Legal Provisions of Section 27 of Indian Penal Code, 1860.
Property in possession of wife, clerk or servant:
The word ‘possession’ of property within the meaning of this Code has been given a wider connotation by this section. This provision explicitly states that besides self-possession of property, possession of property by one’s wife, clerk or servant will be treated to be his own possession for the purposes of the Code provided they possess the property on account of him. Naturally, if a wife, clerk or servant possesses a separate property, the same cannot be held to be the property of anyone else as it is not on account of the other person.
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ADVERTISEMENTS:
The explanation makes it clear that even if the capacity of a clerk or servant is temporary or is for a particular occasion, the property held by him on account of his master would be treated to be in the possession of the master. According to the Madras High Court, there must be conscious and intelligent possession and not simply a physical presence of the person near the property.
The Rajasthan High Court has held, that the mere fact that the wife of the accused had in her possession illicit liquor and an unlicensed pistol did not prove that she was in possession of those things on account of her husband, or that he must be held to be in conscious possession of these things. The decision in the Banwari Lal’s case, that a permanent mistress may be regarded as wife, with respect, is not in consonance with the well established principle of statutory construction that penal statutes must be strictly construed. Consequently, the word ‘wife’ used in this section means wife and nothing else.