How are extortion and criminal intimidation addressed under Indian law?

Introduction

• Extortion is a serious crime that violates the fundamental right to personal and property security. By using threats or coercion, the extortionist forces the victim into handing over property, money, or other valuables, causing both financial and emotional harm.
• Criminal intimidation involves threatening someone with harm to their body, property, or reputation to induce fear or force compliance.
• These offenses are similar in that they both use threats or force to manipulate an individual’s actions but differ in their legal scope and application.
• The article seeks to delve into the legal provisions surrounding extortation and criminal intimidation, particularly focusing on the sections of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, which updates and modernizes these laws.

Meaning of Extortion

• Extortion is when someone threatens or uses fear to make another person give them money, property, or something valuable.
• The person committing extortion creates fear by saying they will harm the victim, their family, or their property if they don’t get what they want. The fear can be about physical harm, damage to reputation, or loss of property. Extortion is illegal because the victim is forced to give something against their will due to threats.
• In the legal context, extortion is defined under Section 383 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Extortion is the act of intentionally putting a person in fear of injury (to themselves or others) with the objective of dishonestly inducing them to deliver property or something of value to the extortionist.
• The newly introduced Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, under Section 308(1),also addresses extortion, following the same fundamental principles but incorporating modern interpretations, including digital and financial threats as part of extortionary practices.
• For Example: A person threatens to harm another person’s family unless they hand over money or property; or A gang member demands “protection money” from a shopkeeper, threatening to vandalize the shop if payment is not made.

Essential elements of Extortion

For the offense of extortion to be established, the following essential elements must be proven:

1. Fear of injury

• The accused must intentionally create fear in the victim’s mind of potential harm or injury. The harm can be physical, reputational, or related to property. The fear must be significant enough to induce the victim to act against their will.
• The injury need not be limited to the person threatened; it could be directed at the victim’s family, property, or reputation.
• In the case of R.S. Nayak v. A.R. Antulay[1], the Supreme Court ruled that fear of injury is central to the offense of extortion. It held that the threat need not be immediate or certain, but it should be sufficient to induce fear in the victim, causing them to comply with the demands of the extortionist.

2. Coercion or force

• Coercion plays a central role in extortion. The accused uses threats or pressure to compel the victim to comply with their demands, often creating a situation where the victim feels that refusal would result in some form of harm.
• Force can take both physical and psychological forms, as extortion can occur without physical violence but with mental or emotional manipulation.
• In this case, the court emphasized that coercion could take various forms, including psychological pressure. It ruled that forcing someone to act under the threat of harm, even without physical violence, constitutes coercion for the purposes of extortion.[2]

3. Dishonest Inducement

• The act of extortion involves dishonestly inducing the victim to deliver property, money, or valuable security. The victim must be forced or pressured into giving up something of value due to the fear induced by the accused.
• The term “dishonestly” indicates that the accused’s motive is wrongful, aimed at gaining unlawful control over the victim’s property or valuables.
• In Gursharan Singh v. State of Punjab[3], the Supreme Court ruled that dishonest inducement is crucial to proving extortion. In this case, the court explained that even if the victim voluntarily hands over property under duress, it qualifies as extortion if the inducement was made through threats or deceit.

4. Delivery of property or valuable security

• The offense is complete when the victim, under the influence of fear or threats, delivers property, money, or any item of value, including signed or sealed documents that may be converted into valuable security.
• This delivery is not voluntary but is the result of the coercion or threats applied by the extortionist.
• In the case of M.C. Gupta v. State of Rajasthan[4], the court ruled that the delivery of property or valuable security, even if made reluctantly, completes the offense of extortion. The court clarified that the victim’s act of transferring property under threat is essential to the crime, and without such delivery, extortion is incomplete.

Meaning of Criminal Intimidation

• Criminal intimidation is when someone threatens to harm another person, their reputation, or their property to scare or force them to do something they don’t want to do or to stop them from doing something they have the right to do.
• For example, if someone threatens to hurt you or your family unless you give them money, they are trying to intimidate you.
• Criminal intimidation is defined under Section 503 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the updated Section 351(1) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. Criminal intimidation refers to threatening another person with injury to their body, reputation, or property, with the intent to cause fear or force them to act or refrain from acting in a way they are legally entitled to.
• Section 351(1) of the BNS is similar to the IPC definition but includes modernized interpretations to encompass both physical and digital threats, thereby expanding the scope of criminal intimidation in today’s technological environment.

Elements of Criminal Intimidation

For the offense of Criminal Intimidation to be established, the following essential elements must be proven:

1. Threat of injury

• The accused must issue a threat to cause harm or injury to the victim’s person, property, or reputation, or to someone close to the victim. The threat can involve physical, reputational, or property damage.
• Section 351(1) of the BNS retains this element, ensuring that threats involving both direct and indirect harm, including harm to reputation and property, are punishable under the law.
• In the case of Romesh Chandra Arora v. State[5], the Supreme Court held that the essence of criminal intimidation lies in the threat of injury. Even if no harm occurs, the act of issuing a threat with intent to cause fear or alarm constitutes criminal intimidation.

2. Intention to cause alarm

• The threat must be made with the intention to cause fear or alarm in the victim’s mind. The accused must have a clear intent to make the victim fearful of the consequences of not complying.
• In the case of Rupan Deol Bajaj v. KPS Gill[6], the court ruled that criminal intimidation is defined by the intention behind the threat. If the accused intends to cause fear and alarm, it amounts to criminal intimidation, even if the harm is not immediately carried out.
• Section 351(1) of the BNS emphasizes the importance of intention behind the threat, holding that the mere act of issuing a threat with the aim to create fear or compel action is sufficient for prosecution.

3. Inducement to do or omit an act

• The accused’s threat must aim to make the victim do something they are not legally obligated to do or prevent them from doing something they are entitled to do. This element shows how the threat manipulates the victim’s actions.
• In the case of Manik Taneja & Anr. v. State of Karnataka[7], the court held that criminal intimidation occurs when someone is coerced into doing or omitting an act due to a threat. The victim was forced into action under the threat of reputational harm.

4. Nature of the threat

• The threat can involve physical harm, reputational damage, or injury to property. The threat must be credible and sufficient to cause reasonable fear in the victim’s mind.
• In State of Maharashtra v. Mahendra Singh Dahiya[8], the court ruled that for criminal intimidation, the threat must be of a nature that can reasonably cause alarm in the victim. A vague or unclear threat may not constitute criminal intimidation unless it reasonably induces fear.

Distinction between Criminal Intimidation and Extortion

Conclusion

While both extortion and criminal intimidation involve the use of threats, the primary difference lies in the outcome: extortion requires the delivery of money or valuables, whereas criminal intimidation is complete with just the act of threatening, even if nothing is actually taken. Both crimes carry significant penalties under the IPC and BNS, with harsher punishments for more serious threats like those involving death or grievous harm.

[1] AIR 1986 SC 2045.

[2] Sushil Kumar Sharma v. Union of India, AIR 2005 SC 3100.

[3] AIR 1956 SC 460.

[4] AIR 1974 SC 773.

[5] AIR 1960 SC 154.

[6] AIR 1996 SC 309.

[7] AIR 2015 SC 1448.

[8] 2002 SCC 469.