BNS Section 343: Fraudulent Cancellation, Destruction, Etc., Of Will, Authority To Adopt, Or Valuable Security

Definition of BNS Section 343

Section 343 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 states:

Whoever fraudulently or dishonestly, or with intent to cause damage or injury to the public or to any person, cancels, destroys or defaces, or attempts to cancel, destroy or deface, or secretes or attempts to secrete any document which is or purports to be a will, or an authority to adopt a son, or any valuable security, or commits mischief in respect of such document, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Explanation and Illustration of BNS Section 343

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

• Offence

  Mostly, when one thinks of the intention behind committing fraud, it is usually considered to involve misappropriation of property or money and requires either creating a false document to that end or altering an existing document to achieve illicit benefits. But in some instances the act of fraud requires cancelling, invalidating or destroying a document.
  
  This section provides for the offence of committing or attempting to commit fraud by cancelling, destroying or defacing any document described under Section 338. Section 338 provides for forgery of valuable documents such as a will, or an authority to adopt a son, or any valuable security.

• Punishment

  Any person found guilty of illegally cancelling, destroying or defacing any document for the purpose of committing fraud or a dishonest act shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to 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.

• Illustration

  Z creates a will where he names his older son B as the primary beneficiary. However, he later writes a new will in which he invalidates the old will and decides to make a charitable organisation the main beneficiary of his estate. Z destroys the new will in order to ensure that the old will remains in force. Z is an offender under the provisions of Section 343.

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