India made global headlines in July 2024 when the government replaced the 164-year-old Indian Penal Code with fresh criminal legislation. Great, right? Here’s the thing, though: much of what changed was the names.
Dozens of colonial-era provisions were renumbered and quietly carried forward. And outside criminal law, a whole other universe of strange, dusty statutes sits on Indian law books, fully enforceable, just waiting for someone to test them. We dug through the list of bizarre Indian laws that are still active in 2026. You are not going to believe some of these.
10. Flying a Kite Is Technically Illegal Without a Government Permit
The Indian Aircraft Act of 1934 defines an “aircraft” as “any machine which can take support in the atmosphere from the reactions of the air.” The law goes on to list what qualifies, including “balloons, whether fixed or free, kites, airships, flying machines and gliders.” Read that again. Kites. Legally, a kite is an aircraft in India.
The Act gives only the government authority to make rules about the “possession, use, operation, import or export” of any aircraft. No government clearance means you are technically flying an unlicensed aircraft. Delhi Police invoked this Act in both 2014 and 2016 to regulate kite flying near Red Fort during national holidays, and the law held up just fine. Every kid who has ever flown a kite during Makar Sankranti has, by the strictest reading of Indian law, committed an aviation offence. This is real. Nobody seems particularly bothered, but the law is absolutely still there. (10)
9. Finding Buried Treasure Means You Must Call the Government
The Treasure Trove Act of 1878 is straightforward about this: if you find any treasure hidden in the earth worth more than ten rupees and fail to report it to the Collector, you are committing a punishable offence. That reporting threshold was set in 1878. Ten rupees.
Under the Act, “treasure” means anything of value found hidden in the ground or any other concealed place, and the government retains the right to claim it. You get a finder’s fee if you report it. You face criminal penalties if you do not. What makes this law particularly strange is that it has not been updated or repealed in nearly 150 years. Private delivery apps, digital payments, and nuclear reactors have all found their way into Indian legislation. The idea that a person who stumbles across an old pot of coins in their backyard must call a government official first? Still active, still weird, still legally binding in 2026. (9)
8. An 1885 Law Still Governs Your Phone Surveillance
The Indian Telegraph Act turns 141 years old in 2026. The British passed it to let colonial administrators monitor telegraph communications and suppress political resistance. Indian telegrams themselves shut down permanently in 2013. The Act did not follow them out the door.
Intelligence agencies and law enforcement still use provisions from this 1885 law to authorize the interception of phone calls and internet communications. The phrase “telegraph” has been interpreted broadly over the decades to cover any electronic communication. So your WhatsApp message can legally be intercepted under authority granted by a Victorian-era statute designed to prevent Indians from organizing against their colonial rulers. Legal experts have raised this for years. Parliament has reviewed the issue multiple times. The Act remains untouched. Some things outlast even the technology they were written for, and apparently surveillance law is one of them. (8)
7. Holding Hands in Public Can Get You Arrested
Section 294 of the old Indian Penal Code said anyone who “does any obscene act in any public place to the annoyance of others” faces up to three months in prison. When the IPC got replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in July 2024, this provision was carried forward as Section 296. Word for word, essentially.
The law does not define “obscene.” Courts and police have filled that gap by targeting couples for public displays of affection, including hugging and hand-holding. Documented cases exist where young couples were detained under this section at the discretion of officers who personally found the behaviour objectionable. A law designed to prevent genuinely indecent public exposure became, in practice, a tool for policing romance in parks and shopping malls. The BNS simply gave it a new number. The legal risk for couples holding hands in certain jurisdictions remains absolutely real in 2026. (7)
6. The Government Can Ban Any Play Without a Court Order
The British passed the Dramatic Performances Act in 1876 after a Bengali play mocked the exploitation of Indian indigo farmers by colonial administrators. The government panicked and decided that any theatrical performance could be banned if authorities found it “obscene,” “indecent,” “scandalous,” or “likely to excite feelings of disaffection.” No court approval required. No appeal process mandated.
This Act is still on the books in several Indian states. State governments retain the power to ban plays, musical performances, and theatrical events by issuing a simple government order. The law was specifically designed to suppress political speech wrapped in artistic form. Post-independence courts have struck down specific bans on occasion, but the legislation that enables those bans has never been repealed. The idea that a bureaucrat can cancel your theatrical production because they personally find it distasteful, with zero judicial oversight, is a colonial-era power India simply never got around to removing. (6)
5. Attempting Suicide Is Technically Still a Crime
One of the most uncomfortable entries on this list of bizarre Indian laws is Section 309 of the old IPC, which made attempting suicide a criminal offence punishable by up to one year in prison. A person in crisis, who survives, could then face prosecution. The provision survived every major legal challenge for over a century, and the Supreme Court called for its repeal as far back as 1994.
