BNS Section 275: Sale of Noxious Food or Drink (IPC 273 Mapping) (2026)

Explainer · Criminal Law · BNS

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Section 275 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) punishes the sale of noxious food or drink. It is a food-safety offence, not a drugs offence. If you searched for "BNS Section 275" expecting the sale of adulterated drugs, that is a renumbering mix-up. The sale of noxious food or drink was Section 273 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and it is now Section 275 of the BNS. This explainer sets out what the section really covers, how it maps to the old law, the punishment, and the classification. Last verified October 2026.

01Why the number can mislead

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on 1 July 2024, and the food and drug offences were renumbered. The chapter still covers adulterated food, noxious food, and adulterated drugs, but each now has a new number.

Section 275 of the BNS is the provision for selling noxious food or drink. It is not the drugs provision. So if you reach this section from an old note, read the words and not just the number.

02What Section 275 covers

Section 275 of the BNS punishes a person who sells, or offers or exposes for sale, as food or drink, any article that has been rendered or has become noxious, or is in a state unfit for food or drink. The person must know, or have reason to believe, that the article is noxious as food or drink.

In plain terms, this is the offence of putting spoiled or harmful food or drink into the market. It sits next to the related offence of adulterating food or drink to make it noxious.

03Key ingredients

To make out an offence under Section 275, these points must be shown:

• the article was food or drink, and it had been rendered or had become noxious, or was unfit for food or drink;
• the accused sold it, or offered or exposed it for sale, as food or drink; and
• the accused knew, or had reason to believe, that the article was noxious.

The offence protects public health at the point of sale. It does not need proof that anyone actually fell ill. The act of selling noxious food or drink, with the required knowledge, is enough.

04Old to new: IPC 273 to BNS 275

Section 275 of the BNS carries forward Section 273 of the IPC. The text is the same, and the fine is now written as a rupee figure.

So the conduct is the same as the old Section 273. The BNS states a clear maximum fine of five thousand rupees.

05Punishment and classification

The punishment under Section 275 is imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or fine which may extend to five thousand rupees, or both.

On classification, the offence is:

• Non-cognizable: the police generally need a Magistrate order to investigate.
• Bailable: bail is a matter of right, subject to conditions.
• Triable by any Magistrate.

06What this means in practice

In practice, Section 275 is used against sellers of spoiled or harmful food and drink. It is a short, bailable offence, but it carries a real risk of imprisonment and sits alongside the food-safety law.

Because the text follows Section 273 of the IPC, older judgments on Section 273 still guide how Section 275 is read. When you research, search both numbers. For the wider pattern of renumbering under the new code, see the offence of fouling water of a public spring or reservoir, another public-health provision in the same part of the BNS.

07Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

A food-safety prosecution turns on knowledge and on how courts have read the word "noxious". Claw carries more than 30 crore judgments and answers each search in under 5 seconds, so you can see how courts have applied the old Section 273 and the new Section 275, or follow a live matter through its hearings and orders across the 9,102 courts, benches and forums it tracks.

Claw does not use customer case documents to train its AI models. Create a free Claw account to look up a noxious-food matter by party name or by the advocate on record, and to follow it as it is heard. For the wider search across the whole body of decided law, see case search across Indian courts.

08Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the BNS, 2023): indiacode.nic.in
• Section 275, BNS (bare text and classification): devgan.in
• PRS Legislative Research (BNS and IPC comparison): prsindia.org
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This explainer is general information, not legal advice. The law changes through amendments and judgments, so check the current text and take advice from counsel before you act.

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