Section 210 punishes whoever, being legally bound to produce or deliver up any document or electronic record to a public servant, intentionally omits to do so: with simple imprisonment of up to one month, or fine of up to five thousand rupees, or both, under clause (a); and, where the document or electronic record is to be produced or delivered to a Court, with simple imprisonment of up to six months, or fine of up to ten thousand rupees, or both, under clause (b).
Verified against the National Crime Records Bureau's official BNS–IPC concordance (Sankalan Portal), which maps Section 210 to old IPC Section 175, and independently against the text of Section 175 itself in the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
| BNS section | IPC, 1860 equivalent | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 210 | 175 | Substantively changed |
Substantively changed: following the same pattern seen at Sections 206-208, old IPC Section 175 expressed the same conduct and two-tier punishment structure as a single continuous sentence rather than as separate lettered clauses. Section 210 restructures this into clauses (a) and (b). The fine caps have been raised in both tiers: from five hundred rupees to five thousand rupees under clause (a), and from one thousand rupees to ten thousand rupees under clause (b). "Electronic record" has been added alongside "document," and "Court" replaces "Court of Justice." The section's own statutory Illustration is otherwise unchanged in substance, referring generically to "a District Court" rather than the old law's "District court" with a footnoted historical name substitution. The underlying conduct and the imprisonment caps (one month and six months respectively) are unchanged.
Whoever, being legally bound to produce or deliver up any document or electronic record to any public servant, as such, intentionally omits so to produce or deliver up the same,—
(a) shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month, or with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees, or with both;
(b) and where the document or electronic record is to be produced or delivered up to a Court with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees, or with both.
Illustration.
A, being legally bound to produce a document before a District Court, intentionally omits to produce the same. A has committed the offence defined in this section.
Source: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Act No. 45 of 2023), as published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary.
A person legally bound to produce or deliver up any document or electronic record to a public servant, who intentionally omits to do so, falls within this base clause.
Where the document or electronic record being withheld is specifically one that was to be produced or delivered up to a Court, the heavier punishment under this clause applies instead. The section's own statutory Illustration, quoted in the Statutory Text block above, concerns exactly this scenario.
Yes. The person must intentionally omit to produce or deliver up the document or electronic record; an unintentional failure does not fall within this section.
Clause (a): simple imprisonment up to one month, or fine up to five thousand rupees, or both. Clause (b): simple imprisonment up to six months, or fine up to ten thousand rupees, or both.
The fine caps have been substantially raised in both tiers, "electronic record" has been added alongside "document," and the provision has been restructured from a single continuous sentence into separate lettered clauses.