Mischief

Section 327, rail, aircraft and vessels. Mischief to a rail, aircraft, decked vessel or vessel of twenty tons or upwards, intending or knowing it likely to destroy or render it unsafe: ten years and fine. By fire or explosive substance, or an attempt: imprisonment for life, or up to ten years, and fine.

Section 328. Intentionally running a vessel aground or ashore intending theft or dishonest misappropriation of property in it, or with intent that such theft or misappropriation be committed: ten years and fine.

The value bands are new, and they matter

The Penal Code graded mischief at fifty rupees. Section 427 of that Code applied where the damage amounted to fifty rupees or upwards, a figure fixed in 1860 and never revised, so almost every case fell into the higher band and the grading did nothing.

The Sanhita replaced it with three bands. Any property including Government or local authority property, one year. Twenty thousand rupees to under one lakh, two years. One lakh and upwards, five years.

Sub-section (3) is not a value band at all. It applies to loss or damage to any property "including the property of Government or Local Authority", so it operates as the general provision and names public property expressly.

That naming is the answer to a question about damage during public protest, since it puts damage to public property on the face of the section rather than leaving it to be inferred.

Distinctions that carry marks

A worked example

A group angry about a local decision sets fire to two buses belonging to the State transport undertaking and to a shop.

Which provisions? Section 326(f), mischief by fire or explosive substance causing damage to any property, seven years and fine, for the burning as such. Section 324(3) names damage to the property of Government or a local authority, and if the value of the buses exceeds one lakh rupees, section 324(5) gives five years for the mischief itself.

Change the target. Suppose the fire is set to a house in which a family lives. Section 326(g) applies, mischief by fire intending or knowing it likely to destroy a building ordinarily used as a human dwelling, punishable with imprisonment for life or ten years and fine.

A different case. Suppose a farmer, in a dispute about a boundary, blocks the channel that carries water to his neighbour's field. Section 326(a) applies, doing an act which causes or is known to be likely to cause a diminution of the supply of water for agricultural purposes, five years.

He also uproots the survey stone the revenue officer had fixed. Section 326(e) applies, destroying or moving a land-mark fixed by the authority of a public servant, one year.

Another. Suppose a man, to spite a creditor who is about to execute a decree, smashes his own furniture. That is mischief on illustration (d) to section 324(1), because he destroyed property intending to prevent the creditor from obtaining satisfaction and thereby to cause him damage. The fact that the furniture is his own is no answer.

And one more. Suppose someone removes a signal light at a level crossing. Section 326(d) applies, destroying or moving a sign or signal used for the navigation of rail, seven years, and if the act was done intending or knowing it likely to render a rail unsafe, section 327(1) applies with ten years.

What beginners get wrong

Thinking the property must belong to someone else. Illustrations (d), (e) and (g) show a person committing mischief in respect of his own property or property he co-owns.

Thinking physical damage is required. Any change in the property or in its situation which destroys or diminishes its value or utility is enough, which is why throwing a ring into a river is mischief.

Using the old fifty rupee threshold. The Sanhita replaced it with bands at twenty thousand rupees and one lakh.

Missing that section 326 has seven separate punishments. Its clauses run from one year to imprisonment for life.

Limits and criticism

The bands still leave most mischief at one year. Damage below twenty thousand rupees, which is the great majority of cases, falls under sub-section (3), and one year is a light maximum for the destruction of a person's means of living.

Section 326 is a museum of nineteenth century hazards alongside modern ones. Land-marks fixed by a public servant and bottomry loans sit beside rail signals and aircraft.

The value bands invite argument about valuation in cases where nothing is left to value, and the Sanhita gives no rule about how the loss is to be assessed.

Section 324(6) punishes preparation. Mischief committed after preparation for causing death, hurt or wrongful restraint carries five years, and preparation is not ordinarily punished.

Quick revision

Section 324(1). Intent to cause, or knowledge of likelihood of causing, wrongful loss or damage; and causing destruction of property, or a change in property or its situation destroying or diminishing its value or utility or affecting it injuriously.

Section 324(2) to (6). Six months; one year for any property including Government or local authority property; two years for twenty thousand to under one lakh; five years for one lakh and upwards; five years and fine after preparation for death, hurt or restraint.

Section 325. Killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless an animal: five years.

Section 326. Water supply, five years; roads and navigable waters, five years; inundation or drainage, five years; navigation signs, seven years; land-marks, one year; fire or explosive damaging property, seven years; fire or explosive destroying a place of worship, dwelling or place of custody, life or ten years.

Section 327. Rail, aircraft or vessel: ten years; by fire or explosive, or an attempt, life or ten years.

Section 328. Running a vessel aground intending theft or misappropriation: ten years and fine.

Test yourself

1. Can a person commit mischief in respect of his own property? Yes. Illustration (d) to section 324(1) is a man who destroys his own effects to prevent a creditor obtaining satisfaction of a debt, and illustration (g) is a co-owner who shoots a jointly owned horse.

2. Must there be physical damage? No. Any change in the property or in its situation which destroys or diminishes its value or utility, or affects it injuriously, is enough; throwing a ring into a river is the section's own example.

3. What are the value bands, and what replaced them? Twenty thousand rupees to under one lakh, two years; one lakh and upwards, five years. They replaced the Penal Code's threshold of fifty rupees, which had been fixed in 1860 and never revised.

4. Which clause of section 326 carries imprisonment for life? Clause (g), mischief by fire or any explosive substance intending or knowing it likely to destroy a building ordinarily used as a place of worship, a human dwelling, or a place for the custody of property.

5. What does section 324(3) add? It applies to mischief causing loss or damage to any property including the property of Government or a local authority, and carries one year, so damage to public property is named on the face of the section.