Section 115 Forgery
Sections 158, 159,161,162,164,166,167,168,169 and 170 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) on forgery apply with the necessary modification to any person who forges anything whether or not the forgery is in whole or in part effected by use of any electronic process or in electronic form.
See Sections 158, 159,161,162,164,166,167,168,169 and 170 of the Criminal Offences Act below.
Section 158 of the Criminal Offences Act: Forgery of Judicial or Official Document.
Whoever, with intent to deceive any person, forges any judicial or official document, shall be guilty of second degree felony.
Section 159 of the Criminal Offences Act: Forgery of Other Documents.
Whoever forges any document whatsoever, with intent to defraud or injure any person, or with intent to evade the requirements of the law, or with intent to commit, or to facilitate the commission of, any crime, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.
Section 161 of the Criminal Offences Act —Forging Trade Mark, etc.
Whoever forges or counterfeits any trade-mark, or marks with a forged or counterfeited trade-mark any goods or anything used in, or about, or in connection with the sale of any goods, or sells or offers for sale any goods or such thing so marked, or has in his possession, custody, or control any goods
of such thing so marked, or any materials or means prepared or contrived for the forging or counterfeiting of any trade-mark, or for the marking of any goods or thing therewith, intending in any such case fraudulently to pass off, or to enable any other person fraudulently to pass off, any goods as having been lawfully marked with the trade-mark or as being of a character signified by the trade-mark, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.
Section 162 of the Criminal Offences Act: Forgery of and Other Offences Relating to Stamps.
Whoever—
(a) forges any stamp, whether impressed or adhesive, used for the purposes of revenue by the Government, or by any foreign country; or
(b) without lawful excuse (the proof whereof shall lie on him) makes or has knowingly in his possession any die or instrument capable of making the impression of any such stamp; or
(c) fraudulently cuts, tears, or in any way removes from any material any stamp used for purposes of revenue by the Government, with intent that any use should be made of such stamp or of any part thereof; or
(d) fraudulently mutilates any stamp to which paragraph (c) applies, with intent that use should be made of any part of the stamp; or
(e) fraudulently fixes or places upon any material, or upon any stamp to which paragraph (c) applies, any stamp or part of a stamp which, whether fraudulently or not, has been cut, torn, or in any way removed any other material or out of or from any other stamp; or
(f) fraudulently erases or otherwise either really or apparently removes from any stamped material any name, sum, date, or other matter or thing whatsoever written thereon, with the intent that any use should be made of the stamp upon such material; or
(g) knowingly and without lawful excuse (the proof whereof shall lie upon him) has in his possession any stamp or part of a stamp which has been fraudulently cut, torn, or otherwise removed from any material, or any stamp which has been fraudulently mutilated, or any stamped material out of which any name, sum, date, or other matter or thing has been fraudulently erased, or otherwise either really or apparently removed,
shall be liable to a fine not exceeding ¢1 million.
Section 164 of the Criminal Offences Act: Special Provisions Relating to Forgery.
The following provisions apply to forgery, namely—
(a) a person forges a document if he makes or alters the document, or any material part thereof, with intent to cause it to be believed—
(i) that the document or part has been so made or altered by any person who did not in fact so make or alter it; or
(ii) that the document or part has been so made or altered with the authority or consent of any person who did not in fact give his authority or consent; or
(iii) that the document or part has been so made or altered at a time different from that at which it was in fact so made or altered;
(b) a person who issues or uses any document which is exhausted or cancelled, with intent that it may pass or have effect as if it were not exhausted or cancelled, shall be deemed guilty of forging it;
(c) the making or alteration of a document or part by a person in his own name may be forgery if the making or alteration is with any of the intents mentioned in this section;
(d) the making or alteration of a document or part by a person in a name which is not his real or ordinary name is not forgery unless the making or alteration is with one or other of the intents mentioned in this section;
(e) it is immaterial whether the person by whom, or with whose authority or consent, a document or part purports to have been made, or is intended to be believed to have been made, be living or dead, or be a fictitious person;
(f) every word, letter, figure, mark, seal, or thing expressed on or in a document, or forming part thereof, or attached thereto; and any coloring, shape, or device used therein, which purports to indicate the person by whom, or with whose authority or consent the document or part has been made, altered executed, delivered, attested, verified, certified, or issued, or which may affect the purport, operation, or validity of the document in any material particular, is a material part of the document;
(g) "alteration" includes any cancelling, erase severance, interlineation, or transposition of or in a document or of or in any material part thereof, and the addition of any material part thereto, and any other act or device whereby the purport, operation, or validity of the document may be affected; and
(h) all the provisions of this section apply to the forgery of a stamp or trade-mark in the same manner as to the forgery of a document.
