Section 255 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) punished counterfeiting a Government stamp: “Whoever counterfeits, or knowingly performs any part of the process of counterfeiting, any stamp issued by Government for the purpose of revenue” could be sentenced to imprisonment for life, or to imprisonment of up to ten years, and was also liable to a fine. The IPC was replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) with effect from 1 July 2024. The same offence is now in Section 178 BNS, which also covers counterfeiting coins, currency-notes and bank-notes, with the same punishment: imprisonment for life, or up to ten years, and fine.
The offence is cognizable, non-bailable and triable by a Court of Session, and it cannot be settled by compromise. The other old stamp offences, Sections 256 to 263A IPC, are now Sections 179 to 181 and 183 to 186 BNS (Section 182 concerns currency-notes). A summary in Hindi (धारा 255 क्या है) is given further below.
Section 255 IPC / Section 178 BNS at a glance
- New section: Section 255 IPC = Section 178 BNS for offences committed on or after 1 July 2024; it merges nine IPC sections on coins, stamps and notes.
- Offence: counterfeiting, or knowingly doing any part of the process of counterfeiting, a “stamp issued by Government for the purpose of revenue”.
- Punishment: imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description up to ten years, and fine (unchanged from Section 255 IPC).
- Bail and court: cognizable, non-bailable, Court of Session (BNSS First Schedule). Not compoundable (Section 359 BNSS).
- Changing the value of a genuine stamp so that it looks like a stamp of a different denomination is “counterfeiting Government stamp” (clause (3) of the Explanation to Section 178).
- Related offences: selling or using fake stamps (179), possessing them (180), tools and material for counterfeiting (181), reusing stamps (183 to 185), fictitious postage stamps (186).
- Used stamps: using a revenue stamp known to have been used before, fraudulently or to cause loss to the Government, is Section 184 BNS (formerly 262 IPC): up to two years, or fine, or both; bailable.
- Stamp Act is separate: an instrument that is not duly stamped cannot be used as evidence until duty and penalty are paid (Section 35, Indian Stamp Act, 1899); signing it is punishable with fine (Section 62). These are the central Act’s rules; State amendments may differ.
Reviewed and updated by Century Law Firm, Delhi – October 2026. Statutory references are to the Acts as in force on that date. The BNS and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) are quoted from India Code (both as on 6 October 2025; the BNS was checked as still the current version on 23 October 2026), the repealed IPC and the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 from India Code’s copies (the Stamp Act file carries no “as on” date), and the Hindi wording from the Gazette Hindi text of the BNS on India Code.
Section 255 IPC and Section 178 BNS: the exact words
Section 255 IPC used the same operative words for revenue stamps alone, followed by an Explanation on denominations. (Its words “imprisonment for life” had replaced “transportation for life” from 1 January 1956.) Section 178 BNS is headed “Counterfeiting coin, Government stamps, currency-notes or bank-notes” and reads: “Whoever counterfeits, or knowingly performs any part of the process of counterfeiting, any coin, stamp issued by Government for the purpose of revenue, currency-note or bank-note, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.”
The old Explanation survives as clause (3) of the Explanation to Section 178, which applies “For the purposes of this Chapter”: “a person commits the offence of “counterfeiting Government stamp” who counterfeits by causing a genuine stamp of one denomination to appear like a genuine stamp of a different denomination”. “Imprisonment of either description” means rigorous (with hard labour) or simple imprisonment (Section 4(c) BNS).
For stamps, nothing in the offence or the punishment has changed. The firm’s Gazette-checked mapping data records that Section 178 replaces Sections 230 to 232, 246 to 249, 255 and 489A IPC; any other old section can be looked up with the IPC to BNS comparison tool.
What has to be proved under Section 178
“Counterfeit”: resemblance meant to deceive
“Counterfeit” is defined in Section 2(4) BNS (formerly Section 28 IPC, with no change in wording): “A person is said to “counterfeit” who causes one thing to resemble another thing, intending by means of that resemblance to practise deception, or knowing it to be likely that deception will thereby be practised.” Two Explanations follow. Explanation 1: “It is not essential to counterfeiting that the imitation should be exact.” Explanation 2 creates a presumption: where the resemblance is such that a person might be deceived, it “shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved”, that the maker intended to deceive or knew deception was likely. (The earlier version of this post wrongly cited Section 2(6) BNS, which defines “death”.)
