CRIMINAL

CONSPIRACY
SUBMITTED BY: SANIYAM CHAUDHARY 2C 13617703823
 INTRODUCTION
Section 120A of the INDIAN PENAL CODE 1860 states: “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.
Generally, the accused is charged with the offence of criminal conspiracy along
with the charge of some other substantive offence under the Indian Penal Code,
1860 or any other law.
Chapter V-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 as inserted in 1913 deals with the
offence of criminal conspiracy.
 ESSENTIALS
As section 120A of the Indian penal code 1860 states the definition of criminal
conspiracy it's essential elements can be clearly stated as the following :
The very first essential is that there must be at least two persons who conspire.
Secondly there must be a joint evil intent to do an illegal act or an act that is not illegal
by illegal means is necessary.
The agreement may be expressed or implied or partly expressed and partly implied.
As soon as the agreement is made, the conspiracy arises, and the offence is committed.
The same offence is continued to be committed so long as the combination persists.
 PROOF OF CONSPIRACY
The offence of criminal conspiracy can be proved by either direct or circumstantial
evidence.
A conspiracy is usually hatched in a secret and private setting which is why it is almost
impossible to produce any affirmative evidence about the date of the formation of the
criminal conspiracy, the persons involved in it, or the object of such conspiracy, or how
such object is to be carried out.
It was believed that agreement or meeting of minds is one of the main evidence to prove
the conspiracy under this section and also it is one of the hardest one to prove because
as we know the fact that offender by himself does not agree to a fact that he is involved
with someone.
It is only a matter of circumstances that one can prove that there is a meeting of minds
or an agreement between those two. Hence, criminal conspiracy is based on
circumstantial evidence as in most cases there is no direct evidence to prove the same.
There is no conspiracy between husband and wife because they are considered as the
one person.
PUNISHMENT OF CONSPIRACY
Section 120B of Indian Penal Code, 1860 provides that “whoever is a party to a
criminal conspiracy to commit an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for
life or rigorous imprisonment for a term of two years or upwards, shall, where no
express provision is made in this code for the punishment of such a conspiracy, be
punished in the same manner as if he had abetted such offence”.
Whoever is a party to a criminal conspiracy other than a criminal conspiracy to
commit an offence punishable as aforesaid shall be punished with imprisonment of
either description for a term not exceeding six months, or with fine or with both.
 INDIAN EVIDENCE ACT 1872
Pertaining to the realm of 'criminal conspiracy under IPC', the Indian
Evidence Act 1872 plays a crucial role. Particularly, Section 10 of the Act
serves as a critical legal instrument in dealing with criminal conspiracy cases.
Indian Evidence Act of 1872 - Section 10
Section 10 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 is specially designed to deal with
cases of conspiracy. The provision states that when more than one person is
alleged to have engaged in a criminal conspiracy, any act or statement made
by one of the conspirators in reference to their common intention, once the
conspiracy has been proved, is relevant against the others. This essentially
allows for evidentiary flexibility in cases involving multiple offenders.
 CASE LAWS
These are some of the important case laws in criminal conspiracy :
1. Kehar Singh and others v. State (Delhi Administration) (1988):
The Supreme Court, in this case, has held that the most important ingredient of the offence of
conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to do an illegal act.
Such an illegal act may or may not be done in pursuance of the agreement, but the very
agreement is an offence and is punishable.
2. Major E.G. Barsay v. The State of Bombay (1962):
The Supreme Court held that an agreement to break the law constitutes the gist of the offence
of criminal conspiracy under Section 120A of Indian Penal Code,1860.
The parties to such an agreement are guilty of criminal conspiracy even if the illegal act agreed
to be done by them has not been done. The court also held that it is not an ingredient of the
offence of criminal conspiracy that all the parties should agree to do a single illegal act and a
conspiracy may comprise the commission of several acts.
 3. Parveen v. State of Haryana (2021)
This case dealt with the issue of whether a conspiracy can be established when the
agreement is inferred from the circumstances. The Supreme Court held that a
conspiracy can be inferred from the circumstances even if there is no express
agreement between the conspirators.
4. Leo Roy Frey v. Suppdt. Distt. Jail (1958)
This case dealt with the issue of whether a conspiracy can be established in the absence
of a formal agreement between the conspirators. The Supreme Court held that a formal
agreement is not necessary to establish a conspiracy and that a conspiracy can be
inferred from the circumstances and the actions of the parties.
5. R v. Barkat Ali (1914)
This was one of the earliest cases related to criminal conspiracy in India. In this case,
the court held that for a conspiracy to be established, there must be an agreement
between two or more persons to commit an illegal act and an intention to bring about
the illegal act.
 CONCLUSION:
The offence of criminal conspiracy is an exception to the general rule that in order to
constitute a crime, both mens rea and actus rea must be involved, here merely guilty
mind is sufficient to render a person guilty if the agreement was to commit an illegal act.
However, an act, or actus reus becomes essential again if the object of the agreement was
to do a lawful act by unlawful means. The criminal conspiracy can be inferred from the
surrounding circumstances and the conduct of the suspected or the accused person. A
person found to be guilty of criminal
conspiracy, is punished under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. This Section
of the Code, is slowly losing its essence and there is a need to ensure that due diligence is
maintained in cases of criminal conspiracy to propagate true manifestation of the law and
justice. The well-established principle of criminal law, 'fouler the crime, higher the
proof required' must be kept in mind, and the sanctity of law upheld.