Indian Penal Code, 1860
Section 276
repealedSale of drug as a different drug or preparation
Whoever knowingly sells, or offers or exposes for sale, or issues from a dispensary for medicinal purposes, any drug or medical preparation, as a different drug or medical preparation, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.
Why this exists
Patients and doctors rely on medicines being correctly identified, since the wrong drug, even a genuine and unadulterated one, can be useless or dangerous if given for the wrong condition. This section punishes deliberately mislabelling or misrepresenting one drug as another, separately from adulteration, because the harm here comes from misidentification rather than tampering with the drug's contents. Modern regulation now largely falls under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. Replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, effective 1 July 2024.