Dishonestly’ and ‘fraudulently are defined in Sections 24 and 25 of the Penal Code respectively. Both words dishonestly and fraudulently appear simultaneously in several offenses such as cheating under section 415 of the IPC, forgery under section 463 of the IPC, and counterfeiting of coins under sections 246 & 247 of the IPC but they are used to denote two different things.
The main distinction could be mentioned below: –
- The expression dishonestly involves the wrongful gain or alternatively wrongful loss to others. But the word fraudulently requires an intent to defraud.
- The concept of wrongful gain or loss contemplates pecuniary or economic gain or loss to one or another person. Whereas, the express intent to defraud involves two elements, namely, deceit and injury to the person deceived though not necessarily a pecuniary loss or deprivation of property because as per section 44 of the IPC, an injury even includes harm to reputation, body, etc.
- The deceit is not an ingredient of the definition of the word “dishonestly” while the word “defraud” includes an element of deceit.
Read Also: What Is Wrongful Gain Or Loss?
