Section-383 Extortion:
Whoever intentionally puts any person in fear of any injury to that person, or to any other, and thereby dishon­estly induces the person so put in fear to deliver to any person any property or valuable security, or anything signed or sealed which may be converted into a valuable security commits extortion.

Illustrations:

1. A threatens to publish a defamatory libel concerning Z unless Z gives him money. He thus induces Z to give him money. A has committed extortion.
2. A threatens Z that he will keep Z's child in wrongful con­finement unless Z will sign and deliver to A a promissory note binding Z to pay certain monies to A. Z signs and delivers the note. A has committed extortion.
3. A threatens to send club-men to plow up Z's field unless Z will sign and deliver to B a bond binding Z under a penalty to deliver certain produce to B, and thereby induces Z to sign and deliver the bond. A has committed extortion.
4. A, by putting Z in fear of grievous hurt, dishonestly induces Z to sign or affix his seal to a blank paper and deliver it to A. Z signs and delivers the paper to A. Here, as the paper so signed may be converted into a valuable security. A has committed extor­tion.

Sec 385: Putting person in fear of injury to commit extortion
Putting or attempting to put a person in fear of injury, to commit extortion, has been penalized under this section. Putting in fear and attempting to put in fear of any injury both have been treated at par, and it is not necessary that extortion must take place because the language used is 'to the committing of extortion.

Facts to be proved

1. The Person accused, by his conduct, had threatened the victim, by putting him in fear that,
2. If the victim failed to deliver:
   
   1. a property, or
   2. a valuable security, or
   3. a instrument signed or sealed, which is like valuable security,
3. To a Person,
4. The said victim, or any other person, would be subjected to harm to reputation, or harm to property, or bodily harm, or a mental alarm had caused to the said victim by such inducement.

Instances under sec 385:
Where in a criminal case a mukhtar, with the intention of extorting money threatened to put scandalous, indecent and irrelevant questions intended to annoy and insult the prosecution witnesses, he was held guilty under this section. Where a police officer was charged with having abetted the accused to extort money from the complainant, it could not beheld that he had done the same in his official capacity, and, therefore, necessary sanction under section 197, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for his the prosecution was not needed.

Classification of offence:
The offence under section 385 is cognizable, bailable and non-compoundable, and is triable by any magistrate therefore FIR or Application u/s 156(3) or Private Complaint u/s 200 may be preferred.

Punishment:
The section states that whoever either puts or attempt to put any person in fear of injury to the committing of extortion shall be punished with simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term extending up to two years, or with fine, or with both.

Cases
Bani Singh & Ors v. the State Of U.P
In this case, it was considered that the High Court erred in dismissing the appeal for non-prosecution simplicity without examining the merits. It, therefore, set aside the impugned order and remit the appeal to the High Court for disposal on merits in the light of this judgment. Thus, the appeal was stand allowed accordingly.

Rajesh Yadav v. State of Jharkhand
The petitioner has been made an accused of the offence registered under Section 385 of the IPC. Further, it is made clear that the petitioner shall remain present before the trial court, as and when directed by the trial court, till the conclusion of the trial, failing which, the trial court is at liberty to pass appropriate order for securing the presence of the petitioner.

Rakhi Meena (Dr.) Another v. Usman Another
The following points were considered in this case:

• The essential ingredients of extortion as defined in Section 383 are not disclosed from the admitted allegations leveled in the complaint and the statements recorded under Sections 200 and 202 Cr.P.C.
• The highest allegation of the complainant is that the petitioners threatened the complainant with dire consequences if the amount of 1000/- was not paid to them for conducting the delivery of his daughter-in-law.
• The miscellaneous petition was hereby allowed.

Sec 386: Extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt:
This section punishes committing extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt. Commission of extortion is necessary under this section because the word used is commits, unlike the preceding section where the words used are 'to the committing of. Kidnapping and abduction, for ransom, have been held to be punishable under this section where the ransom money is paid under threat of death or grievous hurt of the person kidnapped or abducted. It is a serious offence as is shown by the quantum of punishment prescribed.

