Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 • Chapter X

Section 181 BNS: Making or Possessing Instruments or Materials for Counterfeiting Coin, Government Stamp, Currency-Notes or Bank-Notes

Section 181 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 addresses machinery, dies, instruments and materials connected with forging or counterfeiting coin, Government revenue stamps, currency-notes or bank-notes. The provision covers not only making such items but also specified dealings in, and possession of, them where the required purpose, knowledge or reason to believe is present.

Provision Section 181, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
Chapter Chapter X: Offences relating to coin, currency-notes, bank-notes and Government stamps
Maximum punishment Imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description up to ten years, and fine
Effective date of BNS 1 July 2024, subject to the notified exception concerning section 106(2)

Text of Section 181 BNS

181. Making or possessing instruments or materials for forging or counterfeiting coin, Government stamp, currency-notes or bank-notes.

Whoever makes or mends, or performs any part of the process of making or mending, or buys or sells or disposes of, or has in his possession, any machinery, die, or instrument or material for the purpose of being used, or knowing or having reason to believe that it is intended to be used, for forging or counterfeiting any coin, stamp issued by Government for the purpose of revenue, currency-note or bank-note, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

What Section 181 Covers

The section focuses on equipment or material intended for the process of forgery or counterfeiting. The prohibited conduct expressly includes making, mending, taking part in making or mending, buying, selling, disposing of, or possessing the machinery, die, instrument or material concerned.

Liability under the section is linked to the purpose for which the item is to be used, or to the accused having knowledge or reason to believe that it is intended to be used, for forging or counterfeiting a coin, a Government revenue stamp, a currency-note or a bank-note.

Essential Ingredients of Section 181 BNS

  1. There must be machinery, a die, an instrument or material of the kind contemplated by the provision.
  2. The accused must engage in one or more of the acts expressly stated in the section: making, mending, participating in making or mending, buying, selling, disposing of, or possessing the item.
  3. The item must be for use in forging or counterfeiting coin, a Government revenue stamp, currency-note or bank-note; alternatively, the accused must know or have reason to believe that it is intended for that use.
  4. The prosecution must establish the statutory mental element connected with the intended counterfeiting use; mere physical custody, without the required statutory purpose, knowledge or reason to believe, does not by itself reproduce all the elements stated in Section 181.

Relevant Definitions and Explanations

The explanations attached to Section 178 apply for the purposes of Chapter X and are relevant while reading Section 181. They explain, among other things, the expressions used for bank-notes and coin and clarify what amounts to counterfeiting a Government stamp or coin.

Bank-note: For Chapter X, the expression covers a promissory note or engagement for payment of money to bearer on demand issued by a person carrying on banking business, or issued by or under the authority of a State or Sovereign Power, and intended to be used as equivalent to, or as a substitute for, money.

Coin: The expression takes its meaning from section 2 of the Coinage Act, 2011 and also includes metal used for the time being as money that is stamped and issued by or under the authority of a State or Sovereign Power and intended to be so used.

Counterfeiting Government stamp: The Chapter treats causing a genuine stamp of one denomination to appear like a genuine stamp of a different denomination as counterfeiting a Government stamp.

Counterfeiting coin: The Chapter includes conduct intended, or known to be likely, to practise deception by making a genuine coin appear to be a different coin, and also includes diminishing its weight or altering its composition or appearance.

Punishment Under Section 181

The prescribed punishment is imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and the offender is also liable to fine. The provision therefore treats possession or dealing in counterfeiting equipment or materials, when accompanied by the required statutory purpose or knowledge, as a serious offence.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023: Main BNS index and section guide Section 182: Making or using documents resembling currency-notes or bank-notes Section 183: Effacing writing from substance bearing Government stamp, or removing a used stamp with intent to cause loss to Government Section 184: Using Government stamp known to have been before used Section 185: Erasure of mark denoting that stamp has been used Section 186: Prohibition of fictitious stamps Section 187: Person employed in mint causing coin to be of different weight or composition from that fixed by law Section 188: Unlawfully taking coining instrument from mint

BNS Commencement

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 is Act No. 45 of 2023. The Central Government appointed 1 July 2024 as the date on which the provisions of the Sanhita came into force, except the provision of section 106(2), in accordance with the commencement notification.

Legal note: This page reproduces and explains the statutory provision for general legal information. Application of Section 181 to a particular case depends on the facts, evidence, procedural law and judicial interpretation applicable to that case.