Offence of criminal conspiracy

Offence of criminal conspiracy

Subject: Polity

Context: Arrest and then recent bail of activist Disha Ravi for the offence of conspiracy to incite violence in national capital on 26^th January has brought this in focus.

Concept:

• Sections 120A and 120B of the IPC, deals with the offence of criminal conspiracy. Former deals with the definition, while later provides for punishment.
• The law originated during the British times in 1913 to control rising national sentiments.
• The common intention and an agreement between two or more persons to commit a criminal offence constitute the offence of criminal conspiracy.
• Agreement is necessary (not necessary for all the conspirators to know each other) and sufficient to establish the charge of conspiracy (even if actual offence was not committed). This means it is a substantive offence itself and is done to prevent crime in initial stages.
• The SC in 1993 Delhi blasts case: The encouragement and support which co-conspirators give to one another rendering enterprises possible which, if left to individual effort, would have been impossible, furnish the ground for visiting conspirators and abettors with condign punishment
• once the prosecution proves the conspiracy charge, all of the accused will be held liable for conspiracy, and also separately for individual offences committed by them.
• For prescribing punishment for conspiracy, the IPC divides criminal conspiracies into two categories.

1. First, for criminal conspiracy to commit serious offences — which carry a sentence of two years or more, including life imprisonment and the death penalty — the accused will be punished as though they had abetted such offence.
2. Second, in a criminal conspiracy to commit offences that carry a jail term of less than two years, fine or both, the punishment is imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or fine, or both.