Unlawful Assembly

Section 141 of the IPC, 1860 deals with the unlawful assembly. Article 19(1)(B) of the Indian
Constitution,1950 confers a fundamental right to assemble peacefully however this section seeks to
criminalize an unlawful assembly.

Definition

Assembly of 5 or more people to commit an unlawful offence is called an unlawful assembly. An

important aspect of an unlawful assembly is the presence of a common intention to disturb public
peace and tranquillity. The mere presence of a person in an assembly without any motive to infringe
the peace in the surrounding is not punishable. The common objective is to determine the aim and
nature of the assembly. It is also possible that lawful assembly turns out to be an unlawful assembly.

Object

 To use criminal force against any public servant, state or central government.

 To resist any legal proceeding.

 To commit any mischief or trespass on any property or person.

 To use criminal force against any person to deprive him of the enjoyment of any right.

 To use criminal force against a person and compelling him to do something which he is
legally not bound to do.

Ingredients

For unlawful assembly, several ingredients need to be present for making anyone liable for the
punishment defined for unlawful assembly under the provisions of IPC.

Five or More Persons

Unlawful assembly should consist of persons more than 5. If the number of people in a group is less
than 5 then it will render this section inapplicable. It is also possible that the number of persons in an
unlawful assembly may drop down to 5 after the commission of the crime, in this scenario too this
Section would not apply, but Section 149, of the given Act (Subran Subramaniyam vs the State of
Kerala) which levies vicarious liability on the person, would be applicable.

If in an unlawful assembly 3 persons are acquitted and the rest could not be identified or are
unmanned but the court is certain about the presence of other people in the group making the
number to 5 or more than that, then, in that case, the section of the unlawful assembly would be
applied.

In the case of Ram Bilas Singh vs the State of Bihar, the Supreme Court has delineated certain
situations where even the number of persons in an unlawful assembly becomes less than 5, then
also conviction could take place.

 Evidence must be given that other than the person convicted, there are other people who
are involved at a given point of time.

 Evidence to show the presence of other unidentified persons that are part of the unlawful
assembly.
  The first information report must reflect such to be the case even if there is no such charge
formed at that given point of time.

 In Dharam Pal Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh, the SC of India upheld that:-

 “Where only five named persons have been charged with constituting an
unlawful assembly and one or more of them have been acquitted, the
remaining accused (less than five) may not be convicted as members of an
unlawful assembly unless it is established that, in addition to convicted
persons, the unlawful assembly consisted of other persons who were not
identified and who were unable to be named.”

They must have a Common Object

The term “object” refers to design or purpose, and for it to be “common” the person must share and
abide by it. The members of an unlawful assembly must have a common object to commit a
particular offence. Unlike common intention here prior meeting of minds is not important, the
common object could be constructed on the spot. Common object leaves scope for the likelihood of
events. Here the persons could also have an assumption that certain events “might happen” or are
“likely to happen”.

The presence of common objects could be shown by way of facts and circumstances because the
direct evidence of it is not possible.

Section 149 of the IPC, 1860 deals with the common object. The word ‘knew’ is used in the second
part of this Section, which means more than a “possibility” but less than “might have known”. Hence
any offence so committed by any member of the unlawful assembly is assumed that all the member
must have known at least the possibility of that act. This section further implies that any offence
committed in the prosecution of the common object is immediately connected to a common object
held by all the members of the unlawful assembly. Sheikh Yusuf v. Emperor,[5]the court said that;
“the word ‘object’ means the purpose or design to do a thing aimed at and that the object must be
‘common’ to the persons who comprise the assembly.” A Common Object is where all or
minimum five member of the assembly possesses and shares one object.

