Section 202 BNS: Public Servant Unlawfully Engaging in Trade

Section 202 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 applies where a public servant is legally bound, by reason of that public office, not to engage in trade but nevertheless engages in trade. The provision expressly permits community service as one of the sentencing options.

Current law: Section 202 forms part of Chapter XII of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, dealing with offences by or relating to public servants.

Text of Section 202 BNS

202. Public servant unlawfully engaging in trade.

Whoever, being a public servant, and being legally bound as such public servant not to engage in trade, engages in trade, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both or with community service.

Essential Ingredients of Section 202

The accused must be a public servant.
The public servant must be legally bound, as such public servant, not to engage in trade.
The public servant must nevertheless engage in trade.

Legal prohibition is essential: Section 202 does not make every commercial or financial activity by every public servant an offence. The prosecution must establish the specific legal restriction that bound the public servant not to engage in the trade concerned.

Meaning of Being Legally Bound Not to Engage in Trade

The wording of Section 202 makes the existence of a legal prohibition central to the offence. The restriction may arise from the law, statutory rules, service rules or another legally enforceable provision applicable to the particular public servant.

Whether a particular activity amounts to "trade" and whether it is prohibited must therefore be examined with reference to the governing legal or service framework applicable to that office.

Community Service as a Sentencing Option

Section 202 expressly includes community service among the available punishments. The sentencing alternatives are simple imprisonment up to one year, fine, both imprisonment and fine, or community service.

The presence of community service in the statutory text is significant because it gives the court a non-custodial sentencing option where legally appropriate.

Punishment, Cognizability, Bail and Court

The First Schedule to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 classifies Section 202 as follows:

Provision	Punishment	Cognizable	Bailable	Triable by
Section 202 BNS	Simple imprisonment up to 1 year, or fine, or both, or community service	No - non-cognizable	Yes	Magistrate of the First Class

Official Resources

This page is intended as general legal information. Application of Section 202 BNS depends on the status of the accused as a public servant, the legally enforceable restriction applicable to that office, the nature of the alleged trade and the evidence.