Legal Provisions of Section 507 of Indian Penal Code, 1860.
Criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication:
Criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication has been punished under this section. The section states that whoever commits the offence of criminal intimidation either by an anonymous communication, or having taken precaution to conceal the name or abode of the person from whom the threat comes, shall be punished with simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term extending up to two years in addition to the punishment provided for by section 506 of the Code.
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ADVERTISEMENTS:
The section contemplates commission of criminal intimidation by the offender. He must commit criminal intimidation if either by an anonymous communication or having taken precaution to conceal the name or abode of the person who gives the threat. It is not necessary that both name and abode must be concealed because the word ‘or’ and not ‘and’ has been used between the words ‘name’ and ‘abode’.
The section clearly states that the punishment under this section will be in addition to whatever punishment has been imposed under section 506 of the Code which is the normal penal section for the offence of criminal intimidation, and the cumulative penalty would mean a higher penalty. In other words, section 507 is an aggravated form of criminal intimidation. Obtaining money under a threat of divine punishment is not punishable as the offender cannot himself inflict the threatened punishment nor can he cause it to be inflicted.1
The offence under this section is non-cognizable, bailable and non-compoundable, and is triable by magistrate of the first class.