IPC § 94 · Indian Penal Code, 1860 · Repealed on 1 July 2024
Section 94 IPC — Act to which a person is compelled by threats
Replaced from 1 July 2024 by BNS 32 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Offences committed on or before 30 June 2024 are still charged under the IPC.
The law now: BNS 32 — Act to which a person is compelled by threats
Except murder, and offences against the State punishable with death, nothing is an offence which is done by a person who is compelled to do it by threats, which, at the time of doing it, reasonably cause the apprehension that instant death to that person will otherwise be the consequence:
Provided that the person doing the act did not of his own accord, or from a reasonable apprehension of harm to himself short of instant death, place himself in the situation by which he became subject to such constraint.
Explanation 1.—A person who, of his own accord, or by reason of a threat of being beaten, joins a gang of dacoits, knowing their character, is not entitled to the benefit of this exception, on the ground of his having been compelled by his associates to do anything that is an offence by law.
Explanation 2.—A person seized by a gang of dacoits, and forced, by threat of instant death, to do a thing which is an offence by law; for example, a smith compelled to take his tools and to force the door of a house for the dacoits to enter and plunder it, is entitled to the benefit of this exception.
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in). The Gazette of India is the authoritative text. BNS 32 in full