Offences against Property/asr

• Basic element – Dishonestly s. 24

Intention of causing
–Wrongful gain to one person
–Wrongful loss to another person
 Theft (Sec 378 IPC)
• Dishonestly taking any moveable
property out of the possession of
any person without the consent of
that person, or moving that
property in order to such taking, is
known as theft.
Pyare Lal Bhargava vs State of Rajasthan K.N. Mehra v. State

•s. 379 - 3Y/ F/ Both

 Essential Ingredients of Theft
• Dishonest intention to take the property
• Property must be moveable
• Property must be taken out of the possession of
another person.
• There must be some removal (moving) of the
property, in order to accomplish the taking.
• The said taking must be without consent of the
person.

• [Illus 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
 Illustration- 1
• A & B two probationers at MCR decide to
go to Paradise for dinner. They go to the
Institute’s reception and tell the Security
there that they have been sent by the
Course Director. They take the keys of
the gypsy, drive in it to Paradise, have
dinner and come back and return the
keys to the guard. Are A & B guilty of
theft?
 Illustration -2
• The Reader in the Court of the SDM,
Uppal, maintains all the files relating to
the court work of the SDM. The Reader
helps one of the litigants in the SDM’s
court by providing him with the case file.
The litigant takes out an important
document and replaces it by another.
Can the Reader be held liable for theft?
 Illustration-3
• A finds a ring lying on the road leading to
Tungabhadra. She picks it up & wears it.
Is A guilty of theft? (Is property taken
out of any one's possession?)
Illustration-4
• A goes to the room of B in Godavari
Hostel. There is a ring lying on the
table in the room. A picks it up and
wears it. Is A guilty of theft?
 Illustration-5
• Z going on Trek, entrusts his laptop to A the
caretaker of the hostel, till Z shall return. In
Z’s absence A goes and sells the laptop in the
market. Is A guilty of theft?
Illustrations 5A/5B
X keeps a bag on the luggage stand(train).Z removes
it without the knowledge of X. Is it theft?
X has a bag in his lap. Y snatches away the bag from
X. Is this a case of theft?
Snatching nose stud/ear ring=robbery
 Extortion {English law – Blackmail}
Sec 383 IPC
Intentionally putting any person in fear of any
injury to that person, or any other, and thereby
dishonestly inducing the person so put in fear, to
deliver to any person, any property or valuable
security or anything signed or sealed which may be
converted into valuable security.

S. 384 – 3Y/F/both
 Essential ingredients of Extortion
• Intentionally putting any person in the
fear of injury.
• to himself or to some other person.
• Dishonestly inducing, the person put in
the fear of injury to deliver
– any property or valuable security
– to any person
Note :-Either presence of the offender is not there or
fear of instant violence or immediate delivery
 Illustration- 6
• A sub-inspector of police arrests a
person X and wrongfully confines
him in the police lockup and
demands money from him. He
threatens him that unless he pays up,
he will not be released. X arranges
the money and pays the sub-
inspector. The sub-inspector is guilty
of extortion.
 Illustration -7
• A notorious criminal writes to Z “if you
do not send me Rs. 5,00,000 I shall see
that your only son is killed by my gang”.
Z does not pay up the amount
demanded & reports to the police. Is
the criminal liable for extortion?
• Would the position be different if A had
delivered the amount demanded, in
consequence of the threat?
Distinction between Extortion & Theft
• The offence of extortion differs from the
offence of theft in that while in theft, property
is removed or taken away without the consent
of the person in possession thereof whereas
in extortion there is a delivery of property
with consent induced by fear. Delivery of
property as distinct from taking away property
is of the essence of the matter in extortion.
 Distinction between Exhortation and
Theft
1. In theft, only movable property may the subject-
matter of the offences while in extortion the
property is not limited only to movable one.
2. In theft, the property is taken by the offender
while in extortion the property is delivered to the
offender.
3. Where there is no delivery of property but the
person put in fear offers no resistance to the
carrying away of property, the offence is not
extortion but robbery (by theft)
 Difference
THEFT EXTORTION
• Without • Wrongfully obtaining –
consent(Property consent
changes )
• Movable property • Any
• Taken • Delivered
• No force • Fear of injury

