BNS Section 335 - Making a false document

335. Making a false document.--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.

Illustration s.

(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.

Illustration s.

(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 (21 of 2000).