BACK TO SECTIONS(2007) 7 SCC 502
IPC 1860REPEALED
Section 201
Causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender
Replaced by: BNS 238
BailableCognizable: Non-CognizableMagistrate First Class
THE STATUTE
Original Text
Whoever, knowing or having reason to believe that an offence has been committed, causes any evidence of the commission of that offence to disappear, with the intention of screening the offender from legal punishment, or with that intention gives any information respecting the offence which he knows or believes to be false...
Simplified
Section 201 targets the act of 'screening' an offender — destroying physical evidence or providing false information to protect a criminal from prosecution. The punishment scales with the underlying offence: if the offence being screened is punishable by death, helping conceal it carries 7 years; for life imprisonment offences, 3 years; for other imprisonable offences, 1/4 of the maximum. This scaling reflects that the moral gravity of concealment is proportionate to the gravity of the underlying crime. Common applications: washing bloodstains, destroying CCTV footage, disposing of murder weapons, providing false alibis to police. The main offender cannot be charged under Section 201 for concealing their own crime — the provision applies to third parties who help the offender evade justice.
Legal Evolution
Essential for maintaining the chain of evidence. While originally focused on body disposal or weapon hiding, Section 201 now extends to digital evidence deletion and forensic manipulation.
Landmark Precedents
Sukhram v. State of Maharashtra (2007)
RELEVANCE
A person who helped conceal a murder weapon is guilty under Section 201 — the relationship with the accused does not create immunity for evidence destruction.
Practical Scenarios
"Washing bloodstains from a floor after a fight to protect the attacker — Section 201."
"Burning documents that prove a corporate fraud — Section 201."
"Deleting incriminating WhatsApp messages and call logs to shield a suspect — Section 201."
Common Queries
No — Section 201 applies to third parties who help the culprit evade law. The main culprit cannot be separately punished for hiding their own tracks under this section.
Yes — secretly disposing of a body to hide a murder is a classic application of Section 201.