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Criminal Appeal No. 703 of 1985, decided on 8th February,1986.
‑‑‑S. 497‑‑Penal Code (XLV of 1860), Ss. 463 a 466‑‑Accused a Patwari, allegedly prepared wrong/false Khasra Girdawari‑‑Preparation of wrong/ false Khasra Girdawari by accused, held, would not amount to forgery within meaning of S.463, P.P.C. and punishable under S.466, P.P.C.‑ Appeal accepted' in circumstances.
Shaukat Ali for Appellant.
Sher Ali for the State.
Date of hearing: 8th February, 1986.
This Criminal Appeal arises from the judgment of learned Special Judge, Anti‑Corruption, Sagodha, whereby he on 30‑11‑1985 convicted Munshi Muhammad Ishaque appellant under section 466, P.P.C. and sentenced him to imprisonment till rising of the Court and a fine of Rs.5,000 or in default thereof S.I for 5 months.
2. The appellant was a Patwari. The charge against him was that he while working as a Revenue Patwari at Chak No. 213/ R. B. Faisalabad in the month of May, 1982, issued a copy of Khasra Girdawari on 3‑5‑1982 showing Jalal. Din tenant in possession and thereafter he reversed those entries in favour of the co‑accused Ali Muhammad with his abetment after conspiring with him and issued a copy in favour of the co‑accused on 12‑5‑1982 and as such committed an offence punishable under section 466, P.P.C.
3. Since after hearing the learned counsel for the parties I feel inclined to set aside the conviction and sentence of the appellant on the ground that the allegations accepted at its face value, the act of the accused was not punishable under section 466, P.P.C. I need not enter into the merits of the case. The offence of forgery has been defined in sections 463 and 464, P.P.C. The relevant provisions of law may be reproduced advantageously:‑
Section 463.
"Whoever makes any false document or part of document, with intent to cause damage or injury, to the public or to any person or to support any claim or title, or to cause any person to part with property, or to enter into any express or implied contract, with intent to commit fraud or that fraud may be committed, commits forgery.
Section 464.
Whoever dishonestly or fraudulently makes, signs, seals or executes a document or part of a document, or makes any mark denoting the execution of a document, with the intention of causing it to be believed that such document or part of a document was made, signed, sealed or executed by or by the authority of a person by whom or by whose authority he knows that it was not made, signed, sealed or executed, or at a time at which he knows that it was not made, signed, sealed or executed; or
Secondly;
Who, without lawful authority, dishonestly or fraudulently, by cancellation or otherwise, alters a document in any material part thereof, after it has been made or executed either by himself or by any other person, whether such person be living or dead at the time of such alteration; or
Thirdly;
Who dishonestly or fraudulently 'causes any person to sign, seal, execute or alter a document, knowing that such person by reason of unsoundness of mind or intoxication cannot, or that by reason of deception practised upon him, he does not know the contents of the document or the nature of the alteration.
Section 466.
Whoever forges a document, purporting to be a record or proceeding of or in a Court of Justice, or a register of birth, baptism, marriage or burial, or a register kept by a public servant as such, or a certificate or document purporting to be made by a public servant in his official capacity, or an authority to institute or defend a suit, or to take any proceeding therein, or to confess judgment, or a power of attorney, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine."
From the examination of the above provisions of law, it is very much obvious that preparation of a wrong/false Khasra Girdawari by the appellant, who was the then Patwari Halqa, does not amount to forgery within the meaning of section 463 and punishable under section 466, P.P.C. It was at the worst a case of preparation of a wrong document which, is not punishable under section 466, P.P.C.
4. For what has been found above, the appeal is accepted and the appellant is acquitted of the charge.
S. A. Appeal accepted.
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