Illustrations
(a) A. endorses his own name on a cheque, meaning it to pass as an endorsement by another person of the same name. Here A. is guilty of forgery.
(b) A. is living under an assumed name. It is not forgery for him to execute a document in that name, unless he does so with the intent to defraud, etc.
(c) A,. with intent to defraud, makes a promissory note in the name of an imaginary person. Here A. is guilty of forgery.
Section 165 of the Criminal Offences Act: Being in Possession of means of Forging.
Whoever without lawful excuse, the proof whereof shall lie on him, has in his possession any instrument or thing specially contrived or adapted for purposes of forgery shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.
Section 166 of the Criminal Offences Act: Possessing Forged Document, etc.
Whoever, with any of the intents mentioned in this Chapter, has in his possession any document or stamp, which is forged, counterfeited, or falsified, or which he knows not to be genuine, shall be liable to the like punishment as if he had, with that intent forged, counterfeited, or falsified the document or stamp.
Section 167 of the Criminal Offences Act: Explanation as to Possession of doing any Act with Respect to Document, or Stamp.
(1) A person possesses or does any act with respect to a document knowing it not to be genuine, if he possesses it, or does such act with respect to it, knowing that it was not in fact made or altered at the time, or by the person, or with the authority or consent of the person, at which or by whom or with whose authority or consent, it purports, or is pretended by him to have been made or altered; and in such case it is immaterial whether the act of the person who made or altered it was or was not a crime.
(2) In like manner, a person possesses or does any act with respect to a stamp, knowing it not to be genuine, if he possesses in or does such act with respect to it, knowing it is in fact counterfeited or falsified; and in such case it is immaterial whether the act of the person who counterfeited or falsified it was or was not a crime.
Section 168 of the Criminal Offences Act - Definition of Counterfeiting.
A person counterfeits a stamp or mark if he makes any imitation thereof, or anything which is intended to pass or which may pass as such a stamp, or mark; and if a person makes anything which is intended to serve as a specimen, or pattern or trial of any process for counterfeiting a stamp or mark, he shall be guilty of counterfeiting, within the meaning of this Chapter, although he does not intend that any person should be defrauded or injured by, or that any further use should be made of, the specimen or pattern.
Section 169 of the Criminal Offences Act - Uttering Forged Documents, etc.
Whoever, with any of the intents mentioned in this Chapter, utters or in any manner deals with or uses, any such document, stamp as in this Chapter mentioned, knowing it to be forged, counterfeited, or falsified, or knowing it not to be genuine, shall be liable to the like punishment as if he had, with that intent, forged, counterfeited, or falsified the document, or stamp.
Section 170 of the Criminal Offences Act: Imitation of Forged Document, etc., need not be perfect.
For the purposes of the provisions of this Code relating to the forgery, counterfeiting, falsifying, uttering, dealing with, using, or possessing of any document, stamp, or trade-mark, it is not necessary that the document, stamp, or trade-mark should be so complete, or should be intended to be made so complete, or should be capable of being made so complete, as to be valid or effectual for any of the purposes of a thing of the kind which it purports or is intended to be or to represent, or as to deceive a person of ordinary judgment and observation.
Please note that the Criminal Offences Act is not from an official source.