Criminal conspiracy
Conspiracy means a combination of two or more persons for unlawful purposes. It is an agreement between two or more persons to commit an illegal act. Criminal conspiracy is a substantive offence under the Indian Penal Code, 1860(I.P.C.) Section 120A.
Generally, the accused is charged with the offence of criminal conspiracy along with the charge of some other substantive offence under the I.P.C. or any other law. Chapter V-A of the I.P.C. as inserted in 1913 deals with the offence of criminal conspiracy. In this article, the author will attempt to analyse the substantive offence of criminal conspiracy with the help of relevant case laws. that conspiracy per se was not a crime under I.P.C. before 1913. The Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1913 inserted Chapter V-A in the I.P.C. which introduced criminal conspiracy as a substantive offence.
The Proviso attached to Section 120A provides that a mere agreement to commit an offence shall amount to criminal conspiracy and no overt act or illegal omission is required to be proved. Such overt act is necessary only when the object of the conspiracy is the commission of an illegal act not amounting to an offence. It is immaterial whether the illegal act is the ultimate object of such agreement or is merely incidental to that object.
Ingredients:
- Two or more persons agree to do or cause to be done an illegal act or an act which is not illegal by illegal means i.e. there must be at least 2 persons who conspire. However, a person may be indicted alone for the offence of criminal conspiracy if the other co-conspirators are unknown, missing or dead.
- Joint evil intent to do an illegal act or an act that is not illegal by illegal means is necessary.
Punishment of criminal conspiracy:
Section 120B of I.P.C. provides for punishment of criminal conspiracy-
- Where the criminal conspiracy is to commit a serious offence: In cases where the conspiracy is to commit an offence-
- Punishable with death, Imprisonment for life or
- Rigorous imprisonment for a term of two years or upwards
- and where no express punishment is provided under the Code for such conspiracy,
N.Medhiga Lakshmi / Final year / Saveetha School of Law
