Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
335. A person is said to make a false document or false electronic
record—
(A) Who dishonestly or fraudulently—
(i) makes, signs, seals or executes a document or part of a
document;
(ii) makes or transmits any electronic record or part of any
electronic record;
(iii) affixes any electronic signature on any electronic record;
(iv) makes any mark denoting the execution of a document
or the authenticity of the electronic signature,
with the intention of causing it to be believed that such document or
part of document, electronic record or electronic signature was made,
signed, sealed, executed, transmitted or affixed by or by the authority of a
person by whom or by whose authority he knows that it was not made,
signed, sealed, executed or affixed; or
(B) Who without lawful authority, dishonestly or fraudulently, by
cancellation or otherwise, alters a document or an electronic record in any
material part thereof, after it has been made, executed or affixed with
electronic signature either by himself or by any other person, whether such
person be living or dead at the time of such alteration; or
(C) Who dishonestly or fraudulently causes any person to sign, seal,
execute or alter a document or an electronic record or to affix his electronic
signature on any electronic record knowing that such person by reason of
unsoundness of mind or intoxication cannot, or that by reason of deception
practised upon him, he does not know the contents of the document or
electronic record or the nature of the alteration.
Illustrations.
(a) A has a letter of credit upon B for rupees 10,000, written by Z. A,
in order to defraud B, adds cipher to the 10,000, and makes the sum
1,00,000 intending that it may be believed by B that Z so wrote the letter.
A has committed forgery.
(b) A, without Z’s authority, affixes Z’s seal to a document purporting
to be a conveyance of an estate from Z to A, with the intention of selling
the estate to B and thereby of obtaining from B the purchase-money. A has
committed forgery.
(c) A picks up a cheque on a banker signed by B, payable to bearer,
but without any sum having been inserted in the cheque. A fraudulently
fills up the cheque by inserting the sum of ten thousand rupees. A commits
forgery.
(d) A leaves with B, his agent, a cheque on a banker, signed by A,
without inserting the sum payable and authorises B to fill up the cheque by
inserting a sum not exceeding ten thousand rupees for the purpose of
making certain payments. B fraudulently fills up the cheque by inserting
the sum of twenty thousand rupees. B commits forgery.
(e) A draws a bill of exchange on himself in the name of B without
B’s authority, intending to discount it as a genuine bill with a banker and
intending to take up the bill on its maturity. Here, as A draws the bill with
intent to deceive the banker by leading him to suppose that he had the
security of B, and thereby to discount the bill, A is guilty of forgery.
(f) Z’s will contains these words—“I direct that all my remaining
property be equally divided between A, B and C”. A dishonestly scratches
out B’s name, intending that it may be believed that the whole was left to
himself and C. A has committed forgery.
(g) A endorses a Government promissory note and makes it payable
to Z or his order by writing on the bill the words “Pay to Z or his order” and
signing the endorsement. B dishonestly erases the words “Pay to Z or his
order”, and thereby converts the special endorsement into a blank
endorsement. B commits forgery.
(h) A sells and conveys an estate to Z. A afterwards, in order to
defraud Z of his estate, executes a conveyance of the same estate to B,
dated six months earlier than the date of the conveyance to Z, intending it
to be believed that he had conveyed the estate to B before he conveyed it
to Z. A has committed forgery.
(i) Z dictates his will to A. A intentionally writes down a different
legatee from the legatee named by Z, and by representing to Z that he has
prepared the will according to his instructions, induces Z to sign the will. A
has committed forgery.
(j) A writes a letter and signs it with B’s name without B’s authority,
certifying that A is a man of good character and in distressed circumstances
from unforeseen misfortune, intending by means of such letter to obtain
alms from Z and other persons. Here, as A made a false document in order
to induce Z to part with property, A has committed forgery.
(k) A without B’s authority writes a letter and signs it in B’s name
certifying to A’s character, intending thereby to obtain employment under
Z. A has committed forgery in as much as he intended to deceive Z by the
forged certificate, and thereby to induce Z to enter into an express or
implied contract for service.
Explanation 1.—A man’s signature of his own name may amount to
forgery.
Illustrations.
(a) A signs his own name to a bill of exchange, intending that it may
be believed that the bill was drawn by another person of the same name.
A has committed forgery.
(b) A writes the word “accepted” on a piece of paper and signs it with
Z’s name, in order that B may afterwards write on the paper a bill of
exchange drawn by B upon Z, and negotiate the bill as though it had been
accepted by Z. A is guilty of forgery; and if B, knowing the fact, draws the
bill upon the paper pursuant to A’s intention, B is also guilty of forgery.
(c) A picks up a bill of exchange payable to the order of a different
person of the same name. A endorses the bill in his own name, intending
to cause it to be believed that it was endorsed by the person to whose order
it was payable; here A has committed forgery.
(d) A purchases an estate sold under execution of a decree against
B. B, after the seizure of the estate, in collusion with Z, executes a lease of
the estate, to Z at a nominal rent and for a long period and dates the lease
six months prior to the seizure, with intent to defraud A, and to cause it to
be believed that the lease was granted before the seizure. B, though he
executes the lease in his own name, commits forgery by antedating it.
(e) A, a trader, in anticipation of insolvency, lodges effects with B for
A’s benefit, and with intent to defraud his creditors; and in order to give a
colour to the transaction, writes a promissory note binding himself to pay
to B a sum for value received, and antedates the note, intending that it
may be believed to have been made before A was on the point of
insolvency. A has committed forgery under the first head of the definition.
Explanation 2.—The making of a false document in the name of a
fictitious person, intending it to be believed that the document was made
by a real person, or in the name of a deceased person, intending it to be
believed that the document was made by the person in his lifetime, may
amount to forgery.
Illustration.
A draws a bill of exchange upon a fictitious person, and fraudulently
accepts the bill in the name of such fictitious person with intent to negotiate
it. A commits forgery.
Explanation 3.—For the purposes of this section, the expression
“affixing electronic signature” shall have the meaning assigned to it in
clause (d) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Information Technology
Act, 2000.
Forgery.