Facts to be proved:

1. The Person accused, by his conduct, had threatened the victim, by putting him in fear that,
2. If the victim failed to deliver:
   
   1. a property, or
   2. a valuable security, or
   3. an instrument signed or sealed, which is like valuable security,
3. To a Person,
4. The said victim, or any other person, would face death or would face grievous hurt.

Classification of offence:
The offence under this section is cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable, and is triable by a magistrate of the first class.

Punishment:
Whoever commits extortion by putting any person in fear of either death or of grievous hurt either to that person or to any another person shall be punished with simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term extending up to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Cases:
The State Of U.P vs. Abhai Raj Singh & anr
It was held that the mandate of law contained in Sections 385 and 386 of the Code cannot be complied with and directed that the appellants were not to be arrested in pursuance of the judgment and order, and where not required to surrender also and the bail bonds were to be cancelled. Section 386 empowers the appellate court to order that the case be committed for trial and this power is not circumscribed to cases exclusively triable by the Court of Session.

Radha Ballabh & Ors. vs. The State of U.P.
The evidence of these witnesses amply establishes that Lalit was kidnapped from his house by Smt Basanti and Radha Ballabh and they handed over the boy to accused Lalta Prasad, Raghubir and Bissu and they in turn kept the boy in those two villages and for a longer time i.e nearly 20 to 25 days in the house of accused Devi Ram and Har Charan.

In the result, subject to the above minor modification of the conviction of accused Bissu from under Section 386 IPC to Section 387 IPC, all the other convictions and sentences awarded to all the appellants are confirmed and all the appeals are dismissed

Sec 387: Putting person in fear of death or grievous hurt, to commit extortion:
Putting or attempting to put any person in fear of death or of grievous hurt in order to commit extortion has been punished under this section.

Thus, the use of the words 'to the committing of extortion' shows that the commission of extortion is not necessary. The offender must put or attempt to put any person in fear of death or of grievous hurt to that person or any other person. This offence is different from the offence of attempted robbery under section 393. Under section 387 the fear is of death or grievous hurt while in section 393 the fear is of instant death or instant hurt or instant wrongful restraint under which the thing extorted must be delivered then and there.

Facts to be proved:

1. The Person accused, by his conduct, had threatened the victim, by put
2. If the victim failed to deliver:
   
   1. a property, or
   2. a valuable security, or
   3. a instrument signed or sealed, which is in the nature of a valuable security,
3. To a Person,
4. The said victim, or any other person, would face death or would face grievous hurt.

Instances under sec 387:
Thus where the accused wrote a threatening letter to the complainant that to save his own life and the life of his child he must pay a ransom money amounting to sixteen thousand rupees, it was held that the accused had committed an offence under section 387. In another instance, it was ruled that feigning of an attempt to commit suicide in order to extort money would be an offence under this section.

Classification of offence:
The offence under section 387 is cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable, and is triable by magistrate of the first class.

Punishment:
The section states that whoever either puts or attempts to put any person in fear of either death or of grievous hurt to that person or to any other person, in order to the committing of extortion, shall be punished with simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term extending up to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Cases:
Henry Wertmuller Roberts, etc. vs. State of Assam & ors.
The result in this case was that the High Court found Henry guilty under Sections 302, 364, 201 and 387 IPC and not guilty under Section 120-B IPC and maintained the sentence awarded to Henry by the Sessions Court except in regard to the offence under Section 120-B IPC and acquitted the other three accused persons in full.

Thakur Ram v. The State of Bihar
It is not alleged in the petition nor in the police report that the petitioners attack people at random, extort different amounts of money from them or do any criminal act or mischief The allegations make out a case that the petitioners had rightly or wrongly a grievance against some individuals of the Marwari community and they have been extorting money from them. Thus, the application is allowed and that proceeding is dropped.

