Legal provisions regarding Dishonest or fraudulent removal or concealment of property under section 424 of Indian Penal Code, 1860.
Dishonest or fraudulent removal or concealment of property:
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Offence under Section 424 is presumably intended to provide for a case not otherwise provided for. For, concealment or removal of property of a certain kind is punishable under Section 421, while the release of a demand may amount to a prevention of a demand due to a person from being made available for payment to another within the meaning of Section 422 of the Code.
Section 424 is obviously restricted only to a fraudulent concealment or removal of property and not to its wanton destruction, which may be punished as mischief, but which is not punishable under Section 424.
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Section 424 is wide enough to include any case of fraudulent concealment of property whether the fraud be practised on creditors or partners so Section 424 must be strictly construed, for otherwise it is likely to encroach upon a number of cases which are fit subjects for civil adjudication. The necessary condition for the application of Section 424 is that the removal should have been made dishonestly and fraudulently.
The mere fact that the accused removed the property in broad day light would not necessarily make the removal ‘honest’. In Ch. Tarasingh v. Emperor [AIR 1938 All 449] the applicant removed crop during day time. It was held that if he knew that the crop was attached or even was going to be attached in execution of a decree and his object was to prevent the decree- holder from obtaining his money, his action was ‘dishonest’ because it was intended to cause wrongful loss to the decree- holder.
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The term ‘Removal’ in Section 424 is ejusdem generis with concealment which precedes it. Section 424 is designed to meet a special class of cases and has no application to a case where property is openly seized by a person in the exercise of an alleged right.
The points requiring proof are:
1) That the accused –
a) Concealed or removed any property, or
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b) Assisted in its concealment or removal, or
c) Released any demand or claim to which he was entitled.
2) He did so dishonestly or fraudulently.
The offence under Section 424 is non-cognizable, but warrant should, ordinarily, issue in the first instance. It is bailable and is compoundable with the permission of the Court. It is triable by any Magistrate.