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

IPC section 479 in the BNS

IPC 479BNS 345(1)

IPC section 479, “Property mark”, is now BNS section 345(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From IPC 479 to BNS 345

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 345 with IPC 481, 482.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Indian Penal Code, 1860

Section 479 Property mark

A mark used for denoting that movable property belongs to a particular person is called a property mark.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Section 345 Property mark

The part that carries IPC 479 is marked.

(1) A mark used for denoting that movable property belongs to a particular person is called a property mark.

(2) Whoever marks any movable property or goods or any case, package or other receptacle containing movable property or goods, or uses any case, package or other receptacle having any mark thereon, in a manner reasonably calculated to cause it to be believed that the property or goods so marked, or any property or goods contained in any such receptacle so marked, belong to a person to whom they do not belong, is said to use a false property mark.

(3) Whoever uses any false property mark shall, unless he proves that he acted without intent to defraud, be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown.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 345

Other IPC sections that went to the same place

IPC 481 Using a false property mark → BNS 345(2)
IPC 482 Punishment for using a false property mark → BNS 345(3)

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The BNS repealed the IPC from 1 July 2024 (section 358(1)).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against the IPC still stand, and proceedings for them may be started, continued and enforced as if the IPC had not been repealed.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.