Section 21 IPC: “Public servant”

Section 21 IPC Bare Act Text

21. “Public servant”

The words “public servant” denote a person falling under any of the descriptions hereinafter following, namely:—

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Second.—Every Commissioned Officer in the Military, Naval or Air Forces of India;

Third.—Every Judge including any person empowered by law to discharge, whether by himself or as a member of any body of persons, any adjudicatory functions;

Fourth.—Every officer of a Court of Justice (including a liquidator, receiver or commissioner) whose duty it is, as such officer, to investigate or report on any matter of law or fact, or to make, authenticate, or keep any document, or to take charge or dispose of any property, or to execute any judicial process, or to administer any oath, or to interpret, or to preserve order in the Court, and every person specially authorised by a Court of Justice to perform any of such duties;

Fifth.—Every juryman, assessor, or member of a panchayat assisting a Court of Justice or public servant;

Sixth.—Every arbitrator or other person to whom any cause or matter has been referred for decision or report by any Court of Justice, or by any other competent public authority;

Seventh.—Every person who holds any office by virtue of which he is empowered to place or keep any person in confinement;

Eighth.—Every officer of the Government whose duty it is, as such officer, to prevent offences, to give information of offences, to bring offenders to justice, or to protect the public health, safety or convenience;

Ninth.—Every officer whose duty it is as such officer, to take, receive, keep or expend any property on behalf of the Government, or to make any survey, assessment or contract on behalf of the Government, or to execute any revenue-process, or to investigate, or to report, on any matter affecting the pecuniary interests of the Government, or to make, authenticate or keep any document relating to the pecuniary interests of the Government, or to prevent the infraction of any law for the protection of the pecuniary interests of the Government;

Tenth.—Every officer whose duty it is, as such officer, to take, receive, keep or expend any property, to make any survey or assessment or to levy any rate or tax for any secular common purpose of any village, town or district, or to make, authenticate or keep any document for the ascertaining of the rights of the people of any village, town or district;

Eleventh.—Every person who holds any office in virtue of which he is empowered to prepare, publish, maintain or revise an electoral roll or to conduct an election or part of an election;

Twelfth.—Every person—

(a) in the service or pay of the Government or remunerated by fees or commission for the performance of any public duty by the Government;

(b) in the service or pay of a local authority, a corporation established by or under a Central, Provincial or State Act or a Government company as defined in section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956).

Illustration

A Municipal Commissioner is a public servant.

Explanation 1.—Persons falling under any of the above descriptions are public servants, whether appointed by the Government or not.

Explanation 2.—Wherever the words “public servant” occur, they shall be understood of every person who is in actual possession of the situation of a public servant, whatever legal defect there may be in his right to hold that situation.

Explanation 3.—The word “election” denotes an election for the purpose of selecting members of any legislative, municipal or other public authority, of whatever character, the method of selection to which is by, or under, any law prescribed as by election.

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Source: Section 21, Indian Penal Code, 1860

Section 21 IPC in Simple Words

Ingredients of Section 21 IPC

• The person falls under at least one of the descriptions Second to Twelfth
• Appointment by the Government is not needed, by Explanation 1
• A person in actual possession of the post counts, whatever legal defect there is in the right to hold it, by Explanation 2

Punishment Under Section 21 IPC

Section 21 IPC is a definition. It has no entry in the First Schedule to the CrPC.

Example of Section 21 IPC

When Section 21 IPC Does Not Apply

• Section 21 IPC does not apply to a cashier employed by a privately owned retail company, because the person is not in the service or pay of the Government, a local authority, a statutory corporation, or a Government company.
• Section 21 IPC does not apply to a night watchman hired by a private apartment building, because he holds no office that legally empowers him to place or keep any person in confinement.
• Section 21 IPC does not apply to a community elder who informally mediates a boundary disagreement between two families without any reference from a Court of Justice or competent public authority and without legal power to discharge adjudicatory functions.
• Section 21 IPC does not apply to an election coordinator for a private social club, because the club is not a legislative, municipal, or other public authority whose members are selected under a law prescribing election.

Section 21 IPC in the BNS

FAQs on Section 21 IPC

Sections Related to Section 21 IPC