offence targeting a computer resource located in India, was inserted by Act 10 of 2009, section 51, with effect from 27 October 2009.
  4. The Explanation was substituted by the same amendment with effect from 27 October 2009.
  5. "Illustration" was substituted for "Illustrations" by Act 36 of 1957, section 3 and Schedule II.
  6. The brackets and letter "(a)" in the illustration were omitted by Act 36 of 1957.
  7. The description of A in the illustration was amended by the Adaptation of Laws Orders of 1948 and 1950.
  8. The words referring to "British India" were successively amended to read "India".
  9. Former illustrations (b), (c) and (d) were omitted by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950.

Related IPC Provisions

Section 4 should be read with Section 2 IPC, which dealt with offences committed within India, and Section 3 IPC, which addressed offences committed beyond India that could by law be tried within India. Section 5 IPC preserved certain special and local laws.