Legal Provisions of Section 451 of Indian Penal Code, 1860.
House-trespass in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment:
House-trespass in order to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment has been made punishable under this section. The section states that whoever commits house-trespass in order to the committing of any offence punishable with imprisonment, shall be punished with simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term extending up to two years, and shall also be liable to fine; and if the intention of the offender is to commit the offence of theft, the term of imprisonment may be extended to seven years.
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ADVERTISEMENTS:
This section is similar to the preceding two sections and is the least severe of the three. In the last part of the section dealing with cases where intention of the offender is to commit theft, the punishment has been made more severe than other cases covered by this section.
Where a landlord went to the portion occupied by the tenant with the intention of realising the arrears of rent which he demanded from him, this section was held to be not attracted. The Allahabad High Court has held that the latter part of the section is applicable where there exists not only an intention to commit theft but that actual theft must have been committed. With respect, this does not seem to be correct.
The Rajasthan High Court has held that where an accused entered the victim’s house when she was alone there and misbehaved and made her lie on a cot, section 354 applies as there was no preparation to commit rape or undressing by him, and since the trespass was for an offence under section 354, he was guilty under section 451 and not under section 452 of the Code.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The offence under this section is cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable, and is triable by any magistrate if theft is committed. But if any other offence punishable with imprisonment is committed then it is cognizable, bailable and compoundable when permitted by the court trying the case, and is triable by any magistrate.