Legal Provisions of Section 209 of Indian Penal Code, 1860.
Dishonestly making false claim in Court:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
This section penalises making of a false claim in court fraudulently, dishonestly or with a specified intention. It says that whoever makes in a court of justice any claim which he knows to be false either fraudulently, or dishonestly, or with the intention to injure or annoy any person, shall be punished with simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term extending up to two years, and shall also to liable to fine.
The section prescribes that the claim which the accused makes in a court of justice must be false, and he must know that it is false. The prosecution must also establish that the claim is made either fraudulently, or dishonestly, or with the intention of injuring or annoying any person. Section 25 of the Code defines ‘fraudulently’ as meaning intention to defraud, while ‘dishonestly’, according to section 24 of the Code, is intention to cause wrongful gain or wrongful loss to a person.
Image Source: 185.26.182.219
The section does not require that liability will exist only after a claim is decided. Therefore, the offence under this section is complete as soon as a claim with the stated ingredients is filed in a court of justice. The section does not say that the court in which the false claim is instituted must have jurisdiction to try the suit.
The offence under this section is non-cognizable, bailable and non-compoundable, and is triable by metropolitan magistrate or magistrate of the first class.