14
 Robbery
• Sec 390 - Robbery = theft or extortion
• Robbery is a special and aggravated
form of theft or extortion
• All elements of either the theft or
extortion must be present in robbery
- Sec 392(punishment of Robbery)
10Y + fine/Between – sunset to sunrise – 14 Years
if the robbery be committed on the highway between sunset and sunrise,
the imprisonment may be extended to fourteen years.
 When Theft becomes Robbery
• Theft is robbery if in order to
 commit theft or
 in committing theft or
 in carrying away or attempting to carry away property
obtained by theft
• the offender, for that end, voluntarily causes or attempts
to cause, to any person
 death
 hurt or
 wrongful restraint or
 fear of instant death or hurt or wrongful restraint

• Robbery = Theft + violence or fear of instant

violence Illus 8,9
 Illustration - 8

• A holds down Z and fraudulently

takes Z’s money and jewels from
his clothes, without Z’s consent.
Here A has committed theft and
in order to commit the theft has
caused wrongful restraint to Z. A
has therefore committed robbery.
 Illustration - 9
• A steals a handbag from a house and
while carrying it away, he sees the owner
B coming back. B chases him and in the
ensuing fight A stabs B with a knife and
injures him. Is A liable for robbery(by
theft)?
 When Extortion becomes Robbery
• If the offender at the time of committing extortion
 is in the presence of the person put in fear and
 commits the extortion by putting the person in fear of
instant death, instant hurt or instant wrongful restraint
 to that person or to some other person
 by so putting in fear, induces the person so put in fear, then
and there to deliver up the thing extorted.

• Robbery = Extortion + presence of the offender +

fear of instant violence + immediate delivery.

• Illus 10/11
 Illustration - 10

• A meets Z on the road, shows a pistol

and demands Z’s purse. Z in
consequence surrenders his purse.
Here A has extorted the purse from Z
by putting him in the fear of instant
hurt and being at the time of
committing the extortion, in his
presence. A has therefore committed
robbery.(Mugging-Mugger threatens)
 Illustration - 11
• A kidnaps Z’s child. He calls up Z saying
“your child is in the hands of my gang and
will be put to death unless you send us
ten lakh rupees”. Z delivers the money to
A. Is this extortion or robbery?
• Would the position be different if the
offender is in the presence of Z and the
child is shown live on a video as well as
money is given to the offender
 Dacoity [S. 395 – Life Imp]
Sec 391
Dacoity is robbery
• Robbery is dacoity
• when committed or
• attempted to be committed
• or aided- by five or more persons conjointly
• Preparation of Dacoity is also punishable
Sec 393 Attempt to robbery - 7yr + fine
[Illus 12]
 Illustration -12
• The house of a person is raided by a
gang of dacoits, one of whom stands
outside on guard while the other 6 enter
the house and break open the locks.
The neighbours alert the police and on
hearing the siren of the police jeep the
robbers run away.
–What offence if any have they
committed?
–Would the person who stood outside
also be liable?
 Sec 403-Criminal misappropriation
 A person commits criminal misappropriation if
he
• dishonestly misappropriates or converts to his own
use
• any movable property

• Others property (movable)

