Coercion
Also called: Duress
Committing or threatening any act forbidden by the penal code, or unlawfully detaining or threatening to detain property, to anyone's prejudice, with intent to make a person enter into an agreement (Section 15, Contract Act).
Explained
Section 15 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 defines coercion as the committing, or threatening to commit, any act forbidden by the Indian Penal Code, or the unlawful detaining, or threatening to detain, any property, to the prejudice of any person whatever, with the intention of causing any person to enter into an agreement. The text still names the IPC. Since the BNS has repealed and re-enacted the IPC, the reference is read with the corresponding BNS provisions under Section 8 of the General Clauses Act, 1897. The Explanation makes it immaterial whether the penal code is in force where the coercion is employed, as the Illustration about criminal intimidation on an English ship on the high seas shows.
The elements are an act forbidden by the penal law or unlawful detention of property, actual or threatened; directed to the prejudice of any person, not necessarily the contracting party; and done with the intention of causing someone to enter into an agreement. Coercion may be employed by a stranger to the contract, and it may be aimed at a third person. Under Section 14 consent is not free when caused by coercion, which means it would not have been given but for the coercion.
Under Section 19 an agreement caused by coercion is a contract voidable at the option of the party whose consent was so caused. Section 72 separately requires a person to whom money has been paid, or anything delivered, under coercion to repay or return it. Coercion differs from undue influence under Section 16, which rests on a relationship of domination and unfair advantage rather than unlawful threats, and from English duress, which was traditionally confined to threats to the person.
The word also appears in evidence law. Under Section 22 of the BSA a confession caused by inducement, threat, coercion or promise from a person in authority, relating to the charge, is irrelevant in a criminal proceeding. Examiners test that a stranger may coerce, that the threat may be against any person, and that the result is voidable, not void.
What the law says
“Coercion” is the committing, or threatening to commit, any act forbidden by the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860)or the unlawful detaining, or threatening to detain, any property, to the prejudice of any person whatever, with the intention of causing any person to enter into an agreement.
Explanation.—It is immaterial whether the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) is or is not in force in the place where the coercion is employed.
Illustration
Definition of coercion
(1) coercion, as defined in section 15, or
(2) undue influence, as defined in section 16, or
(3) fraud, as defined in section 17, or
Consent not free when caused by coercion
When consent to an agreement is caused by coercion,*** fraud or misrepresentation, the agreement is a contract voidable at the option of the party whose consent was so caused.
A party to a contract whose consent was caused by fraud or misrepresentation, may, if he thinks fit, insist that the contract shall be performed, and that he shall be put in the position in which he would have been if the representations made had been true.
Exception.—If such consent was caused by misrepresentation or by silence, fraudulent within the meaning of section 17, the contract, nevertheless, is not voidable, if the party whose consent was so caused had the means of discovering the truth with ordinary diligence.
Agreement caused by coercion is voidable
A person to whom money has been paid, or anything delivered, by mistake or under coercion, must repay or return it.
Illustrations
(a)A and B jointly owe 100 rupees to C, A alone pays the amount to C, and B, not knowing this fact, pays 100 rupees over again to C. C is bound to repay the amount to B.
Restitution of money paid under coercion
A confession made by an accused person is irrelevant in a criminal proceeding, if the making of the confession appears to the Court to have been caused by any inducement, threat, coercion or promise having reference to the charge against the accused person, proceeding from a person in authority and sufficient, in the opinion of the Court, to give the accused person grounds which would appear to him reasonable for supposing that by making it he would gain any advantage or avoid any evil of a temporal nature in reference to the proceedings against him:
Provided that if the confession is made after the impression caused by any such inducement, threat, coercion or promise has, in the opinion of the Court, been fully removed, it is relevant:
Provided further that if such a confession is otherwise relevant, it does not become irrelevant merely because it was made under a promise of secrecy, or in consequence of a deception practised on the accused person for the purpose of obtaining it, or when he was drunk, or because it was made in answer to questions which he need not have answered, whatever may have been the form of those questions, or because he was not warned that he was not bound to make such confession, and that evidence of it might be given against him.
Confession caused by coercion is irrelevant
Earlier law: IEA 24. Confession caused by inducement, threat or promise, when irrelevant in criminal proceeding.; 28. Confession made after removal of impression caused by inducement, threat or promise, relevant.; 29. Confession otherwise relevant not to become irrelevant because of promise of secrecy, etc.
Example
Illustration to Section 15: A, on board an English ship on the high seas, causes B to enter into an agreement by an act amounting to criminal intimidation. A has employed coercion even though the penal code may not apply there.
For the exam
- Coercion is defined in Section 15; free consent in Section 14; effect in Section 19 of the Contract Act.
- A contract induced by coercion is voidable at the option of the coerced party, not void.
- Coercion may be by a stranger and may be aimed at any person, not only the contracting party.
- Unlawful detention of property, or the threat of it, is coercion.
- Section 72: money paid or thing delivered under coercion must be repaid or returned.
70 questions in the Law Maker question bank use this term. Practise Contract Law questions
Related terms
- Undue influenceUnder Section 16 of the Contract Act, where one party is in a position to dominate the will of the other and uses that position to obtain an unfair advantage. The contract is voidable.
- FraudUnder Section 17 of the Contract Act, specified acts by a party to a contract, or with his connivance, or by his agent, done to deceive the other party or induce him to contract.
- MisrepresentationAn untrue statement or a breach of duty that misleads a party into a contract without intent to deceive. It makes the contract voidable (Sections 18 and 19 of the Indian Contract Act).
- Voidable contractAn agreement enforceable by law at the option of one or more of the parties but not at the option of the other or others. Section 2(i) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
- ContractUnder Section 2(h) of the Contract Act, an agreement enforceable by law. Section 10 lists what makes an agreement a contract.
- AgreementUnder Section 2(e) of the Contract Act, every promise and every set of promises forming the consideration for each other. An agreement enforceable by law is a contract.
Further reading
Checked 6 November 2026. Statutory text is quoted from the Bare Acts library, taken from India Code. See the full glossary.