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Section 23 — “Wrongful gain” and “wrongful loss”

As in force on 30 November 2008.

Timeline 4 versions
  1. 30 March 1987 Enacted
  2. 30 November 2008 Revised edition
  3. 1 January 2020 Act 15 of 2019
  4. 17 August 2026 Latest
Revised edition in force 30 November 2008

The text below is this provision as reproduced in the Revised Edition that came into force on this date. A revised edition consolidates the law without changing its substance, so editorial amendments — such as renumbering, updated citations and formatting — may have been made but are not shown as a redline.

23.“Wrongful gain” and “wrongful loss”

“Wrongful gain” is gain by unlawful means of property to which the person gaining it is not legally entitled; “wrongful loss” is loss by unlawful means of property to which the person losing it is legally entitled.

Explanation.—A person is said to gain wrongfully when such person retains wrongfully, as well as when such person acquires wrongfully. A person is said to lose wrongfully when such person is wrongfully kept out of any property, as well as when such person is wrongfully deprived of property.

[Indian PC 1860, s. 23]