IPC Sections 463, 464 and 465: Forgery, Making a False Document and Punishment

Sections 463, 464 and 465 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 dealt with the basic offence of forgery, the meaning of making a false document or false electronic record, and the general punishment for forgery.

Section 463 IPC - Forgery

Section 463 defined forgery. In substance, a person commits forgery when that person makes a false document, false electronic record, or part thereof with a specified fraudulent or injurious intent.

Accordingly, falsity by itself is not the complete offence. The act must fall within the concept of making a false document under Section 464 and must be accompanied by one of the intents specified in Section 463.

Section 464 IPC - Making a False Document or False Electronic Record

Section 464 explained when a person is considered to have made a false document or false electronic record. The provision broadly covered three situations.

First: False execution, creation or electronic authentication

A person dishonestly or fraudulently makes, signs, seals or executes a document or part of it; makes or transmits an electronic record; affixes an electronic signature; or makes a mark denoting execution or authenticity, intending it to be believed that it was made, signed, sealed, executed, transmitted or affixed by, or under the authority of, a person who did not make or authorize it.

Secondly: Material alteration without lawful authority

A person, without lawful authority and dishonestly or fraudulently, materially alters a document or electronic record after it has been made or executed, whether the maker is living or dead at the time of alteration.

Thirdly: Procuring execution by a person who does not understand the act

A person dishonestly or fraudulently causes another person to sign, seal, execute or alter a document or electronic record, or affix an electronic signature, knowing that because of unsoundness of mind, intoxication, or deception, that person does not understand the contents of the document or electronic record or the nature of the alteration.

Illustrations to Section 464

The statutory illustrations explain the provision through examples including alteration of a letter of credit, unauthorized use of another person's seal, filling an unsigned amount in a cheque, exceeding authority while filling a cheque, creating a bill in another person's name, altering a will, changing an endorsement, antedating a conveyance or lease, inducing execution of a will containing different terms, and signing another person's name to obtain property or employment.

• Fraudulently changing a credit amount from 10,000 to 1,00,000 is an example of forgery.
• Using another person's seal without authority on a purported conveyance may constitute forgery.
• Fraudulently inserting an amount in a signed blank cheque, or exceeding authority given to fill the amount, may constitute forgery.
• Materially changing a will or endorsement with the required dishonest or fraudulent intent may constitute forgery.
• Antedating a conveyance, lease or promissory note to create a false appearance of an earlier transaction may constitute forgery even where a person signs his or her own name.

Explanation 1: A person's signature of his or her own name may amount to forgery where the statutory requirements are satisfied. The illustrations include signing one's own name intending it to be taken as the signature of another person with the same name and antedating an instrument to create a false legal appearance.

Explanation 2: A false document made in the name of a fictitious person, intending it to be believed to have been made by a real person, or in the name of a deceased person intending it to be believed that the person made it during life, may amount to forgery.

Explanation 3: For Section 464, the expression relating to affixing an electronic signature carried the meaning assigned under Section 2(1)(d) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Section 465 IPC - Punishment for Forgery

Section 465 provided the general punishment for forgery. Whoever committed forgery could be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term extending to two years, or with fine, or with both.

Nature of the Offence under the Pre-BNSS CrPC

Under the First Schedule to the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, an offence under Section 465 IPC was classified as non-cognizable and bailable, and was triable by a Magistrate of the First Class.

Relationship between Sections 463 and 464 IPC

Sections 463 and 464 must be read together. Section 463 stated the offence of forgery and its required intent, while Section 464 supplied the legal meaning of making a false document or false electronic record. Section 465 then prescribed the general punishment where forgery was established, subject to more specific forgery provisions prescribing different punishments for particular documents or purposes.

Related IPC Provisions

More serious or specially directed forms of forgery were dealt with in succeeding provisions, including Sections 466 to 469 IPC. For details, see the linked article on Sections 466, 467, 468 and 469 IPC - forgery of court records, valuable security, forgery for cheating and harming reputation.

This page is an explanatory legal article on the statutory position under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 immediately before commencement of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The applicable provision in a particular case depends on the date of the alleged act and the relevant saving and procedural provisions.