forgery
Under s.336 BNS (old s.463 IPC), forgery is making a false document or false electronic record, or part of one, with intent to cause damage or injury, to support any claim or title, to make a person part with property or enter into a contract, or to commit fraud. What a “false document” is depends on s.335 BNS (old s.464): broadly, a document made or altered dishonestly so that it appears to be made by someone who did not make or authorise it, or obtained from a person of unsound mind, intoxicated or deceived.
The common mistake is to call any lie in a document forgery. In Md. Ibrahim (2009) the Supreme Court held that a person who executes a sale deed in his own name for land he does not own does not make a false document; he may be guilty of cheating, but not of forgery.
Example
Signing a cheque with the account holder's name, without authority, is forgery, because the document appears to be made by a person who did not make it.
In Indian law
- Sections 335–336, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (old ss.463–464 IPC)
- Md. Ibrahim v. State of Bihar, 2009 INSC 1110
See also
cheating · fraud · electronic record
Read more in the study notes
- Need for ADR, international commitments and suitability of disputes (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
- Banker and customer: who they are and the legal character of the relationship (Banking Law)
- Duties of banker and customer: honouring cheques and secrecy of accounts (Banking Law)
- Banking as a service: consumer protection and the RBI Ombudsman (Banking Law)
- Holder and holder in due course, parties to instruments, their liability and payment in due course (Banking Law)
- Paying banker, collecting banker and crossing of cheques (Banking Law)