Section 231 punishes whoever gives or fabricates false evidence intending thereby to cause, or knowing it to be likely that they will thereby cause, any person to be convicted of an offence which, by the law for the time being in force in India, is not capital but is punishable with imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for a term of seven years or upwards, with the same punishment as a person convicted of that offence would be liable to receive.
Verified against the National Crime Records Bureau's official BNS–IPC concordance (Sankalan Portal), which maps Section 231 to old IPC Section 195, and independently against the text of Section 195 itself in the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
| BNS section | IPC, 1860 equivalent | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 231 | 195 | Exact |
Exact: the operative text and the statutory Illustration are carried forward from old IPC Section 195 without substantive change. The only wording difference is that the Illustration's reference to a "Court of Justice" has been modernized to "Court."
Whoever gives or fabricates false evidence intending thereby to cause, or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby cause, any person to be convicted of an offence which by the law for the time being in force in India is not capital, but punishable with imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for a term of seven years or upwards, shall be punished as a person convicted of that offence would be liable to be punished.
Illustration.—A gives false evidence before a Court, intending thereby to cause Z to be convicted of a dacoity. The punishment of dacoity is imprisonment for life, or rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, with or without fine. A, therefore, is liable to imprisonment for life or imprisonment, with or without fine.
Source: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Act No. 45 of 2023), as published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary.
This section follows Section 230's structure but for offences that are not capital and are punishable with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment for a term of seven years or more. The person who gives or fabricates the false evidence is liable to the same punishment the falsely accused person would themselves have faced if actually convicted of that underlying offence.
Section 230 applies where the false evidence is intended or likely to procure a conviction for a capital offence. This section applies to offences that are not capital but are punishable with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment of seven years or more.
The same punishment a person convicted of the underlying offence would themselves have been liable to receive.
Nothing substantive. The only wording difference is that the statutory Illustration's reference to a "Court of Justice" has been modernized to "Court."