20. (1) If any person establishes, maintains or works a telegraph within Bangladesh in contravention of the provisions of section 4 or otherwise than as permitted by rules made under that section, he shall be punished, if the telegraph is a wireless telegraph, with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both, and, in any other case, with a fine which may extend to one thousand Taka.(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, offences under this section in respect of a wireless telegraph shall, for the purposes of the said Code, be bailable and non-cognizable.(3) When any person is convicted of an offence punishable under this section, the Court before which he is convicted may direct that the telegraph in respect of which the offence has been committed, or any part of such telegraph, be forfeited to Government.

¹[20A. If the holder of a license granted under section 4 contravenes any condition contained in his license, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to one thousand Taka, and with a further fine which may extend to five hundred Taka for every week during which the breach of the condition continues.]

21. If any person, knowing or having reason to believe that a telegraph has been established or is maintained or worked, in contravention of this Act, transmits or receives any message by such telegraph, or performs any service incidental thereto, or delivers any message for transmission by such telegraph, or accepts delivery of any message sent thereby, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to fifty Taka.

22. [Omitted by section 3 and 2nd Schedule of the Bangladesh Laws (Revision And Declaration) Act, 1973 (Act No. VIII of 1973).]

23. If any person- (a) without permission of competent authority, enters the signal-room of a telegraph office of the Government, or of a person licensed under this Act, or (b) enters a fenced enclosure round such a telegraph office in contravention of any rule or notice not to do so, or (c) refuses to quit such room or enclosure on being requested to do so by any officer or servant employed therein, or (d) wilfully obstructs or impedes any such officer or servant in the performance of his duty, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to five hundred Taka.

24. If any person does any of the acts mentioned in section 23 with the intention of unlawfully learning the contents of any message, or of committing any offence punishable under this Act, he may (in addition to the fine with which he is punishable under section 23) be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year.

25. (1) If any person, intending- (a) to prevent or obstruct the transmission or delivery of any message, or (b) to intercept or to acquaint himself with the contents of any message, or (c) to commit mischief, damages, removes, tampers with or touches any battery, machinery, telegraph line, post or other thing whatever, being part of or used in or about any telegraph or in the working thereof, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both. (2) If any wire used for the purpose of a telegraph or a telegraph line is found in the possession of a person, other than a licensee under section 4, or a person who, in course of his duty, is in possession of such wire, he shall be deemed to have committed an offence punishable under section 411 of the ²[Penal Code].

³[25A. If, in any case not provided for by section 25, any person deals with any property and thereby wilfully or negligently damages any telegraph line or post duly placed on such property in accordance with the provisions of this Act, he shall be liable to pay the telegraph authority such expenses (if any) as may be incurred in making good such damage, and shall also, if the telegraphic communication is by reason of the damage so caused interrupted, be punishable with a fine which may extend to one thousand Taka:Provided that the provisions of this section shall not apply where such damage or interruption is caused by a person dealing with any property in the legal exercise of a right if he has complied with the provisions of section 19A (1).]

26. If any telegraph officer, or any person, not being a telegraph officer but having official duties connected with any office which is used as a telegraph office,- (a) wilfully secretes, makes away with or alters any message which he has received for transmission or delivery, or (b) wilfully and otherwise than in obedience to an order of the Government or of a Government, or of an officer specially authorised by the Government to make the order, omits to transmit, or intercepts or detains, any message or any part thereof, or otherwise than in pursuance of his official duty or in obedience to the direction of a competent Court, discloses the contents or any part of the contents of any message, to any person not entitled to receive the same, or (c) divulges the purport of any telegraphic signal to any person not entitled to become acquainted with the same, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine, or with both.

27. If any telegraph officer transmits by telegraph any message on which the charge prescribed by the Government, or by a person licensed under this Act, as the case may be, has not been paid, intending thereby to defraud the Government or that person, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

28. If any telegraph officer, or any person not being a telegraph officer but having official duties connected with any office which is used as a telegraph office, is guilty of any act of drunkenness, carelessness or other misconduct whereby the correct transmission or the delivery of any message is impeded or delayed, or if any telegraph officer loiters or delays in the transmission or delivery of any message, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to one hundred Taka or with both.

29. If any person transmits or causes to be transmitted by telegraph a message which he knows or has reason to believe to be false or fabricated, or a message which is indecent or obscene, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

⁴[29A. If any person, without due authority,- (a) makes or issues any document of a nature reasonably calculated to cause it to be believed that the document has been issued by, or under the authority of, the Director General, Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Department, or (b) makes on any document any mark in imitation of, or similar to, or purporting to be, any stamp or mark of any telegraph office under the Director General, Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Department, or a mark of a nature reasonably calculated to cause it to be believed that the document so marked has been issued by, or under the authority of, the Director General, Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Department, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to fifty Taka.]

30. If any person fraudulently retains, or wilfully secretes, makes away with or detains a message which ought to have been delivered to some other person, or, being required by a telegraph officer to deliver up any such message, neglects or refuses to do so, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

31. A telegraph officer shall be deemed a public servant within the meaning of sections 161, 162,163,164 and 165 of the ⁵[Penal Code]; and in the definition of “legal remuneration” contained in the said section 161, the word “Government” shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to include a person licensed under this Act.

32. Whoever attempts to commit any offence punishable under this Act shall be punished with the punishment herein provided for the offence.