12.1 Forgery

Definition (the Code's scheme, by principle): forgery is making a false document or false part of a true document, or altering a true document falsely, with intent to cause damage or injury to any person, or knowing the likelihood of such damage, or with intent to commit or facilitate fraud. The elements: Making/altering: creating a document in the name of another (real or fictitious), altering a genuine one, adding false matter to true matter — the document's fabrications beyond mere imitation; A false document: false as to (i) the maker's identity (the forged signature), (ii) the time or place of making (the backdated deed), (iii) the authority (the unauthorized "official" record); The intent: damage-intent or fraud-intent — the mens rea separating the forger from the careless draftsman; genuine-belief disputes and honest-claim mistakes negating; Using as genuine: the Code's companion head — using a forged document as genuine knowing it forged: the passer's liability equal to the maker's (the forgery's market needing both). The objects' grading (the aggravated heads): forgery of public documents and records (the citizenship certificate, the land records, the court records, the government's registers — the State's authenticity system); forgery of valuable securities (the cheque; the counterfeit-currency family as the special statute); forgery of wills and title deeds (the lalpurja forgery — Nepal's most litigated form); forgery of…