Forged and fabricated documents are often used for financial gains which results into loss to other person and most probably to a company or an organization. There are numerous scams and frauds which are committed by various fraudsters. These frauds are not only committed with in a private entity but in a governmental sector also. These kinds of frauds are taken into consideration to cheat someone or to commit the offences of embezzlement, misappropriation of assets, extortion, criminal misconduct and corporate fraud. In lay man language, forgery means faking or imitation of a document, signature, banknote or the crime of making such false documents. The Indian penal code of 1860 defines forgery as, “Whoever makes any false documents or false electronic record or part of a document or electronic record, with intent to cause damage or injury, to the public or to any person, or to support any claim or title, or to cause any person to part with property, or to enter into any express or implied contract, or with intent to commit fraud or that fraud may be committed, commits forgery”
The act of fabrication is done mainly on evidences. Fabricating evidences means making a false document and present it before the court to mislead the proceedings of the court. Fabricating evidences may involve arranging such circumstances when the act is already committed with an intention to use such evidences to appear. The fabricated documents or evidences can be wholly forged or can be partly forged and can be totally artificial to destroy the real facts. As per section 192 of the Indian penal code “Whoever causes any circumstance to exist or 1[makes any false entry in any book or record, or electronic record or makes any document or electronic record containing a false statement, intending that such circumstance, false entry or false statement may appear in evidence in a judicial proceeding, or in a proceeding taken by law before a public servant as such, or before an arbitrator, and that such circumstance, false entry or false statement, so appearing in evidence, may cause any person who in such proceeding is to form an opinion upon the evidence, to entertain an erroneous opinion touching any point material to the result of such proceeding, is said “to fabricate false evidence”
Forgery is always caused on a document where as fabrication may be caused on oral statements, paper, record and documents.
Fabrication is committed with the purpose to mislead the court in a proceeding and forgery may be committed to draw some amount of money from a bank or on someone properties.
Fabricating can cause harm to a person through court but in forgery harm can caused without involving 3rd party.
Forgery and fabrication includes alteration, counterfeiting or using of documents and instruments and false writing of any documents with a motive to deceive the other. It occurs from signing of another person to writing something which is not true. Uttering a false document is a serious offence and is punishable. Forged and fabricated documents can have serious and negative consequences on individuals, businesses and other entities. For proving forged and fabricated documents it is necessary to prove that there must be making of some alterations, use and posses of false writing, misrepresentation of certain particulars and so on. False writing indicates that the writing itself must be fabricated or materially altered. If a person unknown of the fact that he is forging or fabricating something can be prevented from the criminal liability.
Consequences of committing forgery and fabrication
When a person committed the act of forgery or within the process of committing it and the document caught before the signing the same, is not treated as the offence but if the offender was caught he is deemed to be offender. In simple words if the offender goes beyond the process of preparation then he is deemed to be an offender of forgery. In order to constitute fabrication under section 192 of the Indian penal code the person has to fabricate a document which means to alter a document in such a context that changes the nature of the document and the same shall be used in a judicial proceeding to mislead the court or an arbitrator. A forged document can cause a serious loss or a breakdown to someone’s life as it results someone to loss his everything may be his assets, property, cash and other valuables or may be all. Person who committed the offence of forgery and fabrication shall be punished with the imprisonment which may extent upto two years or fine or some time both. Section 465 of the Indian Penal Code 1860 provides for the punishment and to sustain the punishment under the Code the person has to prove that the offence of the forgery has been committed with the help of the ingredients mentioned in the Code.