IPC 492 vs BNS 492
● Omitted in BNSBreach of contract to serve at distant place to which servant is conveyed at master’s expense
Section 492 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, relates to breach of contract by a servant who fails to serve at a distant place after being conveyed there at the master’s expense. This provision was designed for a historical context, where employment contracts often required servants or workers to travel to far-off locations arranged by their employer.
The section penalized situations where:
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An individual agreed to serve another person at a distant place.
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The master bore the expenses of conveying the servant to that place.
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The servant failed to perform the promised service without sufficient reason.
The underlying purpose was to protect employers from financial losses due to employees reneging on agreements after benefitting from travel arrangements. However, over time, such provisions became outdated as modern labor laws and contractual remedies took precedence.
Punishment under IPC 492 included imprisonment up to 1 year, fine, or both, depending on the severity of breach.
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The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, does not carry forward IPC 492. The lawmakers, while drafting BNS, deliberately omitted several provisions considered obsolete, colonial in nature, or covered by modern civil and labor laws.
IPC 492 addressed breaches of employment-related contracts involving travel arrangements by the master. However, in the present legal framework, such issues are governed by labour laws, contract law, and civil remedies, not criminal law. Criminalizing a breach of employment contract was no longer considered justifiable.
Thus, under BNS 492, there is no equivalent provision, marking the complete removal of this offence. This reflects the reformative intention of the new code to focus on serious criminal acts rather than contractual disputes that can be settled through civil procedures.
What changed?
This IPC provision has no direct equivalent in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita — it was dropped or merged into other provisions.