Allahabad High Court
Queen-Empress vs Nand Kishore on 12 February, 1897
Equivalent citations: (1897)ILR 19ALL305
JUDGMENT John Edge, Kt., C.J. and Blair, J.
1. The simple question in this case is whether a public servant who does that which, if done to save another from legal punishment, would bring the public servant within Section 218 of the Indian Penal Code has committed the offence punishable under that section if the person whom he intends to save from legal punishment is himself. In our opinion there is no reason why it should be an offence for a public servant to make a false record in order to save another person from legal punishment, and why it should not be an offence for him to make a false record to save himself from legal punishment. If the Legislature had intended that this section should only apply when the intention was to save some person other than the public servant, it would have been easy to insert the word "other" between the words "any" and "person." It appears to us that the appellant, who was a public servant, did not cease to be a person when he made a false entry in his diary for the purpose of saving himself from punishment. Two authorities have been cited to us in this Court. One is that of Queen-Empress v. Gauri Shankar I.L.R. 6 All. 42, and the other that of Queen-Empress v. Girdhari Lal I.L.R. 8 All. 653. In our opinion the appellant committed the offence under Section 218 of the Indian Penal Code. We dismiss his appeal.