“Stamp issued by Government for the purpose of revenue”
“Government” means the Central Government or a State Government (Section 2(12) BNS); the BNS does not define a revenue stamp further. The Indian Stamp Act, 1899 defines “stamp” as “any mark, seal or endorsement by any agency or person duly authorised by the State Government, and includes an adhesive or impressed stamp, for the purposes of duty chargeable under this Act” (Section 2(26)); an “impressed stamp” includes “stamps embossed or engraved on stamped paper” (Section 2(13)). In the firm’s reading, the adhesive stamps and stamp paper used to pay stamp duty are revenue stamps of this kind.
“Any part of the process”
The section also punishes whoever “knowingly performs any part of the process of counterfeiting”, so a person who knowingly does one stage of the work commits the full offence, even if no finished fake stamp is produced. Under clause (3) of the Explanation, altering a genuine stamp to show a different denomination is also counterfeiting.
How the BNS merged the stamp offences (IPC 255 to 263A)
The IPC had a separate section for each step in a fake-stamp racket. The BNS folds the stamp, coin and currency offences together and raises the maximum sentence for several of them.
| Old IPC section | Old maximum (IPC) | New BNS section | New maximum (BNS) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 255 – counterfeiting Government stamp | Life, or 10 years, and fine | 178 | Life, or 10 years, and fine (no change) |
| 256 – possessing instrument or material for counterfeiting | 7 years and fine | 181 | Life, or 10 years, and fine |
| 257 – making or selling such instrument | 7 years and fine | 181 | Life, or 10 years, and fine |
| 258 – sale of counterfeit stamp | 7 years and fine | 179 | Life, or 10 years, and fine |
| 259 – possessing counterfeit stamp | 7 years and fine | 180 | 7 years, or fine, or both |
| 260 – using as genuine a stamp known to be counterfeit | 7 years, or fine, or both | 179 | Life, or 10 years, and fine |
| 261 – effacing writing from stamped paper, or removing a used stamp, to reuse it | 3 years, or fine, or both | 183 | Same |
| 262 – using a stamp known to have been used before | 2 years, or fine, or both | 184 | Same |
| 263 – erasing the mark showing a stamp has been used | 3 years, or fine, or both | 185 | Same |
| 263A – fictitious (postage) stamps | Fine up to ₹200 | 186 | Same |
Section 182 BNS concerns documents resembling currency-notes, not stamps. (The earlier version of this post put the related stamp offences in “Sections 179 to 184”; they run from 179 to 186.)
Prepared by Century Law Firm from Sections 178 to 186 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the First Schedule and Section 359 of the BNSS, and Sections 255 to 263A of the repealed IPC (India Code texts).
What the new sections add
Section 179 BNS punishes whoever “imports or exports, or sells or delivers to, or buys or receives from, any other person, or otherwise traffics or uses as genuine, any forged or counterfeit coin, stamp, currency-note or bank-note, knowing or having reason to believe the same to be forged or counterfeit”. Selling or knowingly using fake stamp paper now carries the counterfeiter’s maximum instead of seven years. Section 181 does the same for anyone who makes, sells or possesses “any machinery, die, or instrument or material” for counterfeiting.
Section 180 BNS (possession) covers a person “knowing or having reason to believe” the stamp to be fake, where Section 259 IPC required that he “knows” it; “reason to believe” means “sufficient cause to believe” (Section 2(29) BNS). It also adds a defence: “If a person establishes the possession of the forged or counterfeit coin, stamp, currency-note or bank-note to be from a lawful source, it shall not constitute an offence under this section.”
Bail, arrest, court and compromise
The First Schedule to the BNSS classifies each offence. “Cognizable” there “stands for “a police officer may arrest without warrant””. For a bailable offence, the accused “shall be released on bail” on offering it (Section 478 BNSS). For a non-bailable offence, Section 480 BNSS says only that the person “may be released on bail”, and, before a court other than the High Court or a Court of Session, “shall not be so released if there appear reasonable grounds for believing that he has been guilty of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life”, subject to the provisos in that section. The High Court and the Court of Session have a separate power to direct that “any person accused of an offence and in custody be released on bail” (Section 483 BNSS). See the firm’s guide to bail in India.
