Offences By or Relating to Public Servants
Chapter Forty
Syllabus topic 1, "Offences under Indian Penal Code"
Pages 190 to 194 of 802
In one line
Eight sections punish a public servant who misuses his office and a private person who pretends to hold one, and two of them were written to make a police officer criminally liable for refusing to record a complaint.
In the wording a student can write in an exam: by section 198 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 a public servant who knowingly disobeys any direction of the law as to how he is to conduct himself, intending or knowing it likely that he will thereby cause injury to any person, is punished with simple imprisonment up to one year, or fine, or both.
Why the Sanhita punishes the officer
A public servant's wrong is not the same as a private person's. He acts with the authority of the State, so the harm he does carries the State's weight, and the person injured usually has no way to resist at the time.
Two of these sections do work the Penal Code did not. Section 199(c) makes the failure to record information about a listed offence a crime with a minimum sentence, and section 200 makes the head of a hospital criminally liable for refusing treatment to a victim.
The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 covers bribery. It is not in the Sanhita, and a question about a public servant taking money is answered under that Act.
The provisions themselves
Section 198. A public servant who knowingly disobeys any direction of the law as to the way he is to conduct himself as such, intending or knowing it likely that the disobedience will cause injury to any person: simple imprisonment up to one year, or fine, or both. Its illustration is an officer directed by law to take property in execution of a decree who knowingly disobeys, knowing that he is likely to cause injury to the decree-holder.
Section 199, three clauses. A public servant who (a) knowingly disobeys a direction of the law prohibiting him from requiring the attendance of any person at any place for the purpose of an investigation; or (b) knowingly disobeys, to the prejudice of any person, any other direction of the law regulating how he shall conduct such an investigation; or (c) fails to record any information given to him under section 173(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 in relation to a cognizable offence punishable under sections 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 74, 76, 77, 79, 124, 143 or 144: rigorous imprisonment of not less than six months extending to two years, and fine.
Section 200, non-treatment of a victim. A person in charge of a hospital, public or private, run by the Central Government, a State Government, a local body or any other person, who contravenes section 397 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023: up to one year, or fine, or both.
Offences By or Relating to Public Servants
Section 201. A public servant charged with the preparation or translation of a document or electronic record who frames, prepares or translates it in a manner he knows or believes to be incorrect, intending or knowing it likely to cause injury: up to three years, or fine, or both.
Section 202. A public servant legally bound not to engage in trade who engages in trade: simple imprisonment up to one year, or fine, or both, or with community service.
Section 203. A public servant legally bound not to purchase or bid for certain property who purchases or bids for it, in his own name, in another's, jointly or in shares: simple imprisonment up to two years, or fine, or both, and the property, if purchased, shall be confiscated.
Section 204. Personating a public servant.
Section 205. Wearing the garb or carrying a token used by a public servant with fraudulent intent.
Section 199(c) is the provision to know
It answers a very old complaint. A person who tries to report a serious offence and is turned away at the police station had no criminal remedy against the officer; the failure was a matter of departmental discipline.
The section makes it an offence with a minimum sentence. Six months rigorous imprisonment is the floor, which removes the possibility of a fine alone.
It is confined to a list. The listed offences are the sexual offences in sections 64 to 71 and 74 to 79, the acid offence in section 124, and trafficking and the exploitation of a trafficked person in sections 143 and 144. A failure to record information about a theft or a robbery is not within the clause.
It depends on a section of the other Sanhita. Section 173(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 is the provision under which information about a cognizable offence is given to an officer in charge of a police station, so section 199(c) cannot be read without it.
Section 200 is new in a different way
It binds a person who is not a public servant at all. The section reaches anyone in charge of a hospital, public or private, whoever runs it.
It is entirely dependent on the other Sanhita. Section 397 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 is what imposes the duty; section 200 supplies the punishment for contravening it.
Its placement is odd. A hospital administrator is not a public servant, and the section sits in a Chapter headed "Of offences by or relating to public servants", which is the best that could be done once the duty was put in the procedure code.
Offences By or Relating to Public Servants
Distinctions that carry marks
| Section 198 | Section 199 | |
|---|---|---|
| The disobedience | Any direction of the law as to how the officer conducts himself | Directions about investigation, and the recording of information about listed offences |
| Injury required | Yes, intended or known to be likely | Prejudice is required only for clause (b); clauses (a) and (c) need none |
| Minimum sentence | None | Six months rigorous imprisonment |
| Maximum | One year simple imprisonment, or fine, or both | Two years and fine |
| Section 202 | Section 203 | |
|---|---|---|
| The prohibited act | Engaging in trade when legally bound not to | Purchasing or bidding for property when legally bound not to |
| Punishment | One year simple, or fine, or both, or community service | Two years simple, or fine, or both |
| Additional consequence | None | Confiscation of the property purchased |
A worked example
A woman goes to a police station in Thane to report a sexual assault. The officer in charge tells her the matter is a family dispute and refuses to write anything down.
