(1)Where anything which is an offence is made up of parts, any of which parts is itself an offence, the person who committed the offence shall2021must2021 not be punished with the punishment of more than one of such offences unless it is expressly provided.
Section history
Section 308 — Limit of punishment for offence made up of several offences
Consolidated view is experimental and may be broken for certain provisions.
Amendments
(2)Where —
(a)anything is an offence falling within 2 or more separate definitions of any law in force for the time being by which offences are defined or punished; or
(b)several acts, of which one or more than one would by itself or themselves constitute an offence, constitute when combined a different offence,
the person who committed the offence shall2021must2021 not be punished with a more severe punishment than the court which tries him2021the person2021 could award for any one of such offences.
Illustrations
(a) A gives Z 50 strokes with a stick. Here A may have committed the offence of voluntarily causing hurt to Z by the whole beating, and also by each of the blows which make up the whole beating. If A were liable to punishment for every blow, he2021A2021 might be imprisoned for 50 years, one for each blow. But he2021A2021 is liable only to one punishment for the whole beating.
(b) But if, while A is beating Z, Y interferes and A intentionally strikes Y, here, as the blow given to Y is no part of the act whereby A voluntarily causes hurt to Z, A is liable to one punishment for voluntarily causing hurt to Z, and to another for the blow given to Y.