Under the First Schedule, Sections 178 to 181 are cognizable, non-bailable and triable by a Court of Session (see the infographic above). Sections 183 to 186 are cognizable and bailable; Sections 183 and 185 are triable by a Magistrate of the first class, and Sections 184 and 186 by any Magistrate.
No compromise. None of Sections 178 to 186 appears in either Table of Section 359 BNSS, and Section 359(9) says: “No offence shall be compounded except as provided by this section.” See the firm’s note on compoundable and non-compoundable offences.
Time limit for prosecution. Section 514 BNSS bars a court from taking cognizance after six months for an offence punishable with fine only, and after three years for an offence punishable with imprisonment of more than one year but not more than three years. On those words, Section 186 has a six-month limit and Sections 183, 184 and 185 a three-year limit; Sections 178 to 181 have no limit under Section 514. The period runs from the date of the offence or, if the offence or the offender was not known, from the day it became known to the person aggrieved or the police (Section 515); offences tried together take the period of the most serious one (Section 514(3)); and a court may take cognizance after the period if “the delay has been properly explained or that it is necessary so to do in the interests of justice” (Section 519).
Old or used stamp paper: what the law actually says
Whether using an “old” stamp paper is a crime depends on whether it has been used before. The answer below rests only on the statutory texts.
A stamp already used: Section 184 BNS
Section 184 BNS (formerly Section 262 IPC, with no change) reads: “Whoever, fraudulently or with intent to cause loss to the Government, uses for any purpose a stamp issued by Government for the purpose of revenue, which he knows to have been before used, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.” “Fraudulently” means “doing anything with the intention to defraud but not otherwise” (Section 2(9) BNS).
Preparing a used stamp for reuse is covered too: removing the writing from stamped paper, or a used stamp from a document, “in order that such stamp may be used for a different writing or document” (Section 183, formerly 261 IPC), and erasing the mark that shows a stamp “has been used” (Section 185, formerly 263 IPC). Each carries up to three years, or fine, or both.
A second document on the same stamp paper: the Stamp Act
Apart from the BNS, the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 forbids reuse. Section 13 requires an instrument on paper with an impressed stamp to be written so that “the stamp may appear on the face of the instrument and cannot be used for or applied to any other instrument”. Section 14 says: “No second instrument chargeable with duty shall be written upon a piece of stamped paper upon which an instrument chargeable with duty has already been written”. By Section 15, an instrument written in breach of Section 13 or 14 “shall be deemed to be unstamped”.
Unused stamp paper bought earlier
The Indian Stamp Act gives a refund for unused stamps “for which he has no immediate use” if they were bought with a bona fide intention to use them, the full price was paid, and they were “purchased within the period of six months next preceding the date on which they were so delivered” to the Collector, less ten paise per rupee (Section 54); that six-month period governs refunds. In the text of the central Act published on India Code, the firm found no section that fixes a date after which unused stamp paper becomes invalid. Section 74 lets each State Government make rules regulating the supply and sale of stamps and stamped papers; those State rules are not covered in this post, so check the rules of your State before relying on old stamp paper.
Stamp Act penalties are separate from the BNS offences
Not paying the right stamp duty is not counterfeiting. The Indian Stamp Act has its own consequences, listed below as they appear in the central Indian Stamp Act, 1899 published on India Code. That Act does not apply in full to the territories that formed Part B States before 1 November 1956 (proviso to Section 1(2)), and India Code prints State amendments under several sections, such as Uttar Pradesh’s changes to the penalty in Section 35 and to Section 62, so check the stamp law in force in your State:
- Evidence: no instrument chargeable with duty “shall be admitted in evidence for any purpose” or be “acted upon, registered or authenticated” unless it is “duly stamped” (Section 35). Under proviso (a) it can be admitted on payment of the duty, or the deficit, together with a penalty of five rupees or ten times the duty or deficit, whichever is more.
