Chapter VIII – Of Offences Against The Public Tranquillity
Definition – Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object – If an offence is committed by an member of an unlawful assembly in prosecution of common object of that assembly, or such as the member of that assembly knew to be likely to be committed in prosecution of that object, every person who at the time of committing of that offence is a member of the same assembly, is guilty of that offence.
Elements of Section 149 of the IPC
- In prosecution of the common object of the unlawful assembly, the offence must have been committed by one or any other member of that assembly.
- The offence must be such that member of unlawful assembly knew it to be likely to be committed in prosecution of common object.
Scope of Section 149 of the IPC
Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, makes it clear that if an offence is committed by any member of an unlawful assembly in prosecution of the common object of that assembly, or such as the members of that assembly knew to be likely to be committed in prosecution of that object, every person who, at the time of the committing of that offence is the member of the same assembly, is guilty of that offence; and that emphatically brings out the principle that the punishment prescribed by Section 149 of the IPC is in a sense vicarious and does not always proceed on the basis that the offence has been actually committed by every member of the unlawful assembly.
Baldin v. State of U.P. was one of the early cases in which this court dealt with Section 149 of IPC.
Arvind Kumar alis Nemichand & ORS v. State of Rajasthan, in this case apex court held that Section 149 of the code deals with a common object. To attract this provision there must be an evidence of an assembly with the common object becoming an unlawful one.
The observation made in Baldin v. State of U.P. were considered in Masalti v. State of U.P. where the apex court explained that cases in which a person who are merely a passive witnesses and had joined the assembly out of curiosity, without sharing the common object of the assembly stood on a different footing; otherwise it was not necessary to prove that the person had committed some illegal act or was guilty of some omission in pursuance of the common object of the assembly before he could be fastened with the consequence of an act committed by any other of the assembly with the help of Section 149 IPC.