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Section185
The Indian Penal Code, 1860

Illegal purchase or bid for property offered for sale by authority of public servant

Repealed From 01 Jan 1862 Act 45 of 1860 As on 17 Oct 2026

Act 45 of 1860 Ministry Home Affairs Enacted 06 Oct 1860 In force 01 Jan 1862 Cited by 1 provision

This provision is repealed. Repealed by section 358 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) with effect from 1 July 2024. It is reproduced because conduct before that date is still charged, tried and appealed under it.

Section 185 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 deals with illegal purchase or bid for property offered for sale by authority of public servant. Whoever, at any sale of property held by the lawful authority of a public servant, as such, purchases or bids for any property on account of any person, whether himself or any other, whom he knows to be under a legal incapacity to purchase that property at that sale, or bids for such property not in The Act came into force on 01 Jan 1862. Repealed by section 358 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023) with effect from 1 July 2024, but conduct before that date is still charged, tried and appealed under it.

Whoever, at any sale of property held by the lawful authority of a public servant, as such, purchases or bids for any property on account of any person, whether himself or any other, whom he knows to be under a legal incapacity to purchase that property at that sale, or bids for such property not intending to perform the obligations under which he lays himself by such bidding, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one month, or with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees, or with both.

Section 185, The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act 45 of 1860).

Now in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita

BNS 220 Illegal purchase or bid for property offered for sale by authority of public servant Text carried over almost unchanged 100%

Measured by comparing the text of the two provisions, not taken from an official correspondence table — there is no machine-readable one. See both texts side by side before relying on it.

Both regimes are live. The repealed enactment still governs what happened while it was in force. We never redirect one to the other.

Cross-references

Extracted from the operative text of the enactments themselves. Every destination below exists in our corpus.

Referred to by 1

  1. Kerala Maritime Board Act s. 93 Persons employed under this Act to be public servants for certain purposes

Questions about Section 185

What does Section 185 of the Indian Penal Code deal with?

Section 185 of the Indian Penal Code is headed "Illegal purchase or bid for property offered for sale by authority of public servant". Whoever, at any sale of property held by the lawful authority of a public servant, as such, purchases or bids for any property on account of any person, whether himself or any other, whom he knows to be under a legal incapacity to purchase that property at that sale, or bids for such property not in

How do I find court cases under Section 185 of the Indian Penal Code?

In judgments and charge sheets this section is written several ways, and each form finds a different set of orders. These search the full text of every order eCourtsIndia holds, best matches first: IPC 185, section 185 IPC, section 185 of the Indian Penal Code. People searching for it also type ipc 185 mv act. Each opens the full list of orders on eCourtsIndia, where it can be narrowed by court, year and outcome.

What should I read with Section 185 of the Indian Penal Code, and has it changed?

1 other provision in this corpus refers back to it. For anything done on or after 1 July 2024 the provision to read is BNS 220 (Illegal purchase or bid for property offered for sale by authority of public servant), which replaced it; conduct before that date is still charged, tried and appealed under this section.

When did Section 185 of the Indian Penal Code come into force?

Section 185 of the Indian Penal Code, cited as IPC 185, came into force on 01 Jan 1862, having been enacted on 06 Oct 1860. It is no longer in force.

Other sections of this Act

Source and method. Compiled from the enactments of Parliament and of the State legislatures as published on India Code, and republished together with commentary and other original matter under section 52(1)(q)(ii) of the Copyright Act, 1957. Structured, cross-referenced and maintained by eCourtsIndia. Recovered from the consolidated text published by India Code (item 7b7d4fe6-206b-4e33-81f1-b98b018acaf6). This page is not a substitute for legal advice.