Which provision? Section 199(c). The offence alleged is punishable under one of the listed sections, information was given under section 173(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and the officer failed to record it. The punishment is rigorous imprisonment of not less than six months extending to two years, and fine.
Does it matter that she suffered no further injury? No. Clause (c) requires no prejudice, unlike clause (b).
Change the offence reported. Suppose she reported the theft of a motorcycle and was turned away. Section 199(c) does not apply, because theft is not in the list. Section 198 might, but it requires proof that the officer intended or knew he was likely to cause injury, which is a heavier burden.
She is taken to a private hospital which refuses to treat her. Section 200 applies to the person in charge of the hospital, whether the hospital is public or private, for contravening section 397 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita: up to one year, or fine, or both.
A different case. Suppose a revenue officer, required to prepare a record of rights, deliberately enters the wrong name so that a claimant loses his land. Section 201 applies: a public servant charged with the preparation of a document who frames it in a manner he knows to be incorrect, intending or knowing it likely to cause injury, up to three years.
Another. Suppose a municipal officer, forbidden by his service rules to bid at auctions of municipal property, bids through his brother-in-law and succeeds. Section 203 applies, and the section adds that the property, if purchased, shall be confiscated, which is the real sanction.
Offences By or Relating to Public Servants
What beginners get wrong
Thinking this Chapter covers bribery. It does not. Corruption by a public servant is dealt with by the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Reading section 199(c) as covering every offence. It is confined to the sections it names, which are the sexual offences, the acid offence and the trafficking offences.
Thinking section 200 applies only to Government hospitals. It applies to a hospital run by the Central Government, a State Government, a local body "or any other person".
Missing the confiscation in section 203. It is not a punishment the court may choose; the section says the property shall be confiscated.
Limits and criticism
The punishments for a public servant's disobedience are light. One year of simple imprisonment under section 198 for knowingly disobeying the law in order to injure somebody is a small figure for an abuse of office.
Section 199(c)'s list is hard to justify. A refusal to record information about a murder or a dacoity is outside it, and the choice of listed offences appears to have followed public controversy rather than any principle about which failures matter most.
Section 200 punishes a duty defined elsewhere. A person reading the Sanhita alone cannot know what section 397 of the other Sanhita requires, and a penal provision that cannot be understood from its own text is a poor one.
Community service in section 202 is anomalous. It is offered for a public servant unlawfully engaging in trade but not for any other offence in this Chapter, and no reason for the selection appears.
Quick revision
Section 198. Public servant knowingly disobeying a direction of law, intending or knowing injury is likely: one year simple, or fine, or both.
Section 199. Three clauses: prohibited summons for investigation; disobeying investigation rules to a person's prejudice; failing to record information under section 173(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita about offences under sections 64 to 71, 74 to 79, 124, 143 and 144. Six months to two years rigorous imprisonment, and fine.
Section 200. Person in charge of any hospital contravening section 397 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita: one year, or fine, or both.
Section 201. Framing an incorrect document or electronic record: three years, or fine, or both.
Section 202. Unlawfully engaging in trade: one year simple, or fine, or both, or community service.
Section 203. Unlawfully buying or bidding for property: two years simple, or fine, or both, and confiscation.
Sections 204 and 205. Personating a public servant; wearing his garb or carrying his token with fraudulent intent.
Not here. Bribery, which is under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Test yourself
1. What does section 199(c) punish, and what is the minimum sentence? A public servant's failure to record information given under section 173(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 in relation to a cognizable offence punishable under the listed sections. The minimum is six months rigorous imprisonment, and the maximum two years with fine.
Offences By or Relating to Public Servants
2. Which offences are in that list? Sections 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 74, 76, 77, 79, 124, 143 and 144, which are the sexual offences, the acid offence, and trafficking and the exploitation of a trafficked person.
3. Who can commit the offence in section 200? Any person in charge of a hospital, public or private, whether run by the Central Government, a State Government, a local body or any other person, who contravenes section 397 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.
4. What additional consequence follows a conviction under section 203? The property, if purchased, shall be confiscated.
5. Is bribery by a public servant an offence under this Chapter? No. It is dealt with by the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which is a separate statute.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.