Indian Penal Code, 1860 · Chapter X: Of Contempts of the Lawful Authority of Public Servants
Section 185: Illegal purchase or bid for property offered for sale by authority of public servant
The Indian Penal Code, 1860 was repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 from 1 July 2024. It still applies to offences and proceedings from before that date.
In plain words
At a sale held by a public servant's lawful authority, buying or bidding for someone known to be legally barred from buying, or bidding without intending to honour the bid, is punishable with imprisonment of either description for up to one month, or a fine of up to two hundred rupees, 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, at any sale of property held by the lawful authority of a public servant, as such, purchases or bids for any property on account of any person, whether himself or any other, whom he knows to be under a legal incapacity to purchase that property at that sale, or bids for such property not intending to perform the obligations under which he lays himself by such bidding, shall be punished with 1. Ins. by Act 10 of 1873, s. 15.
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one month, or with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees, 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 (Legislative Department), the text of the Act as it stood before its repeal. 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.