Vidhara

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

§77Voyeurism

Whoever watches, or captures the image of a woman engaging in a private act in circumstances where she would usually have the expectation of not being observed either by the perpetrator or by any other person at the behest of the perpetrator or disseminates such image shall be punished on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than one year, but which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine, and be punished on a second or subsequent conviction, with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than three years, but which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Explanation 1.—For the purposes of this section, “private act” includes an act of watching carried out in a place which, in the circumstances, would reasonably be expected to provide privacy and where the victim’s genitals, posterior or breasts are exposed or covered only in underwear; or the victim is using a lavatory; or the victim is doing a sexual act that is not of a kind ordinarily done in public.

Explanation 2.—Where the victim consents to the capture of the images or any act, but not to their dissemination to third persons and where such image or act is disseminated, such dissemination shall be considered an offence under this section.

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Source & version

Official text: Gazette of India via MHA (official)

Official Gazette text: The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023), English PDF as hosted by Ministry of Home Affairs (mha.gov.in, file 250883_english_01042024.pdf; canonical mirror indiacode.nic.in bitstream a202345.pdf). Extracted via pdftotext 26.07 -layout and @nexlex/ingest gazette-pdf parser on 2026-07-14. Automated parse; structural validation + spot verification of sections 1, 63, 103, 302, 358; full clause-level proofread pending.

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