Indian Penal Code,1860
Act No : 45
Section :
Giving false evidence.
191. Giving false evidence.--Whoever, being legally bound by anoath or by an express provision of law to state the truth, or beingbound by law to make a declaration upon any subject, makes anystatement which is false, and which he either knows or believes to befalse or does not believe to be true, is said to give false evidence. Explanation 1.-A statement is within the meaning of this sectionwhether it is made verbally or otherwise. Explanation 2.-A false statement as to the belief of the personattesting is within the meaning of this section, and a person may beguilty of giving false evidence by stating that he believes a thingwhich he does not believe, as well as by stating that he knows a thingwhich he does not know.143 Illustrations (a) A, in support of a just claim which B has against Z for onethousand rupees, falsely swears on a trial that he heard Z admit thejustice of B's claim. A has given false evidence. (b) A, being bound by an oath to state the truth, states that hebelieves a certain signature to be the handwriting of Z, when he doesnot believe it to be the handwriting of Z. Here A states that which heknows to be false, and therefore gives false evidence. (c) A, knowing the general character of Z's handwriting, statesthat he believes a certain signature to be the handwriting of Z; A ingood faith believing it to be so. Here A's statement is merely as tohis belief, and is true as to his belief, and therefore, although thesignature may not be the handwriting of Z, A has not given falseevidence. (d) A, being bound by an oath to state the truth, states that heknows that Z was at a particular place on a particular day, notknowing anything upon the subject. A gives false evidence whether Zwas at that place on the day named or not. (e) A, an interpreter or translator, gives or certifies as a trueinterpretation or translation of a statement or document, which he isbound by oath to interpret or translate truly, that which is not andwhich he does not believe to be a true interpretation or translation.A has given false evidence.
