Criminal Conspiracy

By- Varnika Agarwal

Crime:

When an act committed which is prohibited by law in order to protect public interest is crime. And if such act is committed it will be followed with the punishment.

Two essential elements of a crime are-

Actus reus(an act or conduct)
Mens rea(criminal intent)

Criminal act is punishable because such act with intention will result in suffering to the community. Other criminal offences require the happening of actus reus and mens rea, but criminal conspiracy is made punishable at the stage of mens rea. Thus, advancement of intention i.e., actus reus is not an essential ingredient in criminal conspiracy.

Criminal Conspiracy can be defined as an act when two or more persons agree to do or cause to do:

An illegal act.

An act which is done through illegal means.

In Mulcahy v. Regina, it was laid down that the criminal intention to do an act is very essential in criminal conspiracy.

History of Conspiracy in India:

Earlier, criminal conspiracy was considered civil offence. But subsequently, it started to be recognised as a criminal offence. In 1868, when it was added in Section 121A of Indian Penal Code, 1862, its scope got broadened. It got evolved with the series of cases.

Essential Elements :

• Two or more persons:

The most important element in criminal conspiracy is that there should be two or more people involved in the conspiracy. In H.P v. Krishnan case it was held that, in criminal conspiracy basic thing that takes place is the meeting of mind of two or more people in order to commit an illegal act or an act which is not illegal but done by an illegal means.

• Illegal act or act in an illegal way:

In this section, for an offence the thing needed is an agreement to do an act which is contrary to or forbidden by law. The basic reason behind this is to make even basic stage of crime punishable.

Also, if an act committed is not illegal but the way through which it is done is unlawful in that case too it will be punishable under fhis section.

Example- A wanted to marry B, but inorder to marry her, he tried to kidnap her, in this case the act of marriage he wanted to perform was not illegal but the he tried to do the act was unlawful.

• Meeting of Minds:

In criminal conspiracy, when two or more people are getting together in order to commit an illegal act or an act by illegal means, it is necessary that the meeting of minds of those people is necessary, because they have to get into an agreement to which they all mutually agree.

• Agreement:

The element essential in criminal conspiracy is that, an overt act from the wrong doers side is not essential in criminal conspiracy. An agreement is necessary in criminal conspiracy which clearly states that the all the wrongdoers mutually agreed in the agreement.

Section 120A:

Section 120A of the Penal Code reads as follows-, “120A. Definition of criminal conspiracy- When 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,

such an agreement is designated a criminal conspiracy.

Provided that no agreement except an agreement to commit an offence shall amount to a criminal conspiracy unless some act besides the agreement is done by one or more parties to such agreement in pursuance thereof.

Explanation- It is immaterial whether the illegal act is the ultimate object of such agreement, or is merely incidental to that object".

Requirement under section 120A, IPC are:

In a crime of criminal conspiracy there should be involvement of two or more people, because a crime of conspiracy cannot be committed by a single person.
There should be an agreement present.
An agreement should be related to-

An illegal act;
A legal act by illegal means.

In State of Maharashtra & Ors v. Sam Nath Thapa & Ors (1996)4 SCC 659, the Supreme Court clearly stated that mere knowledge and discussion will not lead to the offence of conspiracy. In order to get involved in a criminal conspiracy person should be well aware with what the co-conspirators were about to do and how the whole plan will result in the illegal act.

Nature and scope of Law of Conspiracy in section 120A:

The nature and scope of law of conspiracy is limited. The basic purpose of the act is to prevent happening of an act which is illegal before the crime is being committed. The scope of the act is restricted with the agreement and meeting of minds related to criminal act.

Punishment of Criminal Conspiracy:

An act of criminal conspiracy is punishable under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. In section 120B, criminal conspiracy is divided into two categories:-

Conspiracy to a serious offence- In this category offence is punished with an imprisonment of more than 2 years.
Conspiracy to commit other offences- In this category, offence will be punished with uniform punishment, i.e., fine or imprisonment up to 6 months or both.

Nature and scope of section 120B:

Section 120B states the punishment given to the person who is guilty of conspiracy. He might be punished with imprisonment or even death as a punishment. Nature of the section is punitive. The sections scope is limited because it only relates to the punishment given to the convict.

Difference between Criminal Conspiracy and Abetment:

In an offence of abetment one or more engage or employ other people in order to commit an offence. The person who abets the offence is called the ‘abettor’, while the one who is actually committing an act is called the ‘principle offender'. But, in an offence of criminal conspiracy, two or more people come together into an agreement in order to commit an illegal act or an act which is not illegal but is committed through an illegal means. People involved in a conspiracy are called ‘Conspirators’.
While an abetment is committed, people just coming together and making an agreement is not essential, there should be an act or illegal omission, but in a criminal conspiracy mere agreement and meeting minds of people is necessary.
In an abetment mere presence of one of more people is enough, whereas in conspiracy two or more people presence is essential.
Abetment is genus while the conspiracy is species.
Abetment per se is not a substantive offence but criminal conspiracy is.
Abetment involves various methods through which it fakes place, but conspiracy is one of the method of abetment.
Offence of abetment is briefly described in Sections 107 to 120 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, but an offence of criminal conspiracy is described in section 120A and 120B of Indian Penal Code,1860.

References :

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/591631/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.barandbench.com/amp/story/columns/criminal-conspiracy-law-applicability
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1897847/#:~:text=(1)%20Whoever%20is%20a%20party,manner%20as%20if%20he%20had