- Impounding: a person having authority to receive evidence, and a person in charge of a public office (other than a police officer), must impound an instrument that is not duly stamped (Section 33).
- Fines: executing or signing, otherwise than as a witness, an instrument chargeable with duty without its being duly stamped: fine up to ₹500 (Section 62(1)(b)); failure to cancel an adhesive stamp: fine up to ₹100 (Section 63); leaving out facts that affect duty, with intent to defraud: up to ₹5,000 (Section 64). Some States have amended these (Uttar Pradesh, for example, adds imprisonment under Section 62).
- Sanction: no Stamp Act prosecution may be started “without the sanction of the Collector” or an authorised officer (Section 70).
For whether a document must also be registered, see the firm’s post on Section 49 of the Registration Act, 1908.
Offences committed before 1 July 2024
Section 358 BNS says that the repeal of the IPC does not affect any punishment incurred for offences committed against it, which “may be imposed as if that Code had not been repealed”. Article 20(1) of the Constitution also forbids a penalty “greater than that which might have been inflicted under the law in force at the time of the commission of the offence”. So a person accused of selling or using a counterfeit stamp before 1 July 2024 is dealt with under Section 258 or 260 IPC, with their seven-year maximum, not under the higher maximum of Section 179 BNS.
Section 255 CrPC is a different provision (now Section 278 BNSS)
Section 255 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) dealt with “Acquittal or conviction” at the end of a summons-case trial before a Magistrate; it is now Section 278 BNSS, and the mapping data records “No change”. Under Section 278(1), if the Magistrate “finds the accused not guilty, he shall record an order of acquittal”; under Section 278(2), if he finds the accused guilty he shall “pass sentence upon him according to law”, unless he proceeds under Section 364 or 401 (reference to the Chief Judicial Magistrate, or release on probation or after admonition).
धारा 255 IPC (अब धारा 178 BNS) – हिंदी में सारांश (Summary in Hindi)
255 धारा क्या है? भारतीय दंड संहिता (IPC) की धारा 255 सरकारी स्टाम्प के कूटकरण (नकली स्टाम्प बनाने) को अपराध बनाती थी। 1 जुलाई 2024 से IPC की जगह भारतीय न्याय संहिता, 2023 (BNS) लागू है, और यही अपराध अब BNS की धारा 178 में है। धारा 178 में सिक्कों, करेंसी नोटों और बैंक नोटों का कूटकरण भी शामिल है। सज़ा वही है: आजीवन कारावास, या दस वर्ष तक का कारावास, और जुर्माना।
धारा 178 का आधिकारिक हिंदी पाठ। राजपत्र में प्रकाशित BNS के हिंदी पाठ में अध्याय 10 का शीर्षक है “सिक्कों, करेंसी नोटों, बैंक नोटों और सरकारी स्टाम्पों से संबंधित अपराधों के विषय में” और धारा 178 का पार्श्व शीर्षक है “सिक्कों, सरकारी स्टांपों, करेंसी नोटों या बैंक नोटों का कूटकरण”। धारा 178 का आधिकारिक हिंदी पाठ है: “जो कोई, किसी सिक्के, राजस्व के प्रयोजन के लिए सरकार द्वारा जारी किए गये स्टाम्प, करेंसी नोट या बैंक नोट का कूटकरण करता है या यह जानते हुए कूटकरण की प्रक्रिया के किसी भाग का संपादन करता है, वह आजीवन कारावास से या दोनों में से किसी भांति के कारावास से, जिसकी अवधि दस वर्ष तक की हो सकेगी, दंडित किया जाएगा और जुर्माने का भी दायी होगा।” (इंडिया कोड पर उपलब्ध हिंदी PDF का टेक्स्ट पढ़ने योग्य नहीं है, इसलिए यह पाठ उसके पृष्ठ की छवि से पढ़कर लिखा गया है।)
अंकित मूल्य बदलना भी अपराध। धारा 178 के स्पष्टीकरण के खंड (3) के अनुसार, कोई व्यक्ति “सरकारी स्टाम्प कूटकरण” का अपराध करता है, जो एक अंकित मूल्य के असली स्टाम्प को किसी भिन्न अंकित मूल्य के असली स्टाम्प जैसा दिखाई देने का कूटकरण करता है। यानी असली स्टाम्प पर उसका मूल्य बदलकर उसे दूसरे मूल्य का दिखाना भी इसी धारा का अपराध है। नकल का बिल्कुल सटीक होना ज़रूरी नहीं है (धारा 2(4) BNS, स्पष्टीकरण 1)।
