Electricity theft under the Indian Electricity Act remains an offence under the Act, so prosecution restrictions apply.

Dishonest abstraction, consumption or use of electricity deemed to be theft under section 39 of the Indian Electricity Act, 1910 remained an offence created by that Act, not an offence under the Penal Code in its own right, because the statutory fiction had to be given full effect. The Act's structure and its provisions on criminal offences and penalties supported that reading. As a result, the prosecution restriction in section 50 applied to offences under section 39, so proceedings could be initiated only at the instance of the prescribed authorities or a person aggrieved.

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Issues: Whether dishonest abstraction of electricity under section 39 of the Indian Electricity Act, 1910 was an offence against that Act so that section 50 barred prosecution except at the instance of the prescribed authorities or a person aggrieved.

Analysis: Section 39 created the offence by deeming dishonest abstraction, consumption or use of energy to be theft within the meaning of the Indian Penal Code. The offence was not one under the Penal Code proprio vigore, because electricity was not movable property for the purposes of section 378. The fiction in section 39 had to be carried to its logical end, with the result that the offence created by that section remained an offence against the Electricity Act. The structure of the Act, including the heading relating to criminal offences and procedure and the references in sections 48 and 49 to penalties and punishable acts, supported that conclusion. The object of section 50 was to restrict prosecution for offences under the Act to specified authorities or aggrieved persons, and there was no sound basis to exclude section 39 from its scope.

Conclusion: Dishonest abstraction of electricity under section 39 was an offence against the Indian Electricity Act, 1910, and section 50 applied to such prosecution.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute creates a legal fiction deeming conduct to be theft within the Penal Code, the offence is created by the statute raising the fiction and prosecution for that offence is subject to any special restriction on prosecutions contained in that statute.

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