The Mental Healthcare Act of 2017 changed the enforcement reality meaningfully: anyone who attempts suicide is now presumed to be under severe stress, and the law says they cannot be punished. That protection is genuine. But the BNS, which replaced the IPC in July 2024, retained the criminal provision in Section 309 anyway under BNS section 226. So a protection law and a criminalizing law now exist simultaneously, pointing in opposite directions. The legal contradiction has never been resolved. The 1860-era criminal provision sits alongside modern mental health protections, and nobody has formally removed either one. That is a strange place for any legal system to find itself. (5) BNS Section 226
4. Being Visibly Poor in Public Is an Arrestable Offence in Parts of India
The Bombay Prevention of Begging Act of 1959 lets police arrest anyone perceived to be begging and send them to “certified institutions” for detention without trial. The Act was extended to Delhi and several Union territories. It defines “begging” so broadly that a person who merely appears destitute in a public place can be detained, even without having asked anyone for money.
The Delhi High Court struck down several of its provisions as applied to the capital in 2018, calling them unconstitutional. But the Act itself was never formally repealed at the national level. Other states continue to operate under similar provisions. In practice, this means poverty qualifies as a criminal behaviour in certain Indian jurisdictions. The detained person has no access to standard bail procedures that most criminal defendants get. Legal scholars have described this as one of the most dehumanizing laws still sitting on Indian books, and they are right. (4)
3. Multiple Indian States Still Have Active Witchcraft Laws
India has enforceable anti-witchcraft legislation. Jharkhand passed the Prevention of Which (Daain) Practices Act in 2001. Assam has similar provisions. Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan have their own state-level laws targeting witchcraft accusations. These laws were passed with protective intent, specifically to shield women from rural communities who get branded as witches and subsequently attacked or killed.
The intent is protective. The problem is how these laws play out in courtrooms. Dozens of convictions have occurred in Jharkhand alone, in cases where land disputes or personal grudges led to someone being formally accused of practicing witchcraft. Courts then apply laws that formally recognize “witch practices” as a legal category. In 2026, Indian courts are still adjudicating cases where the underlying charge traces back to a superstitious accusation. That is a genuinely strange thing to encounter in a country that operates a successful space program me and runs one of the world’s largest digital payment networks. (3)
2. India's New "Sovereignty" Law Is Sedition With a Rebrand
India’s old sedition law, Section 124A of the IPC, was a British colonial tool designed to imprison independence leaders. This is arguably the most consequential entry on this bizarre Indian laws list. Gandhi himself was tried under it. For decades, civil liberties groups and opposition parties demanded its repeal. When the BNS replaced the IPC in July 2024, the government removed Section 124A with considerable fanfare.
Then they added Section 152. This new section criminalizes any act that “excites or attempts to excite secession, armed rebellion, or subversive activities” against the Indian state, or that “encourages feelings of separatist activities.” Multiple retired judges and constitutional scholars have pointed out that this language is arguably broader than the old sedition provision, not narrower. A speech, a published article, or a social media post can qualify under this provision if authorities choose to interpret it that way. The old law got a new section number and a Hindi name. The power to criminalize political dissent came along for the ride. (2)
1. Indian Soldiers Cannot Forward a Political WhatsApp Message
Section 21 of the Army Act of 1950 prohibits any person subject to military law from participating in politics, joining political associations, or expressing political opinions publicly. That part is not particularly surprising for a military law. What makes this remarkable in 2026 is how broadly “expressing political opinions” gets interpreted in practice.
The Indian Army has issued orders making clear that soldiers cannot forward politically charged content even in private WhatsApp groups. A meme supporting or mocking a political party, forwarded in a family chat, technically puts a soldier in violation of the Army Act. Proceedings have reportedly occurred under this provision. The law predates smartphones by several decades, and no amendment has ever carved out a personal or private digital communication exemption. Around 1.4 million active personnel live under a rule that holds them legally accountable for what they share in conversations their own family members are part of. It is a Colonial-era restriction that has aged about as well as you would expect. (1)
India has the legal machinery to clean all of these bizarre Indian laws up.. The fact that kite-flying, hand-holding, and treasure-hunting remain technically criminal activities in 2026 says everything about legislative priorities.
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