In Crl.MC.No. 2255 of 2013, DAMODARA PANICKER vs SUMANGALADEVI, the question before the Kerala High Court was, can immovable property be the subject matter of commission of an offence of criminal breach of trust which is defined under Section 405 of the IPC?
The Court observed that one of the offences alleged against the petitioners is criminal breach of trust which is defined under Section 405 I.P.C. The punishment for that offence is provided under Section 406 I.P.C. In the present case, immovable property is the subject matter of the aforesaid offence alleged. The question arises whether immovable property can be the subject matter of an offence of criminal breach of trust which is defined under Section 405 I.P.C. and Section 405 I.P.C speaks of entrustment of property or dominion over property. The operation of this provision is not restricted to 'movable property'. If the legislature had intended to restrict the operation of Section 405 I.P.C to movable property, there is no reason why the general word 'property' is used in that provision without the qualifying word 'movable'. In this context, it is pertinent to note that the operation of many other provisions in the Indian Penal Code (for example, Sections 378 and 403) is expressely restricted to 'movable property'. Therefore, there is no reason to find that the expression ''property'' used in Section 405 I.P.C refers to movable property only.
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