Hurt and Grievous Hurt by Dangerous Weapons Under the BNS (Section 118) (2026)

Explainer · BNS · Offences Against the Body

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Many assault cases in India are charged not as simple hurt, but as hurt caused by a dangerous weapon, because the weapon raises the seriousness of the offence. Since 1 July 2024 that offence has a new address. The Indian Penal Code has been replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), and hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons is now Section 118. This explainer sets out what Section 118 says, which old IPC sections it replaces, the punishment for each part, and whether the offence is cognizable and bailable. Last verified October 2026.

01The problem: the right section to cite

Hurt by a dangerous weapon is one of the most commonly charged offences against the body. The difficulty today is simple: the section number changed in 2024. For generations this offence was Section 324 (hurt) and Section 326 (grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. From 1 July 2024 both have been folded into Section 118 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

So an FIR or charge sheet drawn up today must use Section 118. A search for older authorities still needs Sections 324 and 326, because those judgments were written under the old numbers. Anyone handling such a matter has to work with both sets of numbers to be sure nothing is missed.

Hurt by a dangerous weapon is now Section 118 of the BNS. The old numbers, IPC 324 and 326, still matter for finding past judgments.

02What Section 118 says

Section 118 of the BNS is titled voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means. It has two parts.

Section 118(1): hurt by dangerous weapons

This punishes a person who voluntarily causes hurt by any instrument for shooting, stabbing, or cutting, or any instrument which, used as a weapon of offence, is likely to cause death; or by fire or any heated substance; or by any poison or corrosive substance; or by any explosive substance; or by any substance that is harmful to inhale, swallow, or receive into the blood; or by means of any animal.

Section 118(2): grievous hurt by dangerous weapons

This punishes a person who voluntarily causes grievous hurt by any of the same means. Grievous hurt is the more serious category of injury defined elsewhere in the BNS, and causing it by a dangerous weapon is treated far more seriously than ordinary hurt.

03The old-to-new mapping

The mapping from the IPC to the BNS is direct, with two old sections carried into one new section.

For the wider picture of how old sections map to new ones, see the IPC to BNS section mapping. The plain forms of these offences sit nearby: ordinary hurt under Section 115 and grievous hurt under Section 117, which do not involve a dangerous weapon.

04Punishment and classification

The two parts of Section 118 carry very different punishments, because the injury in each is different.

• Section 118(1), hurt: imprisonment of either description for a term that may extend to three years, or with fine that may extend to twenty thousand rupees, or with both.
• Section 118(2), grievous hurt: imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description for a term that shall not be less than one year but which may extend to ten years, and fine.

On classification, both parts of Section 118 are cognizable, so the police may register an FIR and investigate without a Magistrate’s order, and both are non-bailable, so bail is decided by the court rather than claimed as of right. Section 118(1) is triable by any Magistrate, and Section 118(2) is triable by a Magistrate of the first class.

05What changed, and what did not

In substance the offence is much the same as before. The BNS kept the list of dangerous means, the two levels of injury, and the broad shape of the punishment. The headline change is the renumbering, from IPC Sections 324 and 326 to BNS Section 118, and the merger of the two into one section with two subsections.

Because the law is substantially the same, case law decided under Sections 324 and 326 of the IPC still guides how Section 118 is read. For research that means covering both the old and the new numbers. Where the weapon is acid in particular, the correct charge is the dedicated acid offence rather than this section; see acid attack under Section 124.

06Where 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 Section 118 matter carries a research problem built into it: the offence was renumbered in 2024, so the authorities you need sit under two sets of numbers. Claw lets you search across both in one place. Its collection of more than 30 crore judgments, drawn from the Supreme Court since 1950 and the High Courts since 1990, returns rulings decided under Section 118 of the BNS and under the old Sections 324 and 326 of the IPC, with results coming back in under five seconds. For a live prosecution, you can keep the cases, orders and hearings in view by the party name or the advocate name, across the 9,102 courts, benches and forums that Claw tracks. For the wider view, see case search across Indian courts.

Claw does not file a case or give legal advice, and it does not use customer case documents to train its AI models. Set up a free Claw account to pull the Section 118 authorities and follow the matter through the courts.

07Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023): indiacode.nic.in
• Ministry of Home Affairs (new criminal laws): mha.gov.in
• BNS Section 118 (reference text): devgan.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This explainer is general information, not legal advice. Section numbers and punishments change through amendments and notifications, so check the current official text and take advice from counsel before you act.

08Frequently asked questions