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(1) A person who dishonestly, with a view to making a gain for that person or another, destroys or damages property is liable, commits an offence.
(2) A person who, during a public disorder, dishonestly, with a view to making a gain for that person or another, destroys or damages property is liable, commits and offence.
Penalty:
(1) Imprisonment 7 years.
Imprisonment 14 years if the damage is caused by fire or explosives.
(2) Imprisonment 9 years.
Imprisonment 16 years if the damage is caused by fire or explosives.
Summary/Indictable/mixed:
Mixed
Jurisdiction:
Local, District or Supreme Court.
How committed:
(1) Person A sets fire to his shed to destroy his stock. In reality he has removed some of the stock but makes an insurance claim for the full amount.
(2) In the course of a protest march a fight breaks out with the police. While this is happening a group of protestors set fire to a shop owned by one of the protestors who then makes a fraudulent insurance claim.
Important note:
For property to be damaged, it must be tangible in nature.
Reference to property includes a reference to wild creatures that have been tamed or are ordinarily kept in captivity and includes any other wild creatures or their carcasses but only if they
(a) have been reduced into possession that has not been lost or abandoned, or
(b) are in the course of being reduced into possession.
An act done by a person under a reasonable belief that the person had a right to do the act does not constitute an element of any offence under this Part. Perhaps the simplest explanation of this is to consider joint marital property, where one party asserts, they have damaged their own property.
Damaging property includes removing, obliterating, defacing or altering the unique identifier of the property. The unique identifier is any numbers, letters or symbols that are marked on or attached to the property