Section 3(2)(va) and the Schedule

Before 2016, a Dalit man beaten with sticks, a tribal woman stalked, or a family threatened with death could invoke the Act only if the facts fitted one of the specific clauses of Section 3(1), or if the offence was grave enough, ten years or more, for Section 3(2)(v). Everything in between fell to the general penal law. The 2015 Amendment Act closed that gap with Section 3(2)(va) and a Schedule of thirty-two penal offences. When any of them is committed against a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe member, or his property, with knowledge of his identity, the offence becomes an atrocity. This note explains the clause, walks through every group in the Schedule, identifies what the Schedule leaves out, and deals with the practical question of reading an IPC-based Schedule after the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

Figure 1: Which route? Penal offences against SC/ST victims

1. The Statutory Text

The ingredients

• Accused not a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. The opening words of Section 3(2).
• A Scheduled offence. The act must amount to one of the offences listed in the Schedule, with all its ingredients under the general penal law.
• Against a person or property. The victim is a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe member, or the property belongs to such a member.
• Knowledge. The accused knew the person was a member, or that the property belonged to one.

Punishment

The punishment is the one provided in the general penal law for that offence, and the offender 'shall also be liable to fine'. Unlike Section 3(2)(v), there is no enhancement and no mandatory life sentence. The words 'liable to fine' read as enabling rather than mandatory, in contrast to 'and with fine' in Section 3(2)(v), though no reported decision has settled the point.

2. The Knowledge Requirement

• Knowing, not because. As in the amended Section 3(2)(v), the prosecution must prove knowledge of the victim's identity, not a caste motive.
• Section 8(c). Where the accused had personal knowledge of the victim or the family, the court shall presume awareness of caste or tribal identity, unless the contrary is proved.
• Knowledge must appear from the material. In Dr Anand Rai v. State of M.P., 2026 INSC 141, charges under Section 3(2)(v) and (va) arising from a scuffle at a public event were set aside because no statement showed that the accused knew the complainant's caste. Joining in an incident involving penal offences does not by itself justify atrocity charges; the penal charges continued.
• Property. For offences against property, the knowledge relates to ownership: the accused must know the property belongs to a member.

3. Purpose of the Schedule

The Schedule fills the space between two thresholds. Section 3(1) covers specific caste-typical conduct. Section 3(2)(v) covers grave offences punishable with ten years or more. Parliament noticed that the most common forms of violence against Dalits and Adivasis, such as beatings, rioting mobs, threats, stalking and trespass, sat below the ten-year line and outside the specific clauses. Listing them in a Schedule, rather than extending Section 3(2)(v) to all offences, brought them into the atrocity regime without imposing life sentences for lesser crimes.

4. The Schedule, Group by Group

Figure 2: The Schedule: 32 entries in nine groups (IPC section to BNS section)

Criminal conspiracy

Sections 120A and 120B IPC (now BNS Section 61). An agreement among upper-caste villagers to attack a Dalit hamlet, or to drive a family out, is itself punishable under (va) once proved, even before the planned act.

Unlawful assembly and rioting

• Unlawful assembly. Sections 141 to 145 IPC (now BNS Section 189): an assembly of five or more with a common unlawful object, membership of it, joining armed with a deadly weapon, and continuing after a command to disperse.
• Rioting. Sections 146 and 147 IPC (now BNS Section 191(1) and (2)): force or violence used by an unlawful assembly.
• Rioting with deadly weapons. Section 148 IPC (now BNS Section 191(3)): rioting while armed with a deadly weapon or anything likely to cause death.
• Why they matter. Caste violence is typically collective. With Section 6 of the Act importing Section 149 IPC (now BNS Section 190) and Section 8(b) presuming common object where a group offence follows a land or other dispute, these entries let the prosecution reach every member of the mob.

Public-servant offences

• Section 217 IPC (now BNS Section 255). A public servant who knowingly disobeys a direction of law with intent to save a person from legal punishment, or property from forfeiture. Where an official shields the attacker of a Dalit victim, (va) may be invoked, though Section 217 is an offence against public justice rather than against the victim's person or property; Section 4 and Section 3(2)(vi) are often the more natural routes.
• Section 332 IPC (now BNS Section 121(1)). Voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty. It protects Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe public servants, such as a Dalit revenue officer assaulted while carrying out a survey.

