Indian Penal Code, 1860
Section 271
repealedDisobedience to quarantine rule
Whoever knowingly disobeys any rule made and promulgated by the Government for putting any vessel into a state of quarantine, or for regulating the intercourse of vessels in a state of quarantine with the shore or with other vessels, for regulating the intercourse between places where an infectious disease prevails and other places, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.
Why this exists
Quarantine rules exist to physically separate people, ships, or areas with a contagious disease from the wider population, giving health authorities time to control an outbreak. This section gives legal teeth to those rules by punishing anyone who knowingly ignores them, since even one person breaking quarantine can undo the protection the rule was meant to provide for everyone else. Replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, effective 1 July 2024.