SECTION 212 IPC - Indian Penal Code - Harbouring offender

if a capital offence — shall, if the offence is punishable with death, be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, and shall also be liable to fine;

if punishable with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment — and if the offence is punishable with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment which may extend to ten years, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine; and if the offence is punishable with imprisonment which may extend to one year, and not to ten years, shall be punished with imprisonment of the description provided for the offence for a term which may extend to one-fourth part of the longest term of imprisonment provided for the offence, or with fine, or with both.

“Offence” in this section includes any act committed at any place out of India, which, if committed in India, would be punishable under any of the following sections, namely, 302, 304, 382, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 402, 435, 436, 449, 450, 457, 458, 459 and 460;

and every such act shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be punishable as if the accused person had been guilty of it in India.

IPC 212 in Simple Words

In simple words, Section 212 of the Indian Penal Code states that if someone harbors or conceals a person they know or believe to be the offender of a crime, with the intention of protecting them from legal punishment, they can face different punishments based on the severity of the offense, ranging from up to five years of imprisonment and fine for capital offenses to up to three years of imprisonment with or without fine for offenses punishable with life imprisonment or ten years, and one-fourth part of the longest term of imprisonment provided for less serious offenses or fine, or both. This section also includes acts committed outside India that would be punishable under certain specified sections of the Indian Penal Code, and the punishment will be as if the accused person committed those acts in India.