Hurt, grievous hurt and hurt by dangerous weapons

Sections 319, 320, 323, 324 and 325 IPC (now BNS Sections 114, 116, 115(2), 118(1) and 117(2)). These are the everyday offences of caste violence: slaps and blows, broken bones, injuries with sticks, sickles and iron rods. Grievous hurt by dangerous weapons under Section 326 IPC is not listed, but because it is punishable with imprisonment for life, it falls within Section 3(2)(v).

Acid attack

Section 326B IPC (now BNS Section 124(2)), voluntarily throwing or attempting to throw acid, is listed. Section 326A IPC (actually causing grievous hurt by acid, now BNS Section 124(1)) is not, because it carries ten years to life and so falls under Section 3(2)(v).

Wrongful restraint and wrongful confinement

Section 341 IPC (wrongful restraint, now BNS Section 126(2)) is listed: stopping a Dalit from walking down a road is typical. Wrongful confinement (Sections 342 to 344 IPC) is not listed. Confinement of a member may still fall under a specific clause, such as forced labour under Section 3(1)(h), or under kidnapping or abduction entries, but plain wrongful confinement remains under the general law.

Assault and criminal force

Simple assault and criminal force (Section 352 IPC) and assault on a public servant (Section 353 IPC) are not listed. Assault or criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty (Section 354 IPC) and to disrobe her (Section 354B IPC) are listed, as offences against women.

Kidnapping and abduction

Sections 359 and 363 IPC (kidnapping and its punishment, now BNS Section 137) and Section 365 IPC (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine, now BNS Section 140(3)) are listed. Graver forms, such as kidnapping for murder or ransom and kidnapping a woman to compel marriage (Sections 364, 364A and 366 IPC), carry ten years or more and fall under Section 3(2)(v).

Sexual offences in the Schedule

• Offences against modesty. Sections 354, 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (assault with intent to disrobe), 354C (voyeurism), 354D (stalking) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), now BNS Sections 74 to 79.
• Sexual intercourse short of rape. Section 376B (by a husband upon his wife during separation) and Section 376C (by a person in authority), now BNS Sections 67 and 68.
• Rape. Not listed, because rape is punishable with ten years or more and falls under Section 3(2)(v). Clause (w) of Section 3(1) covers sexual touching and gestures (Topic 22).

Theft, robbery, dacoity and mischief

None of these is in the Schedule. Robbery (up to ten years), dacoity (up to life), and mischief by fire to destroy a dwelling (up to life) reach the Act through Section 3(2)(v). Mischief by fire or explosive against a member's property is separately covered by Section 3(2)(iii) and (iv), and destroying crops or taking produce falls under Section 3(1)(g). Simple theft and ordinary mischief, where no specific clause applies, remain offences under the general law only.

Criminal trespass and criminal intimidation

• Criminal trespass. Section 447 IPC (now BNS Section 329(3)): entering a member's land or house with intent to intimidate, insult or annoy. House-trespass and its aggravated forms (Sections 448 to 452 IPC) are not listed, though the graver forms punishable with ten years or more reach Section 3(2)(v).
• Criminal intimidation. Section 506 IPC (now BNS Section 351(2) and (3)): threats of injury to person, reputation or property, including threats to kill. It is among the entries most often paired with atrocity FIRs.

5. The Schedule and the BNS, 2023

The problem

The Schedule, Section 3(2)(v) and Section 6 all refer to the Indian Penal Code. The IPC was repealed by Section 358 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which came into force on 1 July 2024. As of this note, Parliament has not amended the SC/ST Act to substitute BNS references.

Offences committed before 1 July 2024

BNS Section 358(2) saves the IPC for offences committed before the repeal: any penalty or punishment incurred, and any investigation or proceeding in respect of it, continues as if the IPC had not been repealed. An offence of 2023 is charged under the IPC section and Section 3(2)(va), exactly as before. Pending investigations and trials under the CrPC continue under Section 531 of the BNSS.

