BNS Section 183

Section 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, deals with the recording of confessions and statements by a Magistrate.
Whoever, fraudulently or with intent to cause loss to the Government, removes or effaces from any substance, bearing any stamp issued by Government for the purpose of revenue, any writing or document for which such stamp has been used, or removes from any writing or document a stamp which has been used for such writing or document, in order that such stamp may be used for a different writing or document, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

Key Points:
Offense of Removing or Effacing Government Stamps:
This section addresses acts where a person fraudulently or with the intent to cause loss to the Government:
Removes or effaces writing from any material bearing a Government revenue stamp.
Removes the stamp itself from a document or writing for which it has already been used, intending to reuse the stamp for a different document or writing.

Purpose of the Section:
The law aims to protect Government revenue by preventing fraudulent practices related to the reuse of revenue stamps. Revenue stamps are typically used on documents like contracts, legal agreements, or bills to certify that the required taxes or fees have been paid.

Intent to Cause Loss to the Government:
The offender must have the intent to defraud the Government or cause a loss by avoiding the payment of revenue through the reuse of stamps.
By reusing or tampering with stamps, the Government is deprived of the revenue that should have been collected for each new document or writing that requires a stamp.

Types of Actions Considered Illegal:
Removing writing from any material that bears a Government stamp to make it look unused.
Effacing or erasing information from a document with a Government stamp, allowing the stamp to be used again fraudulently.
Removing a stamp from one document and reapplying it to another document without proper authorization.

Punishment:
The penalty for committing these acts can be imprisonment of either description (simple or rigorous) for a term that may extend up to three years, or a fine, or both.
The severity of the punishment reflects the seriousness of the offense, as it involves fraud against the Government and depriving it of rightful revenue.

Examples of Offenses:
A person removes a stamp from a legal document after using it and tries to reapply it to a new document without paying for a new stamp.
Effacing the writing on a stamped document to make it look unused and then trying to reuse the same stamp fraudulently.

Fraudulent Intent:
The key element of this section is the fraudulent intent or intent to cause loss to the Government. Accidental or unintentional removal or damage of a stamp would not typically fall under this section unless it can be shown that it was done with deceptive motives.

Protecting Revenue Collection:
Government stamps are a mechanism for collecting taxes or fees on certain transactions and legal documents. This section ensures that people cannot circumvent this system by tampering with or reusing stamps.

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