This article discusses the differences between theft and extortion.
Section 378 of the Indian Penal Code, 1882 (hereinafter referred to as IPC) defines theft as ‘Whoever, intending to take dishonestly any moveable property out of the possession of any person without that person’s consent, moves that property in order to such taking, is said to commit theft’.
The court in KN Mehra vs Court of Rajasthan[1] elaborated upon the elements of theft-
- Moving a movable property (Section 22 IPC) of a person out of his possession without his/her consent
Here, movable property means one which can be moved and is not attached to the earth. An immovable property becomes movable when it is severed from the earth.
- With dishonest intention(S.24)-
Dishonest intention is present when there is wrongful gain to the taker and the wrongful loss (Pyare Lal Bhargav v State of Rajasthan[2]) to the one out of whose possession (Section 27 IPC ) the property was taken (Section 23 IPC)
- Absence of the person’s consent at the time of moving and presence of dishonest intention in so taking and at the time
Possession is not clearly defined in the IPC but as Pillai puts it, to be in possession of something, one must have general control over it. Punishment for theft is given in Section 379 of the IPC.
Section 383 of the Indian Penal Code, 1882 describes extortion as ‘Whoever intentionally puts any person in fear of any injury to that person, or to any other, and thereby dishonestly induces the person so put in fear to deliver to any person any property or valuable security, or anything signed or sealed which may be converted into a valuable security, commits “extortion”.’
Therefore, the elements of extortion are:
- someone intentionally puts the fear of any injury
- to that person or someone else,
- to dishonestly induce the person
- to deliver to them property, valuable security or something signed and sealed which may be converted to valuable security.
Here, injury (Section 44 IPC) refers to harm to body/mind/reputation/property. The court in Anil B. Nandakarni & Ors. Vs. Amitesh Kumar[3] said that transfer of property in not essential to prove extortion.
For instance, if A threatens to kill B’s husband unless they transfer 1 crore to A within a week is a clear case of extortion.
Punishment for extortion is given in Section 384 of the IPC.
To summarise, the primary difference between theft and extortion is that in the former, the property is taken without the owner’s consent. However, in extortion, the consent is wrongfully obtained by fear of injury. Therefore, there is an instance of overpowering of will in extortion. Moreover, there is no need to prove delivery of possession in the case of extortion. However, theft only occurs when the property is taken out of the possession of the original owner.
REFERENCES:
Pillai’s Criminal Law: 14th edition
[1] KN Mehra vs Court of Rajasthan 1957 AIR 369
[2] PyareLal Bhargav v State of Rajasthan 1963 AIR 1094
[3] Anil B. Nandakarni & Ors. Vs. Amitesh Kumar (2001) 4 BOMLR 402
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