BNS Section 346: Tampering With Property Mark With Intent To Cause Injury

Definition of BNS Section 346

Section 346 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 states:

“Whoever removes, destroys, defaces or adds to any property mark, intending or knowing it to be likely that he may thereby cause injury to any person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.”

Explanation and Illustration of Section 346

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

• Offence

  A property mark is a seal or an insignia used by persons to mark their valuables so as to mark their ownership and make it easily identifiable in case of theft. In certain cases, especially if a mark belongs to a celebrity or a reputed business house, then it adds some modicum of authenticity to the item and could even apprise its value. So in such cases, the property mark itself becomes a valuable asset and, hence, using such a mark without the permission of the owner of such mark is considered a criminal offence.
  
  Section 346 deals with tampering of property mark with the intent to commit fraud. It states that any person found guilty of removing, destroying, defacing or altering a property mark that has been applied to a property by its owner shall be considered an offender under the provisions of this section.
  
  This kind of act is usually done when a person steals or illegally comes into possession of an item which has been marked by the owner using his or her unique property mark. In order to remove all traces of ownership, a person may choose to either remove the mark or deface it or mutilate it in case it is not possible to remove the mark. The section further clarifies that such an act must be done with the intent to cause injury. It must be noted that this does not refer to physical injury. But injury in the sense of suffering undue loss to property.

• Punishment

  Any person found guilty of removing, destroying, defacing or altering a property mark with the intention of causing loss or injury to the owner of such mark shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, 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 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

  O marks all his valuables with his initials as a property mark. One of his valuables is stolen and comes into the possession of C. C scratches out part of O’s property mark to make the ‘O’ look like a ‘C’. C is an offender under Section 346.

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