Forgery and Offences Relating to Documents

Forgery is now dealt with in Chapter XVIII of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), titled "Of Offences Relating to Documents and to Property Marks". Section 335 explains when a person "makes a false document or false electronic record", Section 336 turns that act into the offence of forgery when it is done with a specified intent, and Sections 337 to 344 deal with aggravated forms such as forging court records, Aadhaar cards, wills and valuable securities, using forged documents, counterfeit seals and falsification of accounts. The old IPC Sections 463 to 477A are the pointers you will still see in older books and judgments.

This explainer is for B.A. LL.B. and LL.B. students preparing for criminal law papers, and for citizens who suspect that a sale deed, a cheque or an identity card has been tampered with. A trader in Nagercoil who finds an extra zero added to a cheque, or a family in Madurai fighting over a will that "appeared" after a funeral, is dealing with exactly these sections.

What is a "document" under the BNS?

Section 2(8) of the BNS defines a document as any matter expressed or described upon any substance by letters, figures or marks, intended to be used, or which may be used, as evidence of that matter. The definition expressly includes electronic and digital records. So a WhatsApp image of a lease, a PDF certificate or an email can be a document just as much as a stamp paper agreement.

Section 2(31) defines a valuable security as a document by which a legal right is created, extended, transferred, restricted, extinguished or released, or by which a person acknowledges a legal liability. Cheques, promissory notes and conveyances fall here, and this matters because forging a valuable security attracts a much heavier punishment.

When is a document "false" under Section 335?

Section 335 (old IPC Section 464) says a person makes a false document or false electronic record when he acts dishonestly or fraudulently in one of three ways:

1. He makes, signs, seals or executes a document, makes or transmits an electronic record, or affixes an electronic signature, intending it to be believed that it was made or authorised by someone who, as he knows, did not make or authorise it.
2. He alters a document or electronic record in a material part, without lawful authority, after it has been made or signed, whether by cancellation or otherwise.
3. He causes a person to sign, seal or execute or alter a document knowing that the person, because of unsoundness of mind, intoxication or deception, does not know its contents or the nature of the alteration.

Read the illustrations carefully, because examiners love them. Adding a cipher to a letter of credit to raise the amount, filling a blank signed cheque with a sum the drawer never authorised, antedating a conveyance to defeat a later buyer, and a scribe writing a different legatee in a dictated will are all false documents. The Explanations add that a person may forge even by signing his own name, if he intends it to pass as the signature of another person with the same name, and that a document can be false when made in the name of a fictitious person or a dead person as though signed in his lifetime.

The key idea for your answer: Section 335 is about who made or authorised the document, not merely whether its contents are true. A genuine signature on a document full of lies may be cheating or false evidence, but it is not automatically a false document.

What turns a false document into forgery?

Section 336(1) (old IPC Section 463) says that making a false document or electronic record is forgery when it is done with intent to:

• cause damage or injury to the public or to any person;
• support any claim or title;
• cause any person to part with property or to enter into an express or implied contract; or
• commit fraud, or so that fraud may be committed.

Punishment depends on purpose. Simple forgery under Section 336(2) carries up to two years, or fine, or both. Forgery for the purpose of cheating under Section 336(3) carries up to seven years and fine. Forgery intended to harm reputation under Section 336(4) carries up to three years and fine.

Which forms of forgery are treated more seriously?

• Section 337 (old IPC 466): forging a court record, a public register of births, marriages or burials, a public servant's certificate, a power of attorney, or an identity document issued by Government "including voter identity card or Aadhaar Card". The Aadhaar and voter ID reference is new in the BNS. Up to seven years and fine.
• Section 338 (old IPC 467): forging a valuable security, a will, an authority to adopt a son, or a receipt for money or property. Imprisonment for life, or up to ten years, and fine.
• Section 339 (old IPC 474): possessing a forged document, knowing it to be forged, intending to use it as genuine.
• Section 340 (old IPC 470 and 471): defines a forged document and punishes a person who fraudulently or dishonestly uses as genuine a document he knows or has reason to believe is forged, in the same manner as if he had forged it.
• Sections 341 and 342 (old IPC 472, 473, 475, 476): making, possessing or using as genuine counterfeit seals, plates and authentication marks.
• Section 343 (old IPC 477): fraudulently cancelling, destroying or secreting a will, authority to adopt or valuable security. Imprisonment for life, or up to seven years, and fine.
• Section 344 (old IPC 477A): a clerk, officer or servant who wilfully and with intent to defraud falsifies the employer's books or accounts. Up to seven years, or fine, or both. A general intent to defraud is enough in the charge, without naming the victim or the sum.

One caution for careful readers: the published headings of Sections 339, 341 and 342 refer to documents described in Sections 337 or 338, while the body text as reproduced in some bare act editions cross refers to Sections 335 and 336. Check the official text on India Code before quoting the exact cross references in a moot or a pleading.

How is forgery proved in court?

Most forgery trials turn on handwriting and signatures. Under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA), Section 39 (old Evidence Act Sections 45 and 45A) makes the opinion of an expert on handwriting and finger impressions relevant, and also the opinion of the Examiner of Electronic Evidence referred to in Section 79A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 for digital records. Section 41 of the BSA (old Section 47) makes relevant the opinion of a person acquainted with the alleged writer's handwriting, such as a clerk who regularly handled his letters, and the opinion of the Certifying Authority on an electronic signature.

For a citizen, the practical steps are simple. Keep the original disputed document safe, do not write on it, collect admitted signatures of the person concerned from undisputed records, and lodge a complaint with the police. Whether a particular forgery offence is cognizable or bailable is listed in the First Schedule of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), so check that schedule rather than relying on memory. If you cannot afford a lawyer, the college legal aid clinic can point you to the District Legal Services Authority.

How should you write about forgery in an exam?

1. Start with the definitions: "document" in Section 2(8) and "valuable security" in Section 2(31).
2. Explain the three modes of making a false document under Section 335, with one illustration for each.
3. Show the two-step structure: false document plus one of the intents in Section 336(1) equals forgery.
4. Apply the aggravated sections to the facts (will, Aadhaar, court record, accounts) and state the punishment.
5. Give the old IPC section in brackets once, then use BNS numbers throughout.
6. End with proof: expert and lay opinion under Sections 39 and 41 of the BSA.

Case law changes your marks, so build your own list of Supreme Court and Madras High Court rulings on false documents from the reported judgments your teacher recommends, and quote them only with the correct citation.

Sources

• India Code: The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023: official record of Act 45 of 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.
• PRS Legislative Research: BNS, 2023 text: full text including the definitions in Section 2.
• BNS Chapter XVIII (devgan.in): section-wise text of Sections 335 to 344 with illustrations.
• Uttar Pradesh Police: BNS and IPC comparative table: maps old IPC Sections 463 to 477A to the new BNS sections.
• Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, Section 39: opinions of experts, including handwriting.
• Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, Section 41: opinion as to handwriting and signature.