Thinking of Impersonating a Public Servant- Be Ready to Go to Jail

Impersonating a public servant is dangerous and can land you up in jail. Here is one such incident for you.

“Acting as a police officer in a play is completely fine, but impersonating a police officer or a public servant in real life can prove very costly.” This is exactly what happened to auto mechanic Akshay kumar who donned the role of a state information officer to evade payment of toll at the toll plaza.

An auto mechanic by profession posed as a Punjab state information officer in order to avoid paying toll was sentenced to 3 year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 6300/-
Sentenced under Section 170 ( personating a public servant ) coupled with charges under:

Section 171 (wearing garb or carrying token used by public servant with fraudulent intent )
Section 419 ( cheating by impersonation ) Section 465 ( Forgery )
Section 467 ( forgery of valuable security )

Section 473 ( making or possession of counterfeit seal ) and

Section 471 ( using as genuine a forged document ) of the Indian Penal Code.

The mechanic’s friend who made the fake id cards and documents to prove the post was also booked under Sections 465, 467 and 473 for forgery and making of counterfeit seal and was subsequently sentenced to 2 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2000/-

Section 170 of the Indian Penal code deals with a non-public officer impersonating a public officer, the section states that
“Personating a public servant.—
Whoever pretends to hold any particular office as a public servant, knowing that he does not hold such office or falsely personates any other person holding such office, and in such assumed character does or attempts to do any act under colour of such office, shall be punished with im­prisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.”

when an individual impersonates a public officer knowing that he is falsely doing so
he is sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment or fine or both imprisonment coupled with fine.

Initially in cases regarding impersonation of a public officer, the defence focused on the line “ does or attempts to do any act under colour of such office “ to help the accused escape punishment. As this line implied that –
If an individual impersonated a Sales Tax officer then his/her act must be relating to the powers or duties enforced by a Sales tax officer, otherwise it would not ,constitute an offence.

This practice was overruled in the judgement of PARTAP SINGH V STATE OF HARYANA , where it was held that
“It is not necessary that the act done should be such an act, as might legally be done by the public servant personated. The expression “ under colour of such office” need not have direct proximity with the duties of the office of the person impersonated . It is enough that a person pretends to tell others as to what he is, when he in fact is not so.
In the Case of PARTAP SINGH V STATE OF HARYANA the petitioner identified persons in different sale deeds as Lambardar and attested certain sureties. When in fact he was not so. He obviously acted under the colour of the office as Lambardar”

The Application of Section 170 has further expanded in recent times to any person or organisation impersonating a public servant or public office ,
that is depicting to the common man that the person is an authorised authority of the government when it clearly is not so.

In the recent case of V Ganapathi Subramanian v Inspector of Police (2015)
human rights organisations that were showcased as state human rights organisation or National human rights commission organisation and acting like kangaroo courts and taking human rights violations into their own hands were booked under Section 170 of the IPC by the police, and anticipatory bail in such cases were also rejected by the courts.

This particular story of arrest also throws light on the punishment awaiting those that make fake identifications cards. The auto mechanic’s accomplice in making
fake id’s was sent to 2 years imprisonment showing the serious nature of the offence.

The lesson for the common citizen is – Not to impersonate or put on garb of a public servant or make fake documents to prove positions of power in order to get special treatment. The laws guarantee and protects rights of every individual irrespective of their status, trying to break the law can therefore be very costly, and if you don’t have a competent lawyer to guide you and advise, in that case it could even be lethal !

You may also contact Best/Top/Expert Criminal Lawyers taking cases of impersonation, forgery, 420 cheating criminal cases in Tricity i.e. Chandigarh Panchkula Mohali for your criminal case.

For more info, please dial 99888-17966.