IPC · Chapter XVIII · Of offences relating to documents and to property marks

IPC section 470 in the BNS

IPC 470BNS 340(1)

IPC section 470, “Forged document”, is now BNS section 340(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From IPC 470 to BNS 340

The words are the same as in the IPC, apart from “Sanhita” for the Act’s own name and the new numbers of the sections it refers to. It now sits in BNS 340 with IPC 471.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Indian Penal Code, 1860

Section 470 Forged document

A false document or electronic record made wholly or in part by forgery is designated “a forged document or electronic record”.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Section 340 Forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine

The part that carries IPC 470 is marked.

(1) A false document or electronic record made wholly or in part by forgery is designated a forged document or electronic record.

(2) Whoever fraudulently or dishonestly uses as genuine any document or electronic record which he knows or has reason to believe to be a forged document or electronic record, shall be punished in the same manner as if he had forged such document or electronic record.

The texts are India Code’s. The amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown. The PDFs linked below carry the full history.

Also in BNS 340

Other IPC sections that went to the same place

IPC 471 Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record → BNS 340(2)

Old law or new?

Which one applies to a case

The BNS repealed the IPC from 1 July 2024 (section 358(1)). The repeal does not reach back: under section 358(2), penalties and punishments incurred for offences committed against the IPC still stand, and proceedings for them may be started, continued and enforced as if the IPC had not been repealed. An act done before 1 July 2024 is therefore dealt with under the IPC section; an act done on or after that date, under the BNS.