BNS Section 315: Dishonest Misappropriation of Property Possessed by Deceased Person at the Time of His Death

Definition of BNS Section 315

Section 315 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 states:

Whoever dishonestly misappropriates or converts to his own use any property, knowing that such property was in the possession of a deceased person at the time of that person’s decease, and has not since been in the possession of any person legally entitled to such possession, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine, and if the offender at the time of such person’s decease was employed by him as a clerk or servant, the imprisonment may extend to seven years.

Illustration.

Z dies in possession of furniture and money. His servant A, before the money comes into the possession of any person entitled to such possession, dishonestly misappropriates it. A has committed the offence defined in this section.

Explanation and Illustration of Section 315

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

• Offence

  This section deals with misappropriation of the assets of a deceased person. Unlike general misappropriation where the owner of the asset can take action against the person who has misappropriated the asset, in this case, the detection of the crime becomes slightly harder. The fact that the person who misappropriates such assets is aware of this makes the criminal intent a little more malicious than general misappropriation and hence has been treated as a separate offence under the BNS.
  
  As per this section, any person who misappropriates the assets owned by a deceased person shall be considered an offender under this section. However, there are two conditions for an act of misappropriation to be treated as an offence under this section:
  
  The item that has been misappropriated has to have been in possession of the deceased person at the time of demise.
  
  The item was misappropriated prior to being taken into possession by the legal entitled inheritor of the item.
  
  These two conditions are important because if the item was in possession of someone else at the time of the demise or the legal heir had taken possession of the item prior to being misappropriated, then the property has been misappropriated from them and not the deceased person. This makes the act of misappropriation a general one and does not qualify as an offence under the provisions of this section.
  
  Two types of mispprorpiations have been provided for in this section:
  
  Misappropriation of asset owned by deceased person
  
  Misappropriation of asset owned by person under employment of deceased person at the time of demise.
  
  While the first one is general misappropriation, the latter is considered slightly more severe as it also involves criminal breach of trust by the employee of the person whose asset has been misappropriated. Let us take a loot at the illustration provided under the section.
  
  Illustration.
  
  Z dies in possession of furniture and money. His servant A, before the money comes into the possession of any person entitled to such possession, dishonestly misappropriates it. A has committed the offence defined in this section.
  
  As you can see, all the conditions have been met. Z was in possession of the assets at the time of demise. A appropriated it before the money came into the possession of Z’s legal heirs and A was in employment of Z at the time of demise. So Z is an offender under the provisions of this section.

• Punishment

  The punishment has been categorised according to the two categories of offence described under this section.

  • Any person found guilty of misappropriating assets from a deceased person shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine,
  • If the person who has misappropriated such assets was in the employ of the deceased person at the time of the demise, then he or she shall be punished with imprisonment may extend to seven years along with fine.

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

  • The offender is forced or coerced into performing the offence
  • The offender is a minor or not of sane mind.

• However, there may be other sections under the BNS under which the above actions can be prosecuted and while they may be disqualified under the provisions of this section, such actions will still be punishable under the provisions of those respective sections of the BNS.

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