16. Penalty for wilful damage to embankment by cutting, etc.
- Whoever wilfully, and without due authority cuts through, or attempts to cut through, any embankment, whether public or private, or destroys or attempts to destroy any such embankment, or open any sluice or watercourse in any such embankment, shall be liable, on conviction before a Magistrate, to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year, with or without labour, or to a fine not exceeding two hundred rupees, commutable, if not paid, to a period of imprisonment not exceeding one year, or to both ; or, if the Magistrate be of opinion that such punishment is insufficient for the offence, he may commit the offender to the Sessions Court, in which case he shall be liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for a period not exceeding seven years, with or without labour, or to fine, or to both.
