INTERPRETATION OF

PENAL STATUTES
STRICT CONSTRUCTION
• Statute enacting an offence or imposing a penalty is
strictly construed
• In case of ambiguity, resolve doubt in favour of accused
FISHER V. BELL,
(1960) 3 ALL ER 731
• Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act, 1959 provides for
punishment of any person who ‘sells or offers for sale’ a
knife of a particular description
• Shopkeeper displayed a knife in shop window with a price
ticket
• Has the Act been violated?
HELD (RELUCTANTLY)

• Act not contravened

• ‘Offers for sale’ does not embrace ‘exposure for sale’
LIMITED APPLICATION
• This rule is of limited application now
• A number of penal laws with varied purposes, like
Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, Prevention of Food
Adulteration Act, 1954, Section 498A of IPC (cruelty)
• Cannot cut down wide language of the statute in accord
with the object of the legislation
• Rule of strict construction may not be adhered to if the
plain intention of Parliament to combat crimes of special
nature would be defeated
M NARAYANAN NAMBIAR V. STATE OF
KERALA, AIR 1963 SC 1116
• Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947
• “A public servant is said to commit the offence of criminal
misconduct in the discharge of his duty—(d) if he, by corrupt
or illegal means or by otherwise abusing his position as a
public servant, obtains for himself or for any other person
any valuable things or pecuniary advantage.”
• Contention: This does not cover a case where benefit was
not derived from a third person but was derived by causing
loss to government by abuse of power
• Held: Comprehensive language used, which covers such a
benefit
• Wide meaning of language cannot be limited by construction
as it well accorded with the spirit of the statute
SUBSEQUENT
DEVELOPMENTS
• Rule of strict construction does not prevent applying
language of the law to later scientific developments
• E.g. Protection of Children Act, 1978
• Data stored in a computer disc: technology not known in
1978
• Still held to amount to ‘indecent photograph’
• R v. Fellows, (1997) 2 All ER 548 (CA)
CONSTRUCTION OF
REMEDIAL STATUTES
REMEDIAL STATUTES
• Welfare, beneficient, social justice oriented legislations
• To cure some immediate mischief
• Bring into effect some type of social reform by
ameliorating condition of certain classes of persons
• Prohibit certain acts
• Provide for redress or compensation
• If the statute does not make the offender liable to penalty
in favour of the state, the legislation is remedial
• E.g. Domestic Violence Act, labour laws, etc.
LIBERAL
CONSTRUCTION
• Remedial statutes are liberally constructed
• Widest operation which the language will permit
• The relief should not be denied to the class intended to be
relieved
• Doubt resolved in favour of class of persons for whose
benefit the statute is enacted
• Any exception which curtails the operation of the
beneficient legislation is narrowly construed
• Courts often refer to Directive Principles and international
conventions
• E.g. Bhimsinghji case
MCD V. FEMALE WORKERS
(MUSTER ROLL), AIR 2000 SC
1274

• Female workers (muster roll) engaged in MCD demanded

maternity leave
• Made available only to regular female workers
• Denied to them on the ground that there services were not
regularized
• Employed for years
• Same duties as regular employees
• Referred to CEDAW and Directive Principles
• Held: Female workers on muster roll covered under the
Act
• But liberal construction must flow from the language
• Cannot rewrite the enactment
WESTERN INDIA PLYWOOD LTD V. P
ASHOKAN, AIR 1997 SC 3883
• Section 53, Employees State Insurance Act, 1948: An
insured person or his dependents will not be entitled to
‘any compensation or damages under the Workmen’s
Compensation Act, 1923 or any other law for the time
being in force or otherwise in respect of an employment
injury’
• Is claim for compensation or damages in torts barred?
HELD
• Barred
• Even though a beneficient legislation
• Cannot cut down wide scope of the words
• Words ‘or otherwise’ convey the plain intention
• Effect of beneficial legislation is not construed to be
defeated by a subsequent law except through a clear
provision
• Rights of minor children to get maintenance from their
father under CrPC
• Not taken away by Muslim Women (Protection of Rights
on Divorce) Act, 1986 which enables a divorced Muslim
woman to claim maintenance for the minor children upto
the age of two years from her former husband
• Noor Saba Khatoon v. Mohd. Quasim, AIR 1997 SC 3280
REMEDIAL V. PENAL STATUTES
• Remedial statutes: liberal construction
• Penal statutes: strict construction
• Nowadays, distinction has narrowed down
• Many beneficial laws contain penal provisions
• Conflicting views