Legal Provisions of Section 484 of Indian Penal Code, 1860.
Counterfeiting a mark used by a public servant:
This section penalises counterfeiting a mark used by a public servant. It states that whoever counterfeits either any property mark used by a public servant, or any mark used by a public servant to denote that any property has been manufactured by a particular person or at a particular time or particular place, or that property is of a particular quality or has passed through a particular office, or that it is entitled to any exception, or uses as genuine any such mark with the knowledge that the same is counterfeit, shall be punished with simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term extending up to three years, and shall also be liable to fine.
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ADVERTISEMENTS:
The section requires that the offender must counterfeit either any property mark used by a public servant, or any mark used by a public servant to denote that the property has been manufactured by either a particular person or at a particular time or place, or the property is of a particular quality or has passed through a particular office, or that it is entitled to any exemption. Or the offender must use any such mark as genuine with the knowledge that it is counterfeit. It has been held1 that using an Agmark seal does not make one guilty under this section because it is a label prescribed by the Central Government and is not a mark used by a public servant.
The offence under this section is non-cognizable, bailable and non-compoundable, and is triable by magistrate of the first class.