Offences committed on or after 1 July 2024

• General Clauses Act, Section 8(1). Where a Central Act repeals and re-enacts a provision, references in other enactments to the repealed provision are read as references to the re-enacted provision, unless a different intention appears. The BNS re-enacts the IPC offences, so each Schedule entry is read as the corresponding BNS offence.
• An analogy from another Schedule. In Nagani Akram Mohammad Shafi v. Union of India (Bombay High Court, 2025), the court read IPC entries in the Schedule to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act as the corresponding BNS provisions, relying on Section 8(1) of the General Clauses Act and the need to avoid an absurd result.
• Charging in practice. FIRs now pair BNS sections with Section 3(2)(va). In XXX v. State of Kerala (Kerala High Court, September 2026), an FIR under BNS Section 74 and Section 3(2)(va) was examined on that footing; the court treated Section 3(2)(va) as attracted once the BNS offence and knowledge were shown.
• Matching, not guessing. Several IPC sections were merged or renumbered. Criminal intimidation under Section 506 IPC is now split between BNS Section 351(2) and (3); unlawful assembly entries collapse into BNS Section 189. The charge should cite the BNS provision that re-enacts the listed IPC section.

6. Section 3(2)(va) versus Section 3(2)(v)

Figure 3: Twin gateways: Section 3(2)(v) and Section 3(2)(va)

• Threshold. Section 3(2)(v) takes any penal offence punishable with ten years or more. Section 3(2)(va) takes only the listed offences, whatever their punishment.
• Sentence. Section 3(2)(v) raises the sentence to imprisonment for life and fine. Section 3(2)(va) keeps the ordinary sentence and adds liability to fine.
• Knowledge. Both use 'knowing that' and both are helped by Section 8(c).
• Overlap. An offence can be in the Schedule and also carry ten years, as with Section 376C IPC (five to ten years). The prosecution may frame the charge under (v), which gives the heavier sentence, with (va) in the alternative.

7. Quick Revision and Memory Aids

• 'Thirty-two, nine groups'. Conspiracy, assembly and rioting, public servants, hurt, acid and restraint, women, kidnapping, trespass, intimidation.
• 'Same sentence, special court'. Section 3(2)(va) changes the forum and procedure, not the punishment.
• 'Ten or more goes to (v)'. Rape, dacoity, acid attack under 326A and grievous hurt by dangerous weapons are not listed because they reach Section 3(2)(v).
• 'No theft, no mischief, no confinement'. Three common offences absent from the Schedule.
• 'Knowledge on the record'. Dr Anand Rai (2026).
• 'Crime date decides the code'. IPC before 1 July 2024, BNS after.

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Is theft of a Dalit farmer’s goats an atrocity?

Not under Section 3(2)(va), because theft is not in the Schedule, and not under Section 3(2)(v), because simple theft carries less than ten years. It remains an offence under the general law, unless a specific clause of Section 3(1) applies to the facts.

Does Section 3(2)(va) increase the sentence for hurt?

No. The sentence is the one for hurt under the general law, with liability to fine. The gain lies in the atrocity procedure.

An FIR of 2025 cites Section 323 IPC with Section 3(2)(va). Is that correct?

No. For an offence committed in 2025, the charge should be under BNS Section 115(2), which re-enacts Section 323 IPC, read with Section 3(2)(va). The error is curable by amending the charge.

Does (va) need caste motive?

No. Knowledge of the victim's identity is enough.

A Dalit public servant is assaulted while on duty. Which entry applies?

If hurt is caused to deter him from duty, Section 332 IPC (now BNS Section 121(1)) is a Scheduled offence, so Section 3(2)(va) applies where the attacker knew his identity. Simple assault on a public servant (Section 353 IPC) is not listed.

9. Related Topics and Provisions

• Topic 13: Basic Requirements of Section 3. Knowledge and Section 8(c).
• Topic 24: Section 3(2). Section 3(2)(v) and the other aggravated offences.
• Topic 27: Sections 5 to 9. Section 6 and the presumptions in Section 8.
• Section 3(2)(v), (va); the Schedule; BNS s.358; BNSS s.531; General Clauses Act s.8(1). The provisions discussed