Section 251: Prohibition of criminal misappropriation of property

1) No person shall make, or cause to be made, criminal misappropriation of property.

2) For the purposes of sub-section (1), a person who does any of the following acts shall be considered to commit criminal misappropriation of property:

(a) To dishonestly possess and use, cause loss and damage to or misappropriate a property belonging to another person or rent, sell or dispose of it without the consent of that other person.

Provided that if the real owner of an adjoining land uses the property belonging to another person, by mistakenly making a normal encroachment of the boundary, he or she shall not be considered to commit the offence referred to in this clause.

(b) To dishonestly appropriate or otherwise convert any property not in the possession of any other person to his or her own use, knowing or having the means of discovering the owner of such property, or without returning such property to such owner within a reasonable time, or without giving notice to the owner to claim the property or without waiting the owner of such property until a reasonable time.

Provided that where the finder in good faith appropriates a property to his or her own use when the owner of the property is not discovered despite reasonable efforts or the owner does not claim the property within a reasonable time after the giving of notice, he or she shall not be considered to commit the offence referred to in this Section.

3) A person who commits, or causes to be committed, the offence referred to in sub section (1) shall be liable to the following sentence:

(a) A sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or a fine not exceeding thirty thousand rupees or both the sentences, in the case of criminal misappropriation of property which was in the possession of a deceased person at the time of that person’s demise and has not since been in the possession of his or her legal successor, or criminal misappropriation of property belonging to a child, a person of unsound mind due to mental or physical illness, or a person above seventy-five years of age,

(b) A sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or a fine not exceeding ten thousand rupees or both the sentences, in the case of criminal misappropriation of property in cases other than that set forth in clause (a).

4) If any property subjected to criminal misappropriation under this Section is in a returnable condition, the person who so misappropriates shall return the property to the concerned owner or to his or her immediate successor if the owner is dead.