UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY

A Project Submitted to-

ARMY INSTITUTE OF LAW, MOHALI

By –
ISHIKA KANYAL (2013)
Under the guidance of
Dr. Bajirao Rajwade (Ass, Professor of Law)
In the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
award of
Degree of B.A LL.B.
Punjabi university, Patiala, Punjab
Submission date: September 1st, 2023

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 DECLARATION

It is certified that project work presented in this report entitled “Unlawful

Assembly” embodies the result of original research work carried out by me.

All the ideas and references have been duly acknowledged.

Date: September 1st, 2023 Name: Ishika Kanyal

Place: AIL, Mohali Roll no: 2013

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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................4

UNLAWFULL ASSEMBLY...............................................................................4

Meaning.............................................................................................................4

1) There must be an assembly of five persons................................................4

2) The assembly must have a common object.................................................5

3) The common object must be to commit one of the five illegal objects
specified in the section...................................................................................5

When unlawful assembly turns into a riot?....................................................6

Sec 142: Being a member of an unlawful assembly.............................................6

PUNISHMENT (Section 143)..............................................................................6

Punishment for Unlawful Assembly.................................................................6

SECTION 149......................................................................................................8

Ingredients of Section 149 IPC..........................................................................8

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COMMON OBJECT AND COMMON

INTENTION.........................................................................................................8

CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................9

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UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCTION
Article 19 (1)(B) of the Constitution of India 1949, lay down that ‘All citizens shall have
right to assemble peaceably and without arms. That means citizens of India has been given
freedom to assemble and organize a public gathering or even processions on their own will.
But this right to assemble is subject to reasonable restriction by the state in the interest of
sovereignty and integrity of India or public order under clause 3 of Article 19 of the
Constitution of India 1949. Thus, an appropriate authority can prohibit holding up of a public
meeting, in a case where they are of the opinion that doing so is necessary for maintaining
public peace and tranquillity.

UNLAWFULL ASSEMBLY
The topic of unlawful assembly in today’s world is highly relevant. People nowadays are
more vocal and assertive about their opinions and ideas; they know the strength and power of
coming together. But when people gather to protest or to stand their ground, these protests
can often turn violent, and the line between lawful and unlawful assembly becomes blurred.

Meaning
The term ‘assembly’ means gathering of a number of persons. Where such persons assemble
in such
a way as to cause terror in the minds of people and endanger public peace and tranquillity, the
assembly is termed as ‘unlawful assembly’.
Provisions- What constitutes an unlawful assembly?
An assembly, which is not lawful when it assembled, may subsequently become an unlawful
assembly. Therefore, to constitute the offence under Section 141:-

1) There must be an assembly of five persons

The Supreme Court of India has upheld invariably in a number of cases such as Dharam Pal
Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh1 that;

1
AIR 1975 SC 1917.

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 “where only five named persons have been charged for constituting an unlawful assembly,
and one or more of them are acquitted, the remaining accused (who are less than five)
cannot be convicted as members of unlawful assembly, unless it is proved that the unlawful
assembly, besides convicted persons consisted of some other persons as well who were not
identified and so could not be named.”

2) The assembly must have a common object

The law does not declare a mere assemblage of men, however large it is, as illegal unless it is
inspired by an illegal common object. In the case of Sheikh Yusuf v. Emperor,2 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:

A group of 5 or more persons becomes an unlawful assembly only if the object of such
assembly is to:

 Intimidate the Government by use of Criminal Force

 Resist the execution of law or legal process
 Commit offences like mischief, criminal trespass
 Possess or dispossess any property by use of criminal force
 Use criminal force to compel a person to do an illegal act

Unlawful Assembly Example

A and 4 of his friends decided to protest against a government policy to ban alcohol. It is not
an unlawful assembly if they are protesting, sitting silently and showing their displeasure.

2
AIR 1946 Pat 127.

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Suppose they decide to destroy public property to intimidate the Government for the decision.
In that case, all 5 of them are part of unlawful assembly and will be liable to punishment
under the Indian Penal Code.

Section 149 of the IPC clearly states that if an offence is committed to prosecuting a common
object, then every member of an unlawful assembly sharing such object will be guilty of it.