ज़मानत और अदालत। BNSS की पहली अनुसूची के अनुसार धारा 178 का अपराध संज्ञेय है (पुलिस बिना वारंट गिरफ़्तार कर सकती है), अजमानतीय है और इसका विचारण सेशन न्यायालय करता है। धारा 359 BNSS की सारणियों में यह अपराध नहीं है, इसलिए पक्षकार आपस में समझौता करके मामला ख़त्म नहीं कर सकते।
स्टाम्प से जुड़े अन्य अपराध (फर्म का सारांश)। नकली स्टाम्प को यह जानते हुए या यह विश्वास का कारण रखते हुए कि वह नकली है, बेचना, ख़रीदना या असली के रूप में उपयोग करना अब धारा 179 BNS (पहले 258 और 260 IPC) है, और नकली स्टाम्प बनाने की मशीन, डाई या सामग्री बनाना, बेचना या रखना धारा 181 BNS (पहले 256 और 257 IPC) है; दोनों में आजीवन कारावास या दस वर्ष तक का कारावास और जुर्माना हो सकता है। नकली स्टाम्प को असली के रूप में चलाने के आशय से कब्जे में रखना धारा 180 BNS (पहले 259 IPC) है – सात वर्ष तक, या जुर्माना, या दोनों; पर अगर व्यक्ति साबित कर दे कि कब्जा विधिपूर्ण स्रोत से है, तो अपराध नहीं बनता। कपटपूर्वक या सरकार को हानि पहुंचाने के आशय से स्टाम्प पेपर से लिखावट मिटाना या “उपयोग हो चुका” चिह्न हटाना धाराएं 183 और 185 BNS हैं (तीन वर्ष तक का कारावास, या जुर्माना, या दोनों), और नकली डाक स्टाम्प धारा 186 BNS है (दो सौ रुपये तक जुर्माना)।
पुराना या इस्तेमाल हो चुका स्टाम्प पेपर। धारा 184 BNS (पहले 262 IPC) का आधिकारिक पार्श्व शीर्षक है “ऐसे सरकारी स्टाम्प का उपयोग, जिसके बारे में ज्ञात है कि उसका पहले उपयोग हो चुका है”। इसका पाठ है: “जो कोई, कपटपूर्वक या इस आशय से कि सरकार को हानि कारित की जाए, सरकार द्वारा राजस्व के प्रयोजन के लिए जारी किसी स्टाम्प को, जिसके बारे में वह जानता है कि वह स्टाम्प उससे पहले उपयोग में लाया जा चुका है, किसी प्रयोजन के लिए उपयोग में लाता है, वह दोनों में से किसी भांति के कारावास से, जिसकी अवधि दो वर्ष तक की हो सकेगी, या जुर्माने से, या दोनों से, दंडित किया जाएगा।” यह अपराध जमानतीय है और कोई भी मजिस्ट्रेट इसका विचारण कर सकता है। भारतीय स्टाम्प अधिनियम, 1899 की धारा 14 के अनुसार जिस स्टाम्प पेपर पर शुल्क-योग्य एक लिखत लिखी जा चुकी है, उस पर दूसरी शुल्क-योग्य लिखत नहीं लिखी जा सकती (पृष्ठांकन जैसे कुछ अपवाद हैं), और धारा 15 के अनुसार ऐसी लिखत बिना स्टाम्प की मानी जाती है। ये केंद्रीय अधिनियम के नियम हैं; यह अधिनियम कुछ क्षेत्रों में पूरी तरह लागू नहीं होता (धारा 1(2)) और कई राज्यों ने इसमें संशोधन किए हैं, इसलिए अपने राज्य का स्टाम्प कानून देखें। (यह फर्म का सारांश है; स्टाम्प अधिनियम का हिंदी पाठ इस लेख के लिए उपयोग नहीं किया गया।)
1 जुलाई 2024 से पहले के मामले। उस तारीख़ से पहले किए गए अपराधों पर IPC ही लागू रहती है (धारा 358 BNS), और संविधान के अनुच्छेद 20(1) के अनुसार अपराध के समय के कानून से ज़्यादा सज़ा नहीं दी जा सकती।
ध्यान दें: “धारा 255 CrPC” एक अलग प्रावधान है। यह समन-मामले के विचारण के अंत में दोषमुक्ति या दोषसिद्धि से संबंधित थी और अब BNSS की धारा 278 है।
Frequently asked questions
Section 255 of the Indian Penal Code punished whoever “counterfeits, or knowingly performs any part of the process of counterfeiting, any stamp issued by Government for the purpose of revenue”, with imprisonment for life, or up to ten years, and fine. Making a genuine stamp of one denomination look like one of another denomination was also counterfeiting. Since 1 July 2024 the offence is Section 178 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
Section 178 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, headed “Counterfeiting coin, Government stamps, currency-notes or bank-notes”. It covers in a single provision the counterfeiting of coins, stamps issued by Government for the purpose of revenue, currency-notes and bank-notes, replacing nine IPC sections (230 to 232, 246 to 249, 255 and 489A). The punishment is the same as under Section 255 IPC: imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description (rigorous or simple) up to ten years, and fine.
