Courts Must Punish People Who Furnish False Evidence, Says PM’s Adviser 

Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economi,c Advisory Committee (PMEAC), Bibek Debroy, has argued that those who furnish false evidence should be punished under IPC in an article published in Financial Express.

The economist has cited several provisions in the law that allow courts to punish those who lie under oath and observed that they have not been utilised. Debroy pointed out that an entire chapter (Chapter XI) has been dedicated to ‘false evidence and offences against public justice’. He added that Sections 340 and 344, which are in the Indian Penal Code, have not been used very often.

Dr Debroy added that judges are not keen to use these provisions. He quoted the Supreme Court’s observations about perjury to highlight the seriousness of the issue.

In the case of Mahila Vinod Kumari vs State of Madhya Pradesh, 2008 the Supreme Court had observed, “The evil of perjury has assumed alarming propositions in cases depending on oral evidence and in order to deal with the menace effectively, it is desirable for the courts to use the provision more effectively and frequently than it is presently done.”

Debroy listed the provisions under IPC and highlighted that legalese and procedures can be cumbersome at times.