Principle When a person falsifies something with the intent to deceive another person or entity is f...........

Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) 1973 Others

Principle: When a person falsifies something with the intent to deceive another person or entity is forgery and is a criminal act. Changing or adding the signature on a document, deleting it, using or possessing the false writing is also considered forgery. In the case of writing to fall under the definition, the material included must have been fabricated or altered significantly in order to represent something it is actually not.

Facts: John was a publisher of ancient books and papers. In one of his books on the World Wars, he gave photograph of some letters written by famous historic personalities. A researcher in history noted that in the pictures of some of the letters printed in the book, John had added some words or sentences in his own handwriting to give completeness to the sentences, so that the readers will get a clear picture of the writer’s intention. The researcher challenges the originality of those pictures and claims that the book containing the forged letters should be banned. Examine the validity of the researcher’s demand.

The additions in the letters were made by the publisher in his own handwriting would have made material alteration to the original meaning and hence amounted to forgery.

Allowing forged publications to be circulated among the public is as good as committing fraud on the public, so the publication should be banned.

As forgery amounts to adding or deleting anything from an original document, the demand of the researcher is valid.

The additions were made to give clarity to the original document and did not in any sense change the contents of the documents and hence there is no forgery as alleged by the researcher.

Explanation:

The principle clarifies that when a person falsifies something with the intent to deceive another person or entity, its forgery. In the given context the publisher
added a few details to give completeness to the sentences, so that the readers got a clear picture of the writer’s intention. Hence the intention to falsify is missing, which is essential for completing the offence of forgery. The additions were made to give clarity to the original document and did not in any sense change the contents of the documents and hence there is no forgery as alleged by the researcher.