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Writer's pictureLead India
Mar 20, 20233 min read

How To Prove That Blackmailing Is An Offensive Crime ?

Blackmail is an act of coercion by which a threat is made of revealing or publicising either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless the demands are met. Blackmailing is generally carried out for personal gain, commonly for position, money or property.


The term blackmail is originally from the Scottish borders, which means payments rendered in exchange for the protection from thieves and marauders.

Blackmailing amounts to Criminal intimidation, defined as per Section 503 of the Indian Penal Code-


Threatening anyone with injury to his person, reputation or property or to the person or reputation of any one in whom such person is interested, with intent of causing alarm to such person. The offence of criminal intimidation could be punished with imprisonment up to a period of two years or fine or both.


Blackmailing described under Section 384-

Extortion could be understood as when a person commits extortion, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a period of either description for the term which may extend up to three years or fine or both.



Requirements for the offence of blackmailing could be paraphrased as-

  • A person should make a demand of someone else, accompanied or reinforced in some way by some consequence if they don’t comply, which would coerce an unwilling victim to do what is demanded.

  • The intent behind such a demand should be to make a gain or cause loss to the other party.

  • Either-

  • The perpetrator genuinely believed that the demand so made was based on reasonable grounds; or

  • The perpetrator truly believed that such an act of blackmailing was the proper way to reinforce the demand.

The law considers “demands with menaces” as unwarranted, unless the wrongdoer actually believed that his/her demand had reasonable grounds and actually believed that the demands made by him/her were actually reasonable. Hence, the tests for blackmailing are actually based on the belief that their act was a proper way to reinforce their demand.

The wording of the Act means that there is a presumption in law that the act of the perpetrator would likely be deemed as unwarranted, unless they are able to prove that they believed otherwise.

Offences Related to Blackmail-

As blackmail could cover any unwarranted demand with a menace, various other offences could be carried out as part of committing blackmail, such as-

  • In case a person seeks to put another person in fear of being subjected to force if their demand is not met with, as mentioned under Section 8(10 of the Theft Act, 1968.

  • If a person intends to cause another person to believe that immediate unlawful violence would be used against him or someone related to him, or if the person being threatened is under the belief that such violence is likely to be used against him, as provided under Section 2 of the Public Order Act, 1986

  • In case there is some threat to destroy or damage some property under Section 2 of the Criminal Damage Act 1971.

  • If a person receives any gain or benefit in exchange of agreeing to not report any “relevant” offence, as mentioned under Section 5 of the Criminal Law

Extortion under the Indian Law-

Provided under the IPC, extortion is defined under Sections 383 to 389. Extortion defined under Indian law is similar to blackmailing of English law. Extortion simply means unreasonable demand under terror. It is an act between theft and robbery.

If the accused takes property or some object out of the possession of the property holder without his/her consent, it will be called as theft; while if the property is taken in front of the property holder without his/her consent, then it would be a crime of robbery; if the property is taken by showing fear or injury to the property holder to compel him to give the property, then it will be called extortion.


Conclusion


As could be understood from the above discussion, blackmailing is a criminal offence and could result in imprisonment as per the law. In order to have a better understanding of the law, it is advised to seek legal opinion from experienced criminal lawyers in delhi or criminal lawyer in Gurgaon or from your own city.


Hence, in case you are somehow involved with blackmailing charges or need legal advice, you may contact criminal lawyers in lucknow or your city.

Lead India offers you a wide pool of experienced advocates who have been successfully handling cases related to criminal law including the blackmailing cases. Thus, in case you wish to talk to a lawyer or seek free legal advice online, you may contact us.

Call Us: - +91-8800788535

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