The Delhi High Court Friday held that photocopying a fake document is also an offence and can lead to prosecution on charges of forgery and cheating.
‘Photocopying a document, which is not genuine, and with the kind of technology that is available now wherein exactly similar copies of the original can be made, would fall within the ambit of making a false document,’ Justice Mukta Gupta said.
The court dismissed the plea of a person caught with the photocopy of a fake visa and contending that he could not be booked for cheating or forgery as he was holding only the photocopy of fake visa and the original document was not recovered.
‘With the advent of technology, scanners and computerized colour photocopiers produce identical copies which are exactly similar to the original. Excluding photocopying/printing from the ambit of a false document would be giving too narrow a reading,’ the court said.
‘If a document, which is not genuine, is being used as such and a person is made to part with money on that basis, then not only the offence of cheating but also the offence of forgery is attracted,’ it added.
