A obtains property from B by saying 'Your child is in the hands of my gang, and will be put to death unless you send us ten thousand rupees.' What offence has been committed by A?

The Provision that Governs

Section 308(1) BNS (= Section 383 IPC) defines extortion:

"Whoever intentionally puts any person in fear of any injury to that person, or to any other, and thereby dishonestly induces the person so put in fear to deliver to any person any property or valuable security... commits extortion."

Every element of this definition is satisfied on the facts. A puts B in fear of injury to another — specifically, the death of B's child. He does so intentionally — the demand for Rs. 10,000 is deliberate and calculated. By means of that fear, he dishonestly induces B to deliver property. B delivers the money. The offence of extortion is complete the moment delivery is made.

Why It Is Not Robbery

The most important analytical task this problem sets is explaining why A's conduct is extortion and not robbery — because robbery is the graver offence, and a student who does not understand the distinction between them has not truly understood either.

Section 309 BNS (= Section 390 IPC) provides that extortion becomes robbery only when two additional conditions are simultaneously satisfied:

1. The offender is in the presence of the person put in fear at the time of the extortion — meaning he is sufficiently near to inflict the threatened harm instantly; and

2. He puts the person in fear of instant death, instant hurt, or instant wrongful restraint.

Illustration (d) to Section 309 BNS states the exact situation before us and resolves it with crystalline precision:

"A obtains property from Z by saying 'Your child is in the hands of my gang, and will be put to death unless you send us ten thousand rupees.' This is extortion, and punishable as such; but it is not robbery, unless Z is put in fear of the instant death of his child."

The word instant is the pivot of the entire distinction. In the present problem, A is communicating a threat that is prospective and conditional — the child will be put to death unless the money is sent. The danger is not present and immediate; it hangs in the future, to be averted by compliance. B is not confronted with someone capable of inflicting the threatened harm at that very moment in B's presence. The child is elsewhere, in the hands of A's gang, at a different location. No matter how terrifying the threat, the fear it generates is not a fear of instant death — it is fear of a death that is yet to come, contingent upon non-payment.

This distinction is not merely technical. It reflects a considered legislative judgment about the nature and gravity of the two offences. In robbery, the offender stands before the victim capable of inflicting harm on the spot — the violence or fear of immediate violence is the mechanism by which the property is taken. In extortion, the victim has a moment — however agonising — to decide. The terror is real, but the immediacy that defines robbery is absent.

The Aggravated Form: Section 308(5) BNS

Although A's conduct falls within extortion and not robbery, it does not attract merely the basic penalty. The threat in this case is a threat of death — the most extreme form of injury. Section 308(5) BNS (= Section 387 IPC) provides for an aggravated form of extortion:

"Whoever commits extortion by putting any person in fear of death or of grievous hurt to that person or to any other person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine."

A has put B in fear of the death of B's child — the child being "any other person" within the meaning of the section. The threat of death satisfies the condition for this aggravated form, and A is accordingly liable to imprisonment for a term extending to ten years and fine under Section 308(5) BNS.

The Element of Kidnapping: An Additional Charge

The facts disclose more than extortion alone. A says the child is "in the hands of my gang" — meaning the child has already been abducted. This element must not be overlooked, because it adds a separate and independent offence to A's criminal liability.

Section 137 BNS (= Section 363 IPC) punishes kidnapping with imprisonment for a term up to seven years and fine. If A or his gang took the child with the intent to hold the child for ransom, Section 140 BNS (= Section 365 IPC) applies — kidnapping or abducting with intent to cause that person to be secretly and wrongfully confined, punishable with imprisonment up to seven years. More relevantly, Section 140(b) BNS (= Section 364A IPC) specifically punishes kidnapping for ransom — where a person is kidnapped or abducted and the abductor threatens to cause death or hurt and demands ransom. The punishment for this specific offence is death or imprisonment for life, and fine — the most severe in the penal code, reflecting the legislature's particular abhorrence of ransom kidnapping.

The Supreme Court in Ram Chandra v. State of Uttar Pradesh (AIR 1957 SC 381) directly addressed a situation where the accused kidnapped a boy and demanded ransom money from the father by putting him in fear of the boy being murdered, and there was a real likelihood of the boy being murdered if the ransom was not paid. The court held the accused guilty of both kidnapping under Section 365 IPC (now Section 140 BNS) and extortion in its aggravated form under Section 380 IPC. This is precisely the factual pattern of the present problem, and the principle of Ram Chandra applies with full force.

Summary of Offences Committed

A has committed the following offences:

• Extortion under Section 308(1) BNS (= Section 383 IPC) — the foundational offence, constituted by the intentional putting of B in fear of injury to another and thereby dishonestly inducing delivery of property.

• Aggravated extortion under Section 308(5) BNS (= Section 387 IPC) — since the fear created is specifically a fear of death, the enhanced punishment of up to ten years applies.

• Kidnapping or abduction for ransom under Section 140(b) BNS (= Section 364A IPC) — if A or his gang abducted the child with the intent to demand ransom, this offence — carrying punishment of death or life imprisonment — is separately constituted.