(1) Any person—
(a) drawing, making, issuing, endorsing or transferring, or signing otherwise than as a witness, or presenting for acceptance or payment, or accepting, paying or rendering account of, any bill of exchange, cheque or promissory note without the same being duly stamped; or
(b) executing or signing otherwise than as a witness any other instrument chargeable with duty without the same being duly stamped; or
(c) voting or attempting to vote under any proxy not duly stamped,
shall for every such offence be punishable with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees:
Provided that, when any penalty has been paid in respect of any instrument under section 35, section 40 or section 61, the amount of such penalty shall be allowed in reduction of the fine (if any) subsequently imposed under this section in respect of the same instrument upon the person who paid such penalty.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 62
Section 62 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 establishes criminal penalties and fines for executing, signing, or issuing instruments chargeable with stamp duty without being duly stamped.
The offense is one of strict statutory liability: criminal intent (mens rea) is not a necessary ingredient for prosecution under Section 62. The mere act of signing or executing an unstamped instrument in violation of Section 17 completes the statutory offense.
Prosecutions under Section 62 are initiated by or with the sanction of the Collector under Section 70. In practice, criminal complaints under Section 62 are rare because the Revenue's primary objective is fiscal collection under Section 35/40; payment of duty and penalty ordinarily extinguishes criminal proceedings under Section 43.