BNS Section 205: Wearing Garb Or Carrying Token Used By Public Servant With Fraudulent Intent

Definition of BNS Section 205

Section 205 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 states:
“Whoever, not belonging to a certain class of public servants, wears any garb or carries any token resembling any garb or token used by that class of public servants, with the intention that it may be believed, or with the knowledge that it is likely to be believed, that he belongs to that class of public servants, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees, or with both.”

Explanation and Illustration of Section 205 (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023)

Section 205 deals with the offence of impersonating a very specific kind of public servants. As stated in the section, it deals with people not belonging to a certain class of public servants, wears any garb or carries any token resembling any garb or token used by that class of public servants. In other words, it talks about any person imitating a class of public servants who adorn a particular garb or a uniform while performing their duties.

Public officials who are closely engaged with the public in the performance of their duties are usually required to wear a uniform so that the public can easily identify them. Several professions have such requirements for various reasons. Police officers and municipal workers wear a uniform so that they can be identified easily in the public and approached by citizens for any requirements as their job is to assist the common man. On the other hand there are also critical professions such as soldiers or doctors / medical personnel whose movements need to be unrestricted and their work unhindered while they perform their duties. They wear uniforms so that they can be identified and accommodated on priority.

So when a particular class of public servants don a particular garb or a token (such as a badge or an id card) in the exercise of their authority, such garb or token becomes the source of the power and authority exercised by that class of public servants. And any person not belonging to that class of public servants is not allowed to bear such garb or token.

But simply putting on a garb or token is not outright illegal. One can still do so privately, out of the public eye, or for representational purposes in a movie or a play or any other kind of demonstration, as long as the persons who are witnessing the impersonation are expressly made aware that it is not real and is only for demonstrative purposes. It is only when a person does so with the intention that it may be believed, or with the knowledge that it is likely to be believed that it becomes an offence under section 205. In other words, if a person puts on a garb or fabricates a token carried by a particular class of public servants so that others may believe him or her to be an officer from that class of public servants then it is an offence under Section 205 of the BNS.

The punishment laid down by the section for such an offence is imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees, or with both.

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