📘 Section 138 – Public Servant Making False Document to Injure a Person

Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023

Category: Criminal Law
Language: English
Word Count: ~3000
Published by: Legal India 999

🧭 Introduction

Public servants are entrusted with the power to create, manage, and preserve official documents that significantly impact people's rights, property, liberty, and legal status. However, when a public servant intentionally makes a false document to harm someone, this not only betrays the trust placed in them but also becomes a grave criminal offence.

Section 138 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 specifically criminalizes the act of creating false documents by public servants with the intent to injure others. It aims to ensure truthfulness in public records and hold those in positions of power accountable for deliberate falsification.

📜 Bare Text of Section 138

"Whoever, being a public servant, and being as such public servant, charged with the preparation or custody of any document or record, wilfully and with intent to cause injury to any person, makes or signs a false document or false electronic record, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or with fine, or with both."

🎯 Objective of Section 138

This section is intended to:

Penalize intentional misconduct by public servants.
Prevent the use of fabricated documents to injure innocent individuals.
Promote honesty and fairness in administrative and legal processes.
Deter public officials from misusing their position for malicious motives.

🔍 Key Ingredients of the Offence

To prove an offence under Section 138, the following must be established:

The accused is a public servant.
The public servant is entrusted with the preparation or custody of documents or records.
The public servant has willfully made or signed a false document or electronic record.
The act was done with intent to cause injury to another person.

🧠 What Constitutes "False Document"?

A "false document" is one that:

Is forged or manipulated intentionally.
Contains misrepresentation of facts.
Is created to mislead authorities or prejudice someone’s legal status or rights.

It includes physical records (like land deeds, investigation reports) and electronic records (like digital certificates, scanned orders, etc.).

⚖️ Punishment

Offence	Punishment
Making/signing a false document as a public servant with intent to injure someone	Up to 7 years imprisonment or fine, or both

This strong punishment reflects the seriousness of betraying public trust through fraudulent documentation.

🏛️ Classification of Offence

Parameter	Details
Cognizable	Yes
Bailable	No
Triable By	Magistrate of the First Class
Compoundable	No

📘 Comparison with IPC

Section 138 BNS replaces Section 219 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

IPC Section 219	BNS Section 138
"Public servant in judicial proceeding corruptly making report"	Broader — includes any false document, not limited to judicial contexts
Focused on corruption	Focused on intent to injure
Punishment up to 7 years	Same duration, but includes electronic documents explicitly

🧾 Examples & Scenarios

Example 1: Forged Arrest Memo

A police officer prepares an arrest memo indicating that a suspect was caught at a different time and place to support a fabricated narrative.

✅ Covered under Section 138 – as the officer intentionally falsifies the document to legally harm the suspect.

Example 2: Fabricated Land Record

A revenue officer forges land ownership details to wrongfully deprive a farmer of his ancestral land.

✅ The act is an offence under Section 138 due to intent to injure the rightful owner.

Example 3: Digital Manipulation of Investigation Report

An investigating officer alters a case file on a government portal to add fake criminal antecedents against a political rival.

✅ This is a false electronic record intended to cause injury and is punishable under this section.

👩‍⚖️ Relevant Case Laws

Although BNS is new, similar cases were dealt under IPC. Some illustrative cases include:

🔹 Ramesh Singh v. State of U.P., AIR 1996 SC 276

A police officer fabricated a statement to frame a person falsely. The court upheld prosecution for misconduct and false documentation.

🔹 State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal, AIR 1992 SC 604

The Supreme Court laid down that abuse of official position to fabricate false evidence or records is punishable under criminal law, even if no conviction results.

🔹 Chandran Ratnaswami v. K.C. Palanisamy, (2013)

The court observed that creating false company records to oust another stakeholder is criminal in nature and can be prosecuted.

🧠 “Intent to Cause Injury” – What Does It Mean?

The term “injury” includes:

Physical harm
Reputational harm
Financial loss
Legal disadvantage (e.g., wrongful arrest or litigation)

The key requirement is mala fide intention — the public servant must have created or signed the false document with knowledge that harm will occur.

🧭 Difference Between Section 137 and 138

Feature	Section 137	Section 138
Intent	To save someone from punishment	To injure a person
Act	Preparing incorrect records	Making/signing false documents
Object	Protect another from justice	Harm another person
Example	Falsifying FIR to exonerate	Forging land record to harass someone

💻 Applicability to Electronic Documents

Section 138 explicitly includes false electronic records. In today’s digital administration:

Fake emails, tampered PDFs, altered digital certificates, and false entries in databases by public servants are covered.
Digital forensics can be used to trace time-stamps, meta-data changes, and server logs to prove the falsity.

🧭 Role of RTI and Whistle-blowers

Many such offences come to light due to:

RTI applications that expose discrepancies between records.
Internal whistle-blowers who report misconduct.
Independent audit teams that detect anomalies in public databases.

🛡️ Protection for Victims

Victims of such falsified documents can:

File FIR under Section 138 BNS.
Approach the Human Rights Commission (in custodial abuse cases).
Move the High Court under Article 226 for quashing false proceedings.
Demand compensation in civil suits for damages.

🧮 Challenges in Enforcement

Despite the law, victims often face hurdles:

Institutional silence or cover-up by department heads.
Lack of technical expertise to prove falsification.
Fear of retaliation among junior officials.
Delays in sanction for prosecution against public servants.

📋 Investigation & Trial

Steps usually followed:

Preliminary complaint by victim or whistle-blower.
Internal departmental inquiry or vigilance probe.
If proven, FIR under Section 138 is registered.
Forensic or handwriting experts may be involved.
Trial in court where motive, timeline, and benefit from falsification is scrutinized.

📊 Departments Commonly Involved

Department	Common Falsifications
Police	FIRs, charge sheets, confessions
Revenue	Land records, mutation entries
Medical	Fitness reports, autopsy notes
Education	Academic certificates
Transport	Vehicle inspection reports

✅ Preventive Measures

To reduce such offences:

Make official record-making transparent and auditable.
Introduce tamper-proof digital systems with blockchain or cryptographic logs.
Conduct regular ethics training for public servants.
Empower citizens through digital access and grievance redressal.

🧠 Psychological Aspects

Why do public servants commit such offences?

Pressure from superiors
Bribes or quid pro quo
Fear of political backlash
Personal enmity with the victim

Section 138 seeks to deter such motives by imposing criminal consequences.

🧑‍💼 Role of Lawyers and Civil Society

Lawyers must scrutinize documents filed by public servants in every litigation.
NGOs and media should publicize successful convictions to deter others.
Citizen watchdog groups can build pressure for action via social media and PILs.

📑 Judicial Directions

Courts may issue the following directives:

Issue summons to the responsible public servant.
Demand original and backup documents.
Appoint independent investigators or commissions.
Grant interim relief to the victim.

🏁 Conclusion

Section 138 of the BNS plays a crucial role in upholding administrative integrity. It acts as a check against malicious manipulation of records by those in authority. In a system where documentation forms the basis of justice, property rights, and liberty — false records can ruin lives. Therefore, this provision ensures such betrayal is not only condemned but also punished severely.

India’s move toward digitization, AI in governance, and citizen empowerment will work best when public servants know they are accountable — not just administratively, but criminally.

🔜 Coming Up Next

➡️ Next Blog: Section 139 – Destruction of Document to Save a Person from Punishment

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