● Modified in BNS
Cheating by personation -- pretending to be someone else, or substituting one person for another, to cheat -- now carries up to 5 years' imprisonment under BNS Section 319(2), up from IPC 419's 3-year ceiling. BNS also folds the old separate definition section (IPC 416) into the same section as sub-section (1).
Section 416 IPC defined cheating by personation as cheating by pretending to be another person, knowingly substituting one person for another, or misrepresenting one's own or another's identity. Section 419 punished it with imprisonment of either description up to 3 years, or fine, or both.
BNS Section 319 consolidates the definition (formerly 416) and punishment (formerly 419) into one section. Sub-section (1) reproduces the definition unchanged; sub-section (2), the direct successor to IPC 419, raises the maximum imprisonment from 3 years to 5 years.
The definition is unchanged, but the maximum punishment rises from 3 to 5 years -- a genuine sentencing increase -- alongside the structural merge of the old definition and punishment sections into one.
Imprisonment of either description up to 5 years (up from 3 years under the IPC), or fine, or both..
IPC 419 is bailable..
This is a cognizable. offence.
Compoundable without the permission of the court, by the person cheated..
Matters under IPC 419 are tried before the Any Magistrate..
Common defences include the accused not having represented themselves or another as a different identifiable person, and absence of dishonest intent behind the personation.
Summaries are for general information and are not legal advice. For the authoritative bare-act text, see the official Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and Indian Penal Code, 1860 (full amended text, as it stood before repeal) on India Code, or the Ministry of Home Affairs' new criminal laws page. ← All comparisons