Short note on fraudulently

 Define fraudulently

This term is defined in section 25 IPC which states that a person is said to do a thing fraudulently if he does that thing with intent to defraud but not otherwise. In Dr. S. Dutt v. State of U.P., AIR 1966 SC 523 the Supreme Court explained the words ‘intent to defraud’ as being not synonymous with words ‘intent to deceive’. It requires some action resulting in a disadvantage which but for the deception the person defrauded would have avoided.

Bombay High Court in Shivaji Narayan Shinde v. State of Maharashtra, (1971) 73 BOMLR 215 distinguished between “dishonestly” and “fraudulently. The two adverbs, “dishonestly” and “fraudulently”, are used alternatively indicating- thereby that one excludes the other and that they are not meant to be tautological and ought, therefore, to be given different meanings.

The word “defraud” in Section 25 includes an element of deceit. While deceit is an important ingredient of the definition of the word “fraudulently”, it is not an ingredient of the definition of the word “dishonestly”. “Dishonestly” involves a pecuniary or economic gain or loss, while “fraudulently” by construction excludes that element.

The juxtaposition of the two expressions, “dishonestly” and “fraudulently”, used in the various sections of the Indian Penal Code indicate their close affinity and, therefore, the definition of one may give colour to the other.