• Possession- innocently
• Subsequent change in intention
• 2Y/F/both
 Criminal misappropriation(CMP)
• Criminal Misappropriation takes place not when
one has innocently come into the possession of a
thing, but when a subsequent change of intention,
or from the knowledge of some new fact with
which the party was not previously acquainted, he
keeps it, after which the retaining becomes
wrongful or fraudulent.
• The accused acquires the possession innocently, but
its retention becomes wrongful and fraudulent
either from any subsequent change of intention or
from knowledge of some new fact with which the
party was not previously acquainted . The offence is
completed by a mental act. [Illus 13, 14, 15]
 Illustration -13
• A goes into the room of Y in Godavari
hostel. He finds a T-shirt lying on the
chair, which he believes is his. So he
takes the T-shirt and keeps it.
–Is A guilty of criminal misappropriation?
• Later A discovers that his own t-shirt was
actually with the washerman. However,
he retains Y’s t-shirt. Is he now guilty of
criminal misappropriation?
 Illustration -14
• Z finds a cheque payable to the
bearer. He can form no
conjecture about the person who
has lost the cheque but the name
of the person who has drawn the
cheque appears. Z appropriates
the cheque. Is he guilty of
criminal misappropriation?
 Illustration -15
• A & B are about to travel by the same
train from Delhi. A has a ticket for Bhopal
and B has a ticket for Bangalore. B hands
over his ticket to A for checking the same.
A under the pretence of returning it,
substitutes the ticket.
–Is A guilty of any offence- theft or
criminal misappropriation?
 Differences – s. 378 (T) & s. 403 (M-CMP)
• T- Dishonest intention to take property
• M- possession obtained innocently
• T- Offence takes place when there is some removal
(moving)
• M- offence - actual misappropriation/ conversion
• T- Property must be taken out of the possession
of another person
• M- offender has possession lawfully(or innocently)
• T- initial taking wrongful
• M- initial taking (may be) innocent but subsequent
change of intention is there
 Sec 405 Criminal Breach of Trust
 The offence is committed if
• accused was entrusted with the property or
dominion over it
• Accused misappropriates it or converts it to
his own use or uses it or disposes it off
• in violation of any direction of law or contract
• 3Y/F/both
• The difference between CMP & CBT is that in respect
of CBT, the accused is entrusted with property or with
dominion or control over the property.
• [Illus 16, 17]
 Illustration -16
• The servant of a liquor contractor has
been entrusted by his master with
liquor to sell the same and render
accounts to the master. The servant
adulterates the liquor with water and
sell it and appropriates to himself, the
profit earned on the increased
quantity. Is the servant liable for an
offence?/WHISKY
 Illustration -17
• The Sarpanch of a village is entrusted with the
job of distributing old age pension in the
village. He withdraws the amount, credited to
his account by the government, for disbursal
amongst the pensioners. However, in the
meantime, there is urgent need of money in
his business. He uses the money withdrawn
for disbursal of pensions & subsequently after
15 days, recoups the amount and distributes
the pensions. What offence if any, has the
Sarpanch committed?
 Distinction between CMP and CBT
• In criminal breach of trust there is conversion of
property held by a person in a fiduciary capacity i.e
the property is entrusted to him. In case of criminal
misappropriation the possession of property which
is appropriated may come in any way.
• (2) In criminal breach of thrust, there is some kind
of contractual relationship between the parties
either express or implied, but in criminal
misappropriation there is no such relationship.
• CMP=moveable/CBT= either moveable or immovbl
• CMP = No express entrustment/CBT=express
entrustment
 Difference – 378(Theft) & 405(CBT)
• 378- property moved – dishonest intention
• 405 – offender lawfully entrusted – property
• 378- possession of property – without consent
• 405 – possession is derived- consent of owner

Sec 417 punishment for cheating - 1yr/fine/ or both

Sec 420 punishment for Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property- 7yr + F
 Cheating (415-420)1 yr/Delivery 7y
• A intentionally deceives Z into a belief that A has
performed A’s part of a contract made with Z, which
he has not performed, and thereby dishonestly
induces Z to pay money. A cheats.
• A, by pledging as diamonds article which he knows
are not diamonds intentionally deceives Z, and
thereby dishonestly induces Z to lend money. A
cheats.
• A, by putting a counterfeit mark on an article,
intentionally deceives Z into a belief that this article
was made by a certain celebrated manufacturer,
and thereby dishonestly induces Z to buy. A cheats