You can go to Jail for Cheating

Headline: MC exam for fireman post: Sonepat man gets 3-year jail for cheating.

In layman’s language, cheating can be described as a dishonest or unfair act done to gain advantage over the other. Indian Penal Code deals with this offence under Section 415 to 420. Cheating is defined under Section 415 which reads as follows-“whoever by deceiving any person, fraudulently or dishonestly induces the person so deceived to deliver any property to any person, or to consent that any person shall retain any property, or intentionally induces the person so deceived to do or omit to do anything  which he would not do omit if he were not so deceived, and which act or omission causes or is likely to cause damage or harm to that person in body, mind, reputation or property, is said to “cheat”.”

Section 416 defines cheating by personation. A person is said to “cheat by personation” if he cheats by pretending to be some other person, or by knowingly substituting one person for another, or representing that he or any other person is a person other than he or such other person really is. This offence is committed whether the person personated is real or imaginary.

In a case where A sat in the examination in the name of B and gave the examination, it is said to be a case of ‘cheating by personation’. It can have multiple legal repercussions. In such cases, the person who cheats another by deceiving himself to be someone else is punished under Section 419 of IPC. The punishment under this Section is jail term which may extend to three years along with a fine. In cases of false representation in the examination, Section 120-B of IPC shall also be invoked which talks about the punishment of criminal conspiracy. Criminal Conspiracy, according to Section 120-A of IPC, is an agreement where two or more persons agree to commit an offence punishable with death, imprisonment of life, or imprisonment of either description for a term of two years or upwards, or to cause such an offence to be committed. People involved in such criminal conspiracy may also be booked under Section 420 that pertains to cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.

Furthermore,such cases of cheating by personation in examination also involves producing fake documents to deceive the authority, which amounts to the offence of ‘forgery’. Consequently, Sections 465, 467, 468 and 471 are also taken care of as they pertain to ‘forgery’. Here, Section 465 talks about the punishment of forgery which is imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or fine, or both. S. 467 talks about forgery of valuable security and its respective punishment. S. 468 covers the offence of forgery for purpose of cheating in which the offender shall be liable to fine as well as imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years. At last, S. 471 reads about using a forged document or electronic record as genuine.

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