BNS Section 90: Death Caused by an Act Done With Intent to Cause Miscarriage (IPC 314 Mapping) (2026)

Explainer · Criminal Law · BNS

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Section 90 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) deals with the woman's death that follows an act meant to cause a miscarriage. If a person, intending to cause the miscarriage of a woman with child, does an act that causes her death, that person is punished under Section 90. The punishment is up to ten years and a fine, and imprisonment for life where the act is done without the woman's consent. If you still look up "Section 314 IPC", this is the provision you now need. This explainer sets out what Section 90 covers, the punishment, and how it maps to the old law. Last verified October 2026.

01Why the section number matters now

Offences about miscarriage and unborn children were set out in Sections 312 to 318 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for more than 160 years. Since 1 July 2024 the IPC is replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), and these offences now sit in Sections 88 to 94. Death caused by an act done to cause a miscarriage is now Section 90, which carries forward old Section 314.

This matters in practice. A charge for an offence committed on or after 1 July 2024 is framed under the BNS, so it cites Section 90, not Section 314. An older matter keeps its IPC number, because the law that applies is the law on the date of the offence. For some years you will see both numbers in live cases.

02What Section 90 covers

Section 90 of the BNS punishes the death of a woman that results from an act meant to cause her miscarriage. It is aimed at unsafe or forced abortions that go wrong and kill the woman.

The section works in two parts:

• Section 90(1): whoever, with intent to cause the miscarriage of a woman with child, does an act that causes her death, is punished with imprisonment of up to ten years and a fine.
• Section 90(2): where that act is done without the woman's consent, the punishment is imprisonment for life, or the punishment set in sub-section (1).

An explanation to the section makes clear that it is not essential for the offender to have known that the act was likely to cause death. The intent to cause the miscarriage, plus the resulting death, is enough.

03Key ingredients

To bring a case under Section 90, the prosecution must show:

• a woman with child;
• an act done by the accused with the intent to cause her miscarriage;
• that the act in fact caused the woman's death; and
• for the higher punishment, that the act was done without the woman's consent.

Consent is the dividing line between the two parts. Where the woman consented to the act that led to her death, sub-section (1) applies with its ten-year ceiling. Where she did not consent, sub-section (2) opens the door to imprisonment for life. The explanation removes any need to prove that the accused foresaw death, which keeps the focus on the intent to cause the miscarriage.

04Old to new: IPC 314 to BNS 90

Section 314 of the IPC is now Section 90 of the BNS. The two parts, the ten-year ceiling, the life term where there is no consent, and the explanation about knowledge of death are carried over.

Because the rule is the same, judgments decided under Section 314 of the IPC still guide how Section 90 of the BNS is read.

05Punishment and classification

The punishment under Section 90(1) is imprisonment of up to ten years and a fine. Under Section 90(2), where the act is done without the woman's consent, the punishment is imprisonment for life, or the term set in sub-section (1).

On classification, the offence is non-bailable and triable by the Court of Session. Whether it is cognizable is reported differently across sources, so this should be checked against the official First Schedule before you rely on it.

06What changed from the old law

For this provision, the change is mostly the number. The two parts, the ceilings, and the explanation about knowledge of death are carried over from Section 314 of the IPC into Section 90 of the BNS.

The wider miscarriage and unborn-child group was renumbered at the same time. The related offence of doing an act to prevent a child being born alive, or to cause its death after birth, is now Section 91. These sections are read together where the facts touch both a pregnancy and a child about to be born.

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.

Cases under Section 90 are fact-heavy, turning on intent, consent and the cause of death, and they usually carry medical evidence. The research that matters is how courts have weighed those points. Claw lets you pull every ruling where a Sessions court or High Court has read the new Section 90 or the old Section 314, searching 30 crore and more judgments that reach the Supreme Court from 1950 and the High Courts from 1990. It tracks cases, orders and hearings across 9,102 courts, benches and forums and answers in under 5 seconds.

Claw does not use customer case documents to train its AI models, so your files stay private. Open a free Claw account to follow a Section 90 matter by party or advocate name. To search the wider body of law, see case search across Indian courts.

08Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the BNS, 2023): indiacode.nic.in
• Section 90, BNS (bare text): devgan.in
• PRS Legislative Research (BNS overview 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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