Dishonest misappropriation and criminal breach of trust are complete on decisive withholding, not by later retention.

Prosecution for dishonest misappropriation and criminal breach of trust was analysed on limitation and continuity under the Criminal Procedure Code. The text states that the alleged refusal to return articles and ornaments, together with an unequivocal denial of the complainant's right, marked the point when the offences were complete in March 1988. It further explains that these offences are not continuing offences once possession changes into dishonest withholding or use; later retention or repeated demands do not restart limitation unless a fresh offence is pleaded. On that reasoning, the complaint was time-barred and the proceeding was quashed.

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Issues: Whether the prosecution for offences under Sections 403, 405 and 406 of the Indian Penal Code was barred by limitation and whether such offences constituted continuing offences for the purpose of Sections 468, 469 and 472 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Analysis: The complaint, on its own averments, showed that the alleged refusal to return the articles and ornaments, coupled with an unequivocal denial of the complainant's right and a challenge to approach the court, occurred in March 1988. That conduct was treated as the point at which, if at all, the alleged dishonest misappropriation or criminal breach of trust was complete. The Court held that such offences involve a transitional act by which possession or use changes into dishonest possession or use, and once that change is complete, mere continued retention or later demands do not make the offence continuing. The Court also held that the later conduct pleaded in the complaint did not disclose a fresh commission of the offences so as to extend or restart limitation.

Conclusion: The complaint was barred by limitation, the offences under Sections 403 and 406 of the Indian Penal Code were not continuing offences, and the revisional application succeeded with quashing of the proceeding.

Ratio Decidendi: Offences of dishonest misappropriation and criminal breach of trust are complete when the property is first converted or dishonestly withheld by a decisive act, and they do not continue merely because the property is subsequently retained.

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