REG 034 Offences and Penalties Sections 81 to 84 — Law of Registration Notes for Judiciary

Offences and Penalties under Sections 81 to 84 of the Registration Act, 1908: Incorrect Endorsement or Registration by an Officer, False Statement and False Personation, Who May Prosecute, and Registering Officers as Public Servants

A register that can be corrupted is worse than no register, because people rely on it. Sections 81 to 84 therefore attach criminal liability to the two ways the record can be falsified. Section 81 punishes the officer who endorses, copies, translates or registers incorrectly, intending to cause injury. Section 82 punishes anyone who makes a false statement, delivers a false copy or translation, falsely personates another, or abets any of these. Both carry imprisonment up to seven years, or fine, or both. Section 83 says who may prosecute, and Section 84 makes registering officers public servants.

The two offence-creating sections compared, and the provisions on prosecution and status

1. Offences by the Officer: Section 81

Section 81, Registration Act, 1908

Every registering officer appointed under this Act and every person employed in his office for the purposes of this Act, who, being charged with the endorsing, copying, translating or registering of any document presented or deposited under its provisions, endorses, copies, translates or registers such document in a manner which he knows or believes to be incorrect, intending thereby to cause or knowing it to be likely that he may thereby cause, injury, as defined in the Indian Penal Code, to any person, shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or with fine, or with both.

Who is covered. Not only the Registrar and Sub-Registrar, but every person employed in the office for the purposes of the Act, such as a copyist or translator.
The act must be an incorrect endorsement, copy, translation or registration.
The mental element is double: he must know or believe the act to be incorrect, and intend to cause injury or know it likely.
Injury takes the meaning it has in the general penal law: harm illegally caused to a person in body, mind, reputation or property.
Mere carelessness is not enough. An error made honestly, however serious, is a matter for departmental action under Section 68, not prosecution.

2. Offences by Anyone: Section 82

Section 82, Registration Act, 1908, in substance

Whoever: (a) intentionally makes any false statement, whether on oath or not, and whether it has been recorded or not, before any officer acting in execution of this Act, in any proceeding or enquiry under this Act; or (b) intentionally delivers to a registering officer a false copy or translation of a document, or of a map or plan; or (c) falsely personates another, and in such assumed character presents any document, or makes any admission or statement, or causes any summons or commission to be issued; or (d) abets anything made punishable by this Act,

shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or with fine, or with both.

1. False statement. It need not be on oath, and need not have been recorded. The enquiries under Sections 34, 35 and 74 are the usual occasions.

2. False copy or translation. This protects Sections 19, 21(4) and 62, where the office acts on a copy or translation supplied by the party.

3. False personation. The gravest in practice: a person who impersonates the owner and executes and presents a deed. Section 32A, requiring photographs and fingerprints, exists to make this harder and easier to prove.

4. Abetment is expressly included, which reaches the tout or the accomplice who arranges the impersonation without appearing himself.

3. Prosecution and Status: Sections 83 and 84

Section 83(1). A prosecution for any offence under this Act coming to the knowledge of a registering officer in his official capacity may be commenced by or with the permission of the Inspector General, the Registrar or the Sub-Registrar in whose territories, district or sub-district the offence was committed.
Section 83(2). Offences punishable under this Act shall be triable by any Court or officer exercising powers not less than those of a Magistrate of the second class.
Section 84(1). Every registering officer appointed under this Act shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the Indian Penal Code.
Section 84(2). Every person shall be legally bound to furnish information to such registering officer when required by him.
Section 84(3). In Section 228 of the Indian Penal Code, the words “judicial proceeding” shall be deemed to include any proceeding under this Act, so that intentional insult or interruption to a registering officer is punishable.

⚠ The general criminal law has been recodified

Sections 81 and 84 refer to the Indian Penal Code, which has been replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024, with the Code of Criminal Procedure replaced by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. Registration fraud is ordinarily prosecuted under the general law of forgery, using a forged document as genuine, cheating and criminal conspiracy, read with Sections 81 and 82 of this Act. The offences themselves are substantially carried forward, but the section numbers have changed, and references in the 1908 Act to the Penal Code now take effect through the general saving and repeal provisions. The corresponding provisions and numbering under the new Sanhitas should be verified before they are cited.

4. Criminal Liability and Civil Invalidity

	The criminal consequence	The civil consequence
A deed executed by an impersonator	An offence under Section 82(c), and forgery and cheating under the general law	The deed conveys nothing: the true owner executed nothing, and registration does not validate it
An incorrect endorsement by the officer	An offence under Section 81 if the mental element is made out	The endorsement loses the presumption under Section 60(2), and the facts must be proved otherwise
A false statement in the enquiry	An offence under Section 82(a)	The registration may stand until set aside by a civil court
Who acts	The State, on a prosecution under Section 83	The aggrieved person, by a suit for cancellation or declaration

The two run in parallel and neither decides the other. A conviction under Section 82 does not by itself cancel the registration, because no authority under the Act can do that: as Satya Pal Anand v. State of Madhya Pradesh, (2016) 10 SCC 767 holds, the aggrieved person must go to a civil court to have the instrument cancelled or annulled. Equally, a civil decree setting aside a deed does not convict anyone.

5. The Position Stated Shortly

1. Section 81: an officer or person employed in the office who endorses, copies, translates or registers incorrectly, knowing it incorrect and intending injury, is punishable with imprisonment up to seven years, or fine, or both.

2. Section 82: anyone who intentionally makes a false statement, delivers a false copy or translation, falsely personates another, or abets, is punishable in the same terms.

3. Section 83: prosecution may be commenced by or with the permission of the Inspector General, Registrar or Sub-Registrar, and the offences are triable by a Magistrate of the second class or above.

4. Section 84: registering officers are public servants, every person is bound to furnish them information, and proceedings under the Act count as judicial proceedings for Section 228 of the Penal Code.

5. Registration fraud is also prosecuted under the general law of forgery and cheating, now recodified in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

6. Criminal liability and civil invalidity run in parallel: a conviction does not cancel the registration, and only a civil court can set the instrument aside.