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Section
191 of Indian Penal Code
provides
"Whoever being legally bound by an oath or by an express
provision of law to state the truth, or being bound by law
to make a declaration upon any subject, makes any statement
which is false, and which he either knows or believes to
be false or does not believe to be true, is said to give
false evidence".
Explanation:
1. A statement is within the meaning of this section
whether it is made verbally or otherwise.
2. A false statement as to the belief of the person
attesting is within the meaning of this section, and a person
may be guilty of giving false evidence by stating that he
believes a thing, which he does not believe, as well as
by stating that he knows a thing which he does not know.
For
example,
1. A, being bound by an oath to state the truth,
states that he knows that Z was at a particular place on
a particular day, not knowing anything upon the subject.
A gives false evidence whether Z was at that place on the
day named or not.
2. The petitioner who has made false statement on
oath is also liable for the prosecution.
3. The making of a false affidavit is giving false
evidence within this section. The making of a false affidavit
would be an offence irrespective of the fact that it was
not necessary for the deponent who had made the affidavit
to make it.
Ingredients
of this section:
The accused was bound legally by an oath or by an express
provision of law to state the truth or make a declaration
upon any subject.
He made such a statement or declaration.
He made it intentionally.
He knew or believed it to be false or did not believe it
to be true.
It must be made in a judicial proceeding at any stage.
This
section defines what amounts to giving of false evidence.
In order to attract this section, it is sufficient if the
person making the statement makes it advisedly, knowing
it to be false, and with the intention of deceiving the
Court, and of letting it be supposed that what he states,
is true. The above-mentioned ingredients must be satisfied.
If
a person is not bound by an express provision of law to
state the truth he cannot be charged with making a false
statement.
The offence is a bailable offence and is triable by a Magistrate
of First Class.
Punishment:
Imprisonment for 7 years and fine.
In
next column lets know about fabricating false evidence.
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