3) The common object must be to commit one of the five illegal objects specified in the section

As stated earlier, an assembly of five or more persons is designated as an unlawful assembly, if the
common object of the persons composing that assembly is any one of the following five objects
declared illegal under section 141, IPC:

click above

1. To overawe Government by criminal force.

2. To resist the execution of law or legal process.

3. To commit an offence.

4. forcible possession or dispossession of any property; or

5. To compel any person to do illegal acts.

i) To overawe government by criminal force: ‘Overawe’ means to create fear in mind of another
person. That is when a public procession tends to overawe government by the use of force, like what
the Stone Pelters do at parts of Kashmir to protest against the government, such an assembly is
termed as an unlawful assembly.

ii) To resist the execution of law or legal process: Resistance by an assembly to a legal process or
execution of law, for example, executing a court’s judgment or order comes under execution of law,
Hence, restraining the arrest in case of Baba Ram Rahim in Haryana was an illegal act by people and
government decided for dispersion of unlawful assembly under section 144 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973.

iii) To commit an offence: Where an assembly of 5 or more persons having a common object of
performing an act which is prohibited by law or forms an offence under Indian Penal Code or other
special or Local Laws, such an assembly would be an unlawful assembly.

iv) Forcible possession or dispossession of any property: Where a criminal force is used by an
assembly to deprive a person of enjoyment of the right to way or right to use of water or any other
incorporeal right that the person is enjoying and in possession of. Or to obtain possession of any
property or to impose such rights, the above acts are prohibited under clause 4 of section 141 of the
Indian Penal Code, 1860.

v) To compel any person to do illegal acts: if assembly by using criminal force on others compel them
to perform an illegal act than that assembly would be an unlawful assembly.

Member of an Unlawful Assembly

The key component of section 142 is that as soon as the individual is aware of the fact that the
assembly is unlawful, despite knowing that it is unlawful, it must be proved that he remained part of
such an assembly. The word ‘continues’ under section 142 means physical presence as a member of
an unlawful assembly, that is, physically being present in the crowd. A person who understands that
the assembly is unlawful and is present as a just bystander cannot be attributed to this chapter.

Section 143 embodies the punishment for having been a member of an unlawful assembly. Any
person who is a member of an unlawful assembly shall be punishable by a term of imprisonment of
up to 6 months, or by a fine, or both.

Section 144 aims to punish persons in an unlawful assembly armed with an offensive weapon. It
prescribes the punishment of imprisonment for a term that can extend to 2 years, or fine, or both.
This section is intended to reduce the risk of hampering the tranquility of the general public.

Section 145 provides for punishment for knowingly joining an unlawful assembly that has been
ordered to disperse. This section is consistent with IPC section 151 and section 148. Section 151
deals with cases of a special nature in which disobedience leads to an infringement of public peace,
and section 188 deals with cases in which there is an infringement of any legal order by any public
servant.

Section 129 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that a police officer has special powers to
order the dispersal of an unlawful assembly.

Section 150 makes individuals who have been hired to join the unlawful assembly liable. It provides
that if a person is hired to be a member of an unlawful assembly, he is liable in the same way as if he
had been a member of that assembly and had committed the offence himself.
Section 157 of IPC is a broader section that provides for the harbouring of hired individuals to be
punished. Anyone who knowingly harbours the persons being hired as part of an unlawful assembly
shall be liable for imprisonment that may extend to six months, or for fines, or both.[3]

Punishment for Unlawful Assembly

i) Under Section 143 of I.P.C. whoever is a member of an unlawful assembly shall be punished with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with
both.

ii) Under Section 144 of I.P.C. whoever joins unlawful assembly armed with a deadly weapon which is
likely to cause death; shall be punished with imprisonment for two years, or fine or both.

iii) Under Section 145 of I.P.C. whoever joins or continue to be in unlawful assembly, knowing it has
been commanded to disperse, shall be punished with imprisonment for 2 years, or fine, or both.

iv) Under Section 149 of I.P.C. where an assembly commits an offence than every member of that
unlawful assembly, who knew such offence is likely to be committed, will be guilty of that offence.
And be punished for the term same as for the offence.