No. The First Schedule to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 shows Section 178 BNS as cognizable and non-bailable, triable by a Court of Session. Cognizable means that the police may arrest without a warrant. Because the offence is non-bailable, Section 480 BNSS says only that the accused “may be released on bail”, so release depends on the court; the Court of Session and the High Court can grant bail under Section 483 BNSS. Sections 179, 180 and 181 have the same classification.
It depends on whether the stamp has been used before. Section 184 BNS (formerly Section 262 IPC) punishes whoever, “fraudulently or with intent to cause loss to the Government”, uses a revenue stamp “which he knows to have been before used”, with up to two years, or fine, or both. Under the central Indian Stamp Act, 1899, no second dutiable instrument may be written on stamped paper that already carries one (Section 14), and such an instrument “shall be deemed to be unstamped” (Section 15). For unused stamp paper, that Act’s text on India Code fixes no date after which it becomes invalid, but State rules (Section 74), State amendments and Section 1(2) may change the position in your State.
Section 2(4) BNS (formerly Section 28 IPC) says a person counterfeits who “causes one thing to resemble another thing, intending by means of that resemblance to practise deception, or knowing it to be likely that deception will thereby be practised.” The imitation need not be exact, and where a person might be deceived by the resemblance, intent to deceive is presumed until the contrary is proved (Explanations 1 and 2).
Yes. Clause (3) of the Explanation to Section 178 BNS says that a person commits the offence of “counterfeiting Government stamp” who counterfeits “by causing a genuine stamp of one denomination to appear like a genuine stamp of a different denomination”. The same rule was in the Explanation to Section 255 IPC.
Section 179 BNS punishes whoever buys, sells, delivers, imports, exports, otherwise traffics in, or “uses as genuine” a forged or counterfeit stamp, “knowing or having reason to believe the same to be forged or counterfeit”. The punishment is imprisonment for life, or up to ten years, and fine; the offence is cognizable, non-bailable and tried by a Court of Session. For acts before 1 July 2024, the seven-year maximum of Sections 258 and 260 IPC applies.
Yes, if the person knows or has reason to believe they are forged or counterfeit and intends that they be used as genuine. Section 180 BNS (formerly Section 259 IPC) punishes such possession with up to seven years, or fine, or both; it is cognizable and non-bailable. It is not an offence if the person “establishes the possession … to be from a lawful source” (Explanation to Section 180).
Section 183 BNS (formerly Section 261 IPC) punishes whoever, fraudulently or with intent to cause loss to the Government, removes or effaces from a substance bearing a revenue stamp the writing for which the stamp was used, or removes a used stamp from a document, “in order that such stamp may be used for a different writing or document”. The punishment is up to three years, or fine, or both. It is cognizable, bailable and triable by a Magistrate of the first class.
No. Sections 178 to 186 BNS do not appear in either Table of compoundable offences in Section 359 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and Section 359(9) says: “No offence shall be compounded except as provided by this section.” A private settlement does not end the case.
