The Muluki Criminal Code 2074 (फौजदारी संहिता)

The Muluki Criminal Code, 2074

The Muluki Criminal Code — also called the National Penal Code — defines what conduct is a crime and what punishment it carries. It brought together criminal offences that had previously been spread across the Muluki Ain and dozens of separate statutes into a single penal code.

Categories of offences

The Code groups crimes into broad categories, including:

• Offences against the state and against public order and tranquillity
• Offences against public interest, health, safety and morality
• Offences against life and the body — homicide (हत्या) and hurt/assault
• Offences against women and children
• Offences against property — theft (चोरी), robbery, cheating and criminal breach of trust
• Offences against reputation — such as defamation

What was modernised

• It codified newer offences and protections, including provisions on torture and enforced disappearance.
• It introduced limitation periods — time limits within which a complaint for many offences must be filed.
• The separate Criminal Offences (Sentencing and Execution) Act, 2074 now governs how sentences are decided and carried out, moving sentencing into its own dedicated law.

Punishments

Punishments under Nepali criminal law include imprisonment and fines. Notably, Nepal has abolished the death penalty — the Constitution (Article 16(2)) prohibits any law that provides for capital punishment.

Criminal cases are prosecuted under the Muluki Criminal Code 2074, following the steps set out in the Criminal Procedure Code 2074.