BNS Section 242: False Personation For Purpose Of Act Or Proceeding In Suit Or Prosecution

Explanation and Illustration of BNS Section 242

This section is applicable to any person within the sovereign borders of India, whether citizen, resident or otherwise. It deals with the offence of false impersonation to mislead a proceeding. Let us break down the section to get a better understanding of it.

Offence

To simplify what has been in the section, any person who pretends to be someone they are not for the purpose of a court proceeding or any other government proceeding and performs any action that may cause the proceeding to be misled in a false or incorrect direction shall be considered an offender under the provisions of this section. The section also illustrates some examples of actions that such a person may perform as an assumed character:

Making an admission or statement: This refers to making a statement or admission in the course of a proceeding as an assumed character, rendering the statement inadmissible even if it is true.

Confessing to a judgement: This refers to providing evidence or making a confession in the course of a proceeding as an assumed character, rendering the confession or evidence inadmissible even if genuine.

Causes any process to be issued: Performing an act or making a statement in the course of a proceeding as an assumed character which causes the authorities to take affirmative action, rendering the action or process unenforceable even if it is the correct course of action.

Becomes bail or security: Performing an act or making a statement in the course of a proceeding as an assumed character which leads to grant of bail to a person, causing the bail to be invalid even if it may be the correct course of action.

Does any other act - By saying this the section clarifies that the offence of performing actions as an assumed character during a government proceeding is not limited to the above actions alone. Any action performed as an assumed character during a government proceeding shall be considered as an offence under the provisions of this section.

Punishment

The punishment for performing any action as an assumed character in the course of a judicial or any other government proceeding shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both

. The above actions may not be an offence under this section if:

The offender is forced or coerced into doing such act

The offender is a minor or not of sane mind.

The person was not aware that the impersonation was for judicial evidence. For instance, X is an actor. He is told he is to perform a scene. Later, a recording of the scene is falsely presented as genuine evidence in court. X is not an offender under section 242.

Illustration

Making an admission or statement: X pretends to be a witness to a crime and makes statements or admissions about the crime as a witness. X is an offender under section 242.

Confessing to a judgement: X resemblesZ. X pretends to be Z and confesses to having committed a crime. Z is arrested. X is an offender under section 242.

Causes any process to be issued: X pretends to be an officer of the court and types out an order that leads to a summons being issued in the name of Z. X is an offender under section 242.

Becomes bail or security: X pretending to be someone else signs a bail bond for Z as a guarantor and gets Z released on bail. X is an offender under section 242.