Sec 388: Extortion by threat of accusation of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life
Committing extortion by threat of accusation of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life has been made punishable under this section. It is an aggravated form of extortion.

According to this extortion must have been, committed by the offender after putting the person extorted or any other person of an accusation that he had committed, or had made an attempt to commit, any offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term up to ten years, or he had made an attempt to induce any other person to commit such offence. The punishment may be imprisonment for life where extortion is committed by putting any person in fear of an accusation that he had committed an unnatural offence.

Classification of offence
The offence under this section is cognizable, bailable and non-compoundable, and is triable by magistrate of the first class.

Punishment
The section states that whoever commits extortion by putting any person in fear of an accusation against either that person or any other, that he had committed or attempted to commit any offence punishable with death, or with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment for a term extending up to ten years, or that he had attempted to induce any other person to commit such offence, shall be punished with simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term extending up to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine; and if the offence was one punishable under section 377, may be punished with imprisonment for life.

It is read along with section 377 of the Indian Penal Code according to which Unnatural offences.
Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Cases
Shakti Vahini vs. Govt. of Nct of Delhi
The order of the High Court has not been violated in any manner and it seems that the trial court has formed this impression only on account of the fact that the report has been signed by the ACP and as the guard file was not produced before the trial court.

Gurpreet Singh v. State of Punjab
The following points were considered in this case:

• Learned State counsel submitted that the petitioner has attempted to extort money from the complainant and he does not deserve to be granted regular bail.
• The petitioner has been in custody for more than five months and the trial is not likely to be concluded at an early date no useful purpose would be served by keeping him in custody indefinitely.

Sec 389: Putting person in fear of accusation of offence, in order to commit extortion
This section punishes putting a person in fear of accusation of an offence in order to commit extortion. It states that whoever, in order to the committing of extortion either puts or attempts to put any person in fear of an accusation, whether against that person or any other person, that he had either committed, or attempted to commit an offence.

Explanation 1
The use of the words 'in order to the committing of extortion' shows that extortion may not be committed. But in order to it's committing the offender puts or attempts to put any person in fear of an accusation whether against that person or any person. The accusation must be that he had committed or attempted to commit any such offence as is punishable with death, or imprisonment for life, or imprisonment up to ten years.

Explanation 2:
If the accusation is that he had committed an unnatural offence the punishment will be severer and may extend to imprisonment for life.

Classification of Offences:
According to Explanation 1  This section is Non-bailable, Cognizable and Non-compoundable.
According to Explanation 2  This section is Bailable, Cognizable and Non-compoundable.

Punishment:
According to Explanation 1  Imprisonment for 10 years and fine.
According to Explanation 2  Imprisonment for life or in simple words, if the offence is punishable under section 377, it may be punished with imprisonment for life.

Case:
Shyam Sunder Matya v. State of Haryana
Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the interim bail granted by the Court vide order dated 21.07.2015, is made absolute, subject to furnishing bail bonds/surety bonds to the satisfaction of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate/Duty Magistrate, concerned. Further, the voice samples obtained by the authority and matched by the CFSL shall be analyzed by the trial court. The petition stands allowed.

Conclusion
Maintenance of peace and order is essential in any society for humans to live peacefully and without fear of injury to lives, limbs and property. The chief concern of law is to protect and preserve certain fundamental social values and institutions, and for this, it prescribes a set of norms of human behaviour and forbids certain conducts; and prescribes punishments for the disregards of such norms and conducts normally, a crime is committed by joining of hands by several persons; and ordinarily, two or more than two persons are always involved in any commission of crime.

In many of such cases, there could be such persons who act behind the curtains, i.e. although they do not positively participate in the commission of the crime / offence, but they actively participates in the occurrence of the offence, by sharing the common intention as suggested and defined under section 34 of IPC; or by way of abetment as suggested and defined under section 107 to 116 of IPC; or by way of criminal conspiracy.

Written by Tanya Khan