property, or to execute any judicial process, or to administer any oath, or to interpret, or to preserve order in the

Court, and every person specially authorised to perform any of such duties;

(d) every assessor or member of a panchayat assisting a Court or public servant;

(e) every arbitrator or other person to whom any cause or matter has been referred for decision or report by any
Court, or by any other competent public authority;

(f) every person who holds any office by virtue of which he is empowered 10 to place or keep any person in
confinement;

(g) every officer of the Government whose duty it is, as such officer, to prevent offences, to give information of
offences, to bring offenders to justice, or to protect the public health, safety or convenience;

(h) every officer whose duty it is as such officer, to take, receive, keep or 15 expend any property on behalf of
the Government, or to make any survey, assessment or contract on behalf of the Government, or to execute any
revenue- process, or to investigate, or to report, on any matter affecting the pecuniary interests of the
Government, or to make, authenticate or keep any document relating to the pecuniary interests of the
Government, or to prevent the infraction

20 of any law for the protection of the pecuniary interests of the Government;

(i) every officer whose duty it is, as such officer, to take, receive, keep or expend any property, to make any
survey or assessment or to levy any rate or tax for any secular common purpose of any village, town or district,
or to make, authenticate or keep any document for the ascertaining of the rights of the

25 people of any village, town or district;

(j) every person who holds any office by virtue of which he is empowered to prepare, publish, maintain or revise
an electoral roll or to conduct an election or part of an election;

(k) every person—

commission for the performance of any public duty by the Government;

(ii) in the service or pay of a local authority as defined in clause (31) of section 3 of the General Clauses Act,
1897, a corporation established by or under a Central or State Act or a Government company as defined in
clause (45) of section 2 of the Companies Act, 2013.

Explanation.—
(a) persons falling under any of the descriptions made in this clause

are public servants, whether appointed by the Government or not;

(b) every person who is in actual possession of the situation of a public servant, whatever legal defect there may
be in his right to hold that situation is a public servant;

(c) “election” means an election for the purpose of selecting members of any legislative, municipal or other
public authority, of whatever character, the method of election to which is by, or under any law for the time
being

45 in
force.
A Municipal Commissioner is a public servant;

Illustration.
General Explanations and expressions.

3. (1) Throughout this Sanhita every definition of an offence, every penal provision, 35 and every Illustration of
every such definition or penal provision, shall be understood subject to the exceptions contained in the Chapter
entitled “General Exceptions”, though those exceptions are not repeated in such definition, penal provision, or
Illustration.

Illustrations.

(a) The sections, in this Sanhita which contain definitions of offences, do not 40 express that a child under seven
years of age cannot commit such offences; but the definitions are to be understood subject to the general
exception which provides that nothing shall be an offence which is done by a child under seven years of age.

(b) A, a police-officer, without warrant, apprehends Z, who has committed murder. Here A is not guilty of the
offence of wrongful confinement; for he was bound by law 45 to apprehend Z, and therefore the case falls within
the general exception which provides
that “nothing is an offence which is done by a person who is bound by law to do it”.

(29) “reason to believe”.—A person is said to have “reason to believe” a thing, if he has sufficient cause to
believe that thing but not otherwise;

(30) “special law” means a law applicable to a particular subject;

(31) “valuable security” means a document which is, or purports to be, a document where by any legal right is
created, extended, transferred, restricted, 5 extinguished or released, or where by any person acknowledges that
he lies under legal liability, or has not a certain legal right.

Illustration.

A writes his name on the back of a bill of exchange. As the effect of this endorsement is to transfer the right to
the bill to any person who may become the 10 lawful holder of it, the endorsement is a “valuable security”;

(32) “vessel” means anything made for the conveyance by water of human beings or of property;

(33) “voluntarily”A person is said to cause an effect “voluntarily” when he causes it by means whereby he
intended to cause it, or by means which, at the time of 15 employing those means, he knew or had reason to
believe to be likely to cause it.

Illustration.

A sets fire, by night, to an inhabited house in a large town, for the purpose of facilitating a robbery and thus
causes the death of a person. Here, A may not have intended to cause death; and may even be sorry that death
has been caused by his act; 20 yet, if he knew that he was likely to cause death, he has caused death voluntarily;

(34) “will” means any testamentary document;

(35) “woman” means a female human being of any age;

(36) “wrongful gain” means gain by unlawful means of property to which the person gaining is not legally
entitled; 25

(37) “wrongful loss” means the loss by unlawful means of property to which the person losing it is legally
entitled;
(38) “gaining wrongfully”, “losing wrongfully”.—A person is said to gain wrongfully when such person retains
wrongfully, as well as when such person acquires wrongfully. A person is said to lose wrongfully when such
person is wrongfully kept out 30 of any property, as well as when such person is wrongfully deprived of
property; and

(39) words and expressions used but not defined in this Sanhita but defined in the Information Technology Act,
2000 and the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and shall have the meanings respectively assigned to th