Section 304 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 addresses snatching. It treats theft as snatching when movable property is suddenly, quickly, or forcibly seized, secured, grabbed, or taken from a person or from that person's possession in order to commit theft.
Punishment under Section 304 BNS
Section 304(2) provides imprisonment up to three years and liability to a fine. The exact allegation and any additional offences must still be examined. A single label in an incident report does not establish all the facts or determine every applicable provision.
Snatching, theft and robbery
The BNS separately addresses theft, snatching, and robbery. Snatching builds on theft and specifies the manner of taking. Robbery has separate statutory ingredients. When preparing a note, describe the conduct first and then assess the provision instead of choosing a label based only on everyday language.
For example, a report that a phone was suddenly taken from a person's hand raises questions about how the taking occurred, the person's possession, the accused's identification, and any alleged force or threats. Those details matter to the legal analysis.
Why naming the code matters
“Section 304” alone is ambiguous. IPC Section 304 concerns punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, while BNS Section 304 concerns snatching. Put the statute's name beside the section in a complaint, summary, or draft.
For older conduct, examine the IPC and any relevant State amendment rather than applying the new BNS provision retrospectively. For the criminal-code transition, the alleged offence date and repeal and savings provisions require attention. The FIR date alone is not enough.
Records to preserve and organise
- Initial complaint with the time, place, property, and account of the taking.
- Available witness accounts and recordings, with their source identified.
- Ownership or identifying records for the property, such as a receipt or device details.
- Identification and recovery documents available in the case record.
- Medical papers where an injury is alleged, kept separate from the narrative of the taking.
Build a sequence showing the incident, report, identification, and recovery. If the property description changes between records, note the difference for review. Do not fill a gap in identification with an assumption simply because property was later recovered.
Preparing a first case note
Juniorlawyer's document and drafting features can help organise a first chronology from the file. Check names, dates, property details, and statutory references against the original records. Read our Section 448 IPC guide for a distinct property-related offence, or return to the Indian law guides library.