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Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Section 186, BNS: Prohibition of fictitious stamps

Pundora · Published 3 October 2026

Section 186 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in the Act's own words, with the IPC provision it replaces.

What it replaces

BNS provisionIPC provisionRelation
Section 186Section 263Acorresponds

From the Bureau of Police Research and Development's official comparison summary (source below). The whole table: IPC to BNS.

The section

186. Prohibition of fictitious stamps.

(1) Whoever—. (a) makes, knowingly utters, deals in or sells any fictitious stamp, or knowingly uses for any postal purpose any fictitious stamp; or. (b) has in his possession, without lawful excuse, any fictitious stamp; or. (c) makes or, without lawful excuse, has in his possession any die, plate, instrument or materials for making any fictitious stamp, shall be punished with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees.. (2) Any such stamp, die, plate, instrument or materials in the possession of any person for making any fictitious stamp may be seized and, if seized shall be forfeited.. (3) In this section “fictitious stamp” means any stamp falsely purporting to be issued by Government for the purpose of denoting a rate of postage, or any facsimile or imitation or representation, whether on paper or otherwise, of any stamp issued by Government for that purpose. (4) In this section and also in sections 178 to 181 (both inclusive), and sections 183 to 185 (both inclusive) the word “Government”, when used in connection with, or in reference to any stamp issued for the purpose of denoting a rate of postage, shall, notwithstanding anything in clause (12) of section 2, be deemed to include the person or persons authorised by law to administer executive Government in any part of India or in any foreign country.

The text is India Code's consolidated text as loaded into Pundora's statute corpus on 1 September 2026. A section quoted in a draft checked by Pundora is checked against this text.

Sources

  1. India Code: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, section 186 (read 1 September 2026)
  2. Bureau of Police Research and Development: comparison summary, BNS to IPC (read 1 September 2026)

The Act's own words, from India Code. If the text here differs from the Gazette, the Gazette governs; write to contact@pundora.in and it will be corrected and dated.