Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
Section 336
Forgery
(1) Whoever makes any false document or false electronic record or part of a document or electronic record, 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.
(2) Whoever commits forgery shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.
(3) Whoever commits forgery, intending that the document or electronic record forged shall be used for the purpose of cheating, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
(4) Whoever commits forgery, intending that the document or electronic record forged shall harm the reputation of any party, or knowing that it is likely to be used for that purpose, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Why this exists
This is the core definition and punishment provision for forgery, building on the definition of a false document from the previous section. It criminalises the creation of fake documents used to deceive, defraud, or damage reputations, and it scales the punishment according to the seriousness of the intended harm, treating forgery aimed at cheating or tarnishing reputation as more serious than a bare act of forgery.
How courts read it
Following the same reasoning as the preceding section on making a false document, courts examining forgery charges look closely at whether the accused's document falsely represented its own authorship or authority. Merely being untruthful about facts stated within an otherwise genuinely authored and signed document has, in leading Supreme Court rulings, been held to fall short of the forgery threshold; the deception must specifically concern who made or authorised the document.