Indian Penal Code 1860 / Section 21

Section 21 IPC - Public Servant

Section 21 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 defined "public servant" through a detailed list of offices, functions and forms of public employment. The definition extended beyond ordinary Government employees and included judicial officers, court officers, arbitrators, election officers and specified persons serving local authorities, statutory corporations and Government companies.

Section 21 IPC - "Public servant"

The words "public servant" denote a person falling under any of the descriptions hereinafter following, namely:

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Categories of Public Servants under Section 21 IPC

The First clause had been omitted. Immediately before the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 came into force, the operative descriptions in Section 21 ran from Second to Twelfth:

  1. Second. Every Commissioned Officer in the Military, Naval or Air Forces of India.
  2. Third. Every Judge including any person empowered by law to discharge, whether by himself or as a member of any body of persons, any adjudicatory functions.
  3. Fourth. Every officer of a Court of Justice, including a liquidator, receiver or commissioner, whose duty as such officer is to investigate or report on any matter of law or fact; make, authenticate or keep any document; take charge or dispose of property; execute judicial process; administer an oath; interpret; or preserve order in Court, and every person specially authorised by a Court of Justice to perform any such duties.
  4. Fifth. Every juryman, assessor, or member of a panchayat assisting a Court of Justice or public servant.
  5. Sixth. Every arbitrator or other person to whom any cause or matter has been referred for decision or report by a Court of Justice or by any other competent public authority.
  6. Seventh. Every person who holds any office by virtue of which he is empowered to place or keep any person in confinement.
  7. Eighth. Every officer of the Government whose duty as such officer is to prevent offences, give information of offences, bring offenders to justice, or protect the public health, safety or convenience.
  8. Ninth. Every officer whose duty as such officer is to take, receive, keep or expend property on behalf of the Government; make any survey, assessment or contract on behalf of the Government; execute any revenue-process; investigate or report on any matter affecting the pecuniary interests of the Government; make, authenticate or keep any document relating to those pecuniary interests; or prevent the infraction of any law protecting those interests.
  9. Tenth. Every officer whose duty as such officer is to take, receive, keep or expend property; make any survey or assessment; levy any rate or tax for any secular common purpose of any village, town or district; or make, authenticate or keep any document for ascertaining the rights of the people of any village, town or district.
  10. Eleventh. Every person who holds any office by virtue of which he is empowered to prepare, publish, maintain or revise an electoral roll or to conduct an election or part of an election.
  11. Twelfth. Every person -
    (a) in the service or pay of the Government or remunerated by fees or commission for the performance of any public duty by the Government;
    (b) in the service or pay of a local authority, a corporation established by or under a Central, Provincial or State Act, or a Government company as defined in section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956).

Illustration

Illustration: A Municipal Commissioner is a public servant.

Explanations to Section 21 IPC

Explanation 1. Persons falling under any of the above descriptions are public servants, whether appointed by the Government or not.
Explanation 2. Wherever the words "public servant" occur, they shall be understood of every person who is in actual possession of the situation of a public servant, whatever legal defect there may be in his right to hold that situation.
Explanation 3. The word "election" denotes an election for the purpose of selecting members of any legislative, municipal or other public authority, of whatever character, the method of selection to which is by, or under, any law prescribed as by election.

Scope and Meaning of Section 21

Section 21 used a functional as well as an institutional definition. A person could be a public servant because of the office held, the statutory or judicial function performed, the public duty discharged, or the public body in whose service or pay the person worked.

Explanation 1 made Government appointment unnecessary where the person otherwise fell within a listed category. Explanation 2 protected the operation of the definition where a person was actually occupying the position of a public servant despite a legal defect in the right to hold that position.

The definition should be read with Section 19 IPC - Judge and Section 20 IPC - Court of Justice, both of which supply expressions used in Section 21.

Historical Amendment Notes

The uploaded statutory material records the following amendment history:

  • Clause First was omitted by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950.
  • In clause Second, "Naval or Air" was substituted by Act 10 of 1927; later adaptation orders produced the post-Constitution wording.
  • Clause Third was substituted, and the parenthetical words in clause Fourth were inserted, by Act 40 of 1964.
  • References to "the Government" reflect adaptations replacing earlier Crown terminology.
  • Clause Eleventh and Explanation 3 were inserted by Act 39 of 1920.
  • Clause Twelfth was substituted by Act 40 of 1964.
  • Explanation 4 was omitted by Act 39 of 1920.

Companies Act reference: Clause Twelfth(b) reproduced the statutory reference to a Government company as defined in section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956. This page preserves that wording as part of the historical IPC text rather than silently replacing the cross-reference with a later Companies Act provision.

Useful related definitions include Section 14 IPC - Servant of Government, Section 17 IPC - Government, Section 19 IPC - Judge, and Section 20 IPC - Court of Justice.

Legal Position before Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023

Historical legal position: This article explains Section 21 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 as it stood immediately before the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 came into force on 1 July 2024. It is retained as an IPC reference for the earlier legal framework and matters to which the former law remains relevant.

Quick Summary

Section 21 IPC gave "public servant" a broad statutory meaning extending across military officers, Judges, court personnel, arbitrators, custodial officers, Government officers, revenue and local administration officers, election personnel and specified employees of Government, local authorities, statutory corporations and Government companies. Its explanations further widened the practical operation of the definition.