Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 · Chapter XVII: Of Offences against Property · Of fraudulent deeds and dispositions of property
Section 321: Dishonestly or fraudulently preventing debt being available for creditors
In plain words
Dishonestly or fraudulently preventing a debt owed to you or another person from being used, as the law requires, to pay your or that person's debts is punishable with up to two years in prison, or a fine, or both.
A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.
Official text
Whoever dishonestly or fraudulently prevents any debt or demand due to himself or to any other person from being made available according to law for payment of his debts or the debts of such other person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.
Corresponding sections were matched by comparing the wording of both official texts, and for the IPC and BNS, also against a published correspondence table. Wording, punishments and structure often changed, so read both sections before relying on the match.
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 25 August 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 321
No Supreme Court judgment in our database cites this section yet.