Punishment when committed

for same offence

462. Whoever, being entrusted with any closed receptacle which contains or which he believes to contain property, without having authority to open the same, dishonestly, or with intent to commit mischief, breaks open or unfastens that receptacle, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

by person entrusted with custody.

CHAPTER XVIII.

OF OFFENCES RELATING TO DOCUMENTS AND TO TRADE OR PROPERTY-MARKS.

463. Forgery.

Whoever makes any false document or part of a document, with intent to cause damage or injury to the public or to any person, or to support any claim or title, or to cause any person to part with property, or to enter into any express or implied contract, or with intent to commit fraud, or that fraud may be committed, commits forgery.

A charge of an offence relating to documents described in Sections 463, 471, 475, or 476, of the Indian Penal Code, when the documents shall have been given in evidence in any proceedings in any Court, Civil or Criminal, shall not be entertained against a party to such proceedings except with the sanction of the Court in which the document was given in evidence, or of some other Court to which such Court is subordinate. Such sanction may be given at any time. (Cr. P. C. s. 469, and see ss. 470-477 ante, p. 131, 158.)

To constitute an indictable offence the act must be fraudulent and injurious. Writing a spurious invitation to dinner might be very culpable as a hoax, but would not be a fraud upon any one. It is not, however, required, in order to constitute in point of law an intent to defraud, that the person committing the offence should have had present in his mind an intention to defraud a particular person, if the

consequences of the act would necessarily, or possibly, be to defraud any person; but there must, at all events, be a possibility of some person being defrauded by the forgery. (Per Cresswell, J. Reg. v. Marcus, 2 C. & K. 356.) In one case the facts were, that the prisoner having tendered a security bond on plain paper was directed to furnish it on a stamp. He then copied the bond including the names of the witnesses, on paper of the proper value, and got the surety to sign it with his own hand. Held that his copying the names of the witnesses, without any fraudulent intent, did not amount to forgery. (1 M. Dig. 148 § 261.)

Where the false document was intended to defraud a society, it was held that the objection that the prisoner could not be convicted of forgery with intent to defraud, because he was one of the persons jointly interested with others in the funds, was not sustainable. (Reg. v. Moody. 31 LJ. MC. 156. L. & C. 173.)

Where several persons forged different parts of an instrument all are. guilty as principals. And so it is where several concur in employing another to make a forged instrument, knowing its nature. (Arch. 86.)

464. A person is said to make a false docuMaking a false ment,

document.

First. Who dishonestly or fraudulently makes, signs, seals, or executes a document or part of a document, or makes any mark denoting the execu tion of a document, with the intention of causing it to be believed that such document or part of a document was made, signed, sealed, or executed by or by the authority of a person, by whom or by whose authority he knows that it was not made, signed, sealed, or executed, or at a time at which he knows that it was not made, signed, sealed, or executed; or

If the document is false in fact and has been dishonestly or fraudulently made by the accused, with the intention of serving any of the purposes stated in s. 463, the offence will be complete, though no use whatever has been made of it or even attempted to be made. (2 Russ. 709. Pro. Mad. H. C. 7th April, 1866; and see s. 474.) And although the writing is not legal evidence of the matter expressed, still it will be a document under s. 29 if the parties framing it believed it to be and intended it to be used as evidence of such matter. (2 B. A. Cr. 12.)

Entries by a prisoner containing a false statement that a person was alive, for the purpose of enabling a pension to be drawn by a dead man, may be evidence of intention to cheat or commit criminal misappropriation, but do not amount to forgery. (Cr. R. A. 12. 1870. Scotland, C. J. and Collett, J., Feb. 21, 1870.)

Secondly.-Who, without lawful authority, dishonestly or fraudulently, by cancellation or otherwise, alters a document in any material part thereof, after it has been made or executed either by himself or by any other person, whether such person be living or dead at the time of such alteration; or,

"Not only the fabrication and false making of the whole of a written instrument, but a fraudulent insertion, alteration, erasure, even of a letter, in any material part of a true instrument, whereby a new operation is given to it, will amount to forgery; and this, although it be afterwards executed by another person ignorant of the deceit. (2 Russ. 319.) And individuals falsifying their own book of accounts, and producing them in evidence before a Court of justice, were held by the Bombay F. U. to have committed forgery." (3 M. Dig. 122, § 138.)

Thirdly. Who dishonestly or fraudulently causes any person to sign, seal, execute, or alter a document, 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 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 a cypher to the 10,000 and makes the sum 100,000, 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 authorizes 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. (1 R. C. C. Civ. 95.)

(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 misfortunes, 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, inasmuch as he intended to deceive Z by the forged certificate, and thereby to induce Z to enter into an expressed 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 is 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 negociate 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, lodgese ffects 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 life-time, 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.

465. Whoever commits forgery shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine,

Punishment for forgery.

or with both.

Whoever shall be a second time convicted of forgery, as defined in ss. 463, 466, 467, 468, or 469, may be punished with whipping in addition to the penalties of the Penal Code. (Act VI of 1864, s. 4.)

466.

Forgery of a record of a Court of Justice, or of a public Register of Births, &c.

Whoever forges a document, purporting to be a record or proceeding of or in a Court of Justice, or a Register of Birth, Baptism, Marriage, or Burial, or a Register kept by a public servant as such, or a certificate or document purporting to be made by a public servant in his official capacity, or an authority to institute or defend a suit, or to take any proceedings therein, or to confess judgment, or a power of attorney, shall