A “fictitious stamp” is any stamp “falsely purporting to be issued by Government for the purpose of denoting a rate of postage”, or any imitation of such a stamp (Section 186(3) BNS, formerly Section 263A IPC). Making, uttering, dealing in or selling one, knowingly using one for a postal purpose, or possessing one (or dies and materials for making one) without lawful excuse is punishable with fine up to two hundred rupees; the stamps and dies may be seized and, if seized, are forfeited (Section 186(2)).
Under Section 35 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, an instrument chargeable with duty cannot be admitted in evidence, acted upon or registered unless it is “duly stamped”. It can be admitted on payment of the duty or deficit with a penalty of five rupees or ten times the duty or deficit, whichever is more (central Act; Uttar Pradesh, for example, has amended this penalty). Courts and public offices (other than the police) must impound it (Section 33).
No. Section 255 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 dealt with “Acquittal or conviction” in a summons-case trial before a Magistrate, and is now Section 278 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, with no change: the Magistrate records an acquittal if he finds the accused not guilty, and passes sentence according to law if he finds him guilty. Section 255 IPC was the stamp-counterfeiting offence.
IPC की धारा 255 में सरकारी स्टाम्प के कूटकरण का अपराध था, यानी राजस्व के लिए सरकार द्वारा जारी स्टाम्प को नकली बनाना या जानते हुए उसकी प्रक्रिया का कोई भाग करना। 1 जुलाई 2024 से यह अपराध भारतीय न्याय संहिता की धारा 178 में है। सज़ा आजीवन कारावास या दस वर्ष तक का कारावास और जुर्माना है। यह अपराध संज्ञेय और अजमानतीय है, इसका विचारण सेशन न्यायालय करता है और इसमें समझौता नहीं हो सकता।
धारा 184 BNS के अनुसार, जो कोई कपटपूर्वक या सरकार को हानि पहुंचाने के आशय से ऐसे सरकारी स्टाम्प का उपयोग करता है, जिसके बारे में वह जानता है कि उसका पहले उपयोग हो चुका है, उसे दो वर्ष तक का कारावास, या जुर्माना, या दोनों हो सकते हैं। भारतीय स्टाम्प अधिनियम की धारा 14 के अनुसार जिस स्टाम्प पेपर पर शुल्क-योग्य एक लिखत लिखी जा चुकी है, उस पर दूसरी शुल्क-योग्य लिखत नहीं लिखी जा सकती। बिना उपयोग वाले पुराने स्टाम्प पेपर के लिए राज्य के नियम भी देखें (धारा 74)। यह फर्म का सारांश है।
Conclusion
Section 255 IPC is now Section 178 BNS, with the same offence and the same punishment: imprisonment for life or up to ten years, and fine, for counterfeiting a revenue stamp or knowingly doing any part of it. It is cognizable, non-bailable, tried by a Court of Session and cannot be compromised. The change is around it: selling, using and making the tools for fake stamps now carry the same maximum, while reuse of used stamps and fictitious postage stamps keep their lower punishments. Underpaying stamp duty is a separate matter under the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, and acts done before 1 July 2024 remain under the IPC.
Sources used for this post: the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Sections 2(4), 2(9), 2(12), 2(29), 4(c), 178 to 186 and 358, including the Gazette Hindi text of Sections 178 to 180 and 184 (India Code, English text as on 6 October 2025, BNS checked as current on 23 October 2026; Hindi text Hh202345.pdf); the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, Sections 278, 359, 364, 401, 478, 480, 483, 514, 515 and 519 and the First Schedule (India Code, as on 6 October 2025); the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (repealed), Sections 255 to 263A (India Code copy); the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, Sections 1(2), 2(13), 2(26), 13 to 15, 33, 35 (with the Uttar Pradesh amendment printed under it), 54, 62 to 64, 70 and 74 (India Code, a1899-2_.pdf, no “as on” date; latest amendment printed: 2024); Article 20(1) of the Constitution of India (Legislative Department, English edition of 2026); and the firm’s Gazette-checked IPC–BNS and CrPC–BNSS mapping data.
