Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023 Explained: Offences, Punishments and Where to File

In this guide: What counts as a land crime under the 2023 Act? · Land crime punishments: offence, section and sentence · Is it cognizable and bailable? Which court tries it? · How to file a case under the Land Crime Act · False complaints, and how the Act sits with civil suits

The short answer

The Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023 (Act No. 36 of 2023) came into force on 18 September 2023. It makes land fraud and forgery of land documents crimes punishable with up to 7 years and a fine, and illegal possession, refusing to hand over sold land, damaging boundaries and cutting agricultural topsoil punishable with up to 2 years and a fine. All offences are cognizable and are tried by a Judicial Magistrate (first class) or a Metropolitan Magistrate. An Executive Magistrate can also restore possession taken without a court order. It does not decide who owns the land; that remains a civil court question.

What counts as a land crime under the 2023 Act?

Before 2023, land grabbing and fake deeds were prosecuted under the general Penal Code (cheating, forgery, criminal trespass). The 2023 Act created land-specific offences and a faster route to restore possession. Section 3 says it works in addition to other laws, so Penal Code charges and civil suits remain available.

The main land crimes are:

• Land fraud (s.4): presenting someone else’s land as your own, hiding facts in a transfer, selling more than your share, using a false identity, putting false statements in a deed, or giving false information to land or survey authorities.
• Land forgery (s.5): making a false deed or part of one, signing or sealing a document in another person’s name, altering a deed after execution, or forcing someone to sign.
• Illegal possession (s.7): holding land without a right through the latest record, inheritance, a lawful deed or a court order, or removing a lawful possessor without a court or authority order.
• Not handing over sold land (s.9): taking the full price but keeping the buyer out without reasonable cause.
• Damaging boundaries, land, trees or crops (s.10), and offences on government or public land (ss.11 and 12).
• Topsoil (s.13): cutting the top layer of farmland without the Deputy Commissioner’s permission, or filling someone’s farmland with sand or soil without the recorded owner’s consent.

Helping or encouraging any of these (s.16) carries the same punishment. River sand lifting is mainly dealt with under a separate sand and soil management law.

Land crime punishments: offence, section and sentence

The table below summarises the sentences in the Act as published. Every sentence is “imprisonment up to” the stated term and a fine; the Act sets no fixed fine amount.

The trial court can also order the offender to pay compensation for financial loss and can send the possession question to the Executive Magistrate (s.20).

A second statute now sits beside s.13. The Land Use Control and Agricultural Land Protection Ordinance 2026 (Ordinance No. 12 of 2026, 19 January 2026) zones all land into 18 classes and makes it an offence to change a parcel’s zone or fill agricultural land or a waterbody without permission, with penalties running from six months or Tk 1 lakh up to three years or Tk 10 lakh for destroying a special agricultural zone. Mobile courts can try these offences on the spot. If a complaint involves filling, class change or topsoil cutting, expect both laws to be in play.

Is it cognizable and bailable? Which court tries it?

Section 19 answers the questions people ask most:

• Cognizable: every offence under the Act is cognizable. The police can record a case (FIR) and investigate without first getting a magistrate’s permission.
• Bail: fraud (s.4) and forgery (s.5) are non-bailable, so bail is at the court’s discretion. All other offences are bailable.
• Trial court: a Judicial Magistrate of the first class, or a Metropolitan Magistrate in metropolitan areas.
• Time: the Act says the trial should finish within 180 days. In practice, delays are common and the deadline does not end the case if missed.
• Mobile court: most offences can be tried by mobile court, but not fraud (s.4), forgery (s.5), disobeying a restoration order (s.15) or repeat offences (s.17).

The ordinary Code of Criminal Procedure governs investigation, trial and appeal. Witnesses may be protected under s.21.

How to file a case under the Land Crime Act

You have two criminal routes and one restoration route:

1. FIR at the police station. Because the offences are cognizable, you can lodge a written complaint (ejahar) with the officer in charge of the police station where the land is. Attach copies of your deed, khatian, namjari and recent khajna receipt.
2. Complaint case in court. If the police refuse or you prefer the court, file a petition of complaint before the Judicial Magistrate (or Metropolitan Magistrate). The magistrate may examine you, order an inquiry or send it to the police. Our guide on GD, FIR or complaint case explains the difference.
3. Restoration of possession (s.8). If you were thrown off your land without a court or authority order, apply to the Executive Magistrate. Both sides are heard, the land is inspected, and the application should be decided within 3 months. The Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Rules 2024 now set out how the Executive Magistrate handles these applications.

One limit matters: under s.8(7), the Executive Magistrate will not act if a civil suit for recovery of possession on the same facts is already pending, although the civil court can refer the matter. For the full step-by-step on getting grabbed land back, see recovering illegally occupied land.

False complaints, and how the Act sits with civil suits

False complaints. The Act, as published, does not create its own offence of making a false land-crime complaint. A knowingly false case is dealt with under the general law: section 211 of the Penal Code punishes a false charge (up to 2 years, or up to 7 years where the false charge is of a serious offence), and section 250 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lets a magistrate order compensation to an accused after a false and frivolous or vexatious accusation. See what to do in a false case.

Civil suits still decide title. A criminal court decides whether a crime was committed. It does not declare who owns the land, cancel a deed or correct a khatian. For those you still need a civil suit, such as a suit for declaration of title, cancellation of a deed, partition, or recovery of possession. Many people run both: a criminal case to stop the wrongdoing and a civil suit to settle ownership.

Be careful with section 7. It ties lawful possession to the latest record, inheritance, a lawful deed or a court order. Families who have held land for decades without papers, or co-sharers in undivided land, should take advice before filing or answering a s.7 case. How courts apply this new section is still developing.