criminal misappropriation

Section 314 BNS (old s.403 IPC). The property comes to the accused without any offence, often by finding, and he later dishonestly decides to keep or use it. A finder is guilty if he appropriates the property when he knows or has the means of finding the owner, without using reasonable means to discover him and keeping it a reasonable time for the owner to claim. Misappropriating property of a person who has just died is dealt with in s.315 (old s.404).

Distinguish theft, where the property is taken out of another's possession without consent, and criminal breach of trust, where the property was entrusted to the accused.

Example

A who found a purse with the owner's ID card and spent the cash without trying to contact him committed criminal misappropriation, not theft.

In Indian law

• Sections 314 and 315, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (old ss.403 and 404 IPC)

See also

theft · criminal breach of trust · conversion

Read more in the study notes

• Criminal misappropriation and criminal breach of trust (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)
• Framing of charge and joinder of charges (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
• Protection of victims: compensation and treatment (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
• The Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
• Theft and snatching (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)
• Co-operative societies (Business Environment)