When unlawful assembly turns into a riot?

Whenever the use of force or violence breaks out in the prosecution of the common object of
the unlawful assembly, all the members of the unlawful assembly become guilty of rioting.

Sec 142: Being a member of an unlawful assembly

If a person remains in an unlawful assembly after he became aware that the assembly was
unlawful,
he shall be deemed to be a member of that unlawful assembly and shall be liable as such. It
runs as
follows.
“Whoever being aware of the facts which render any assembly an unlawful assembly,
intentionally
joins that assembly, or continues in it, it is said to be a member of unlawful assembly”.

PUNISHMENT (Section 143)

Whoever is a member of an unlawful assembly shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description of term which may extend up to 6 months, or with fine or both.

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.

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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.

Case Law:

Yunis v. State of MP3

It was held that the presence of an accused as part of an unlawful assembly is sufficient for
conviction. The fact that the accused was a member of the unlawful assembly and his
presence at the
place of occurrence has not been disputed is sufficient to hold him guilty even if no overt act
is
imputed to him.
Ram Dular Rai vs State of Bihar4
It was held that mere presence in an unlawful assembly cannot render a person liable unless
he was
actuated by common object and the object is one of those set out in Section 141 of IPC.

In Bhanwar Singh v. State of M.P.5,the court held that, on the one hand, the common
purpose of an unlawful assembly depends on whether that object can be classified as one of
the objects described in section 141; on the other hand, that common object does not have to
be the product of a previous concert, but can form at the moment. Finally, the nature of such
a common object is a matter of fact to be determined by taking into account the nature of the
arms, the nature of the assembly, the conduct of the members, etc. in essence, the common
object to be examined takes into account the acts of the members and the circumstances

3
( Cr.LJ SC 2003)
4
1961 AIR 943 1961 SCR (2) 773.

5
2021 Latest Caselaw 2487 MP

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 surrounding a particular case. In addition, there is always the possibility that an assembly
could be turned into an unlawful one.

SECTION 149
Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common
object

Ingredients of Section 149 IPC

To convict the person under Section 149 the following needs to be satisfied:

1. There must be an unlawful assembly.

2. Any member of the unlawful assembly must have committed an offence

3. The offence committed must be in furtherance of the assembly’s common objective or the
members must have knowledge about the happening of the offence.

According to the judgement passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Vijay Pandurang
Thakre v. State of Maharashtra 6(2017), for application of Section 149, there must be active
participation of the person in the offence with the necessary criminal intention or share the
common object of the unlawful assembly otherwise, the person cannot be held liable under
the said Section.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COMMON OBJECT AND COMMON INTENTION

Common Intention Common Object

6
[1] 1992 Supp (1) SCC 727 [2] 1993 Supp (2) SCC 534

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A pre-existing agreement between two or more individuals to The objective or goal of the crime that the individuals have agreed
commit a crime. This means that before the commission of the to commit. This refers to the end result or the main purpose of
crime, the individuals had a prior understanding and agreement committing the crime. It is the objective or goal that the accused had
to commit the crime together. in mind when committing the crime.

Established before the commission of the crime: Common Established during commission of the crime: Common object is
intention is established before the commission of the crime, as established during the commission of the crime, as it refers to the
it refers to a pre-existing agreement between individuals. objective or goal of the crime that is being committed.

Need not be the same as the actual intention of the accused: Must be the same as the actual intention of the accused: Common
Common intention does not have to be the same as the actual object must be the same as the actual intention of the accused, as it
intention of the accused, as it refers to a pre-existing agreement refers to the objective or goal that the accused had in mind when
between individuals. committing the crime.

Can be inferred from the actions and statements of the Must be proven through evidence: Common object must be proven
accused: Common intention can be inferred from the actions through evidence, as it refers to the objective or goal that the
and statements of the accused, as it refers to a pre-existing accused had in mind when committing the crime.
agreement between individuals.

Examples: Conspiracy, criminal breach of trust: Common Examples: murder, theft, rioting: Common object is often used in
intention is often used in cases involving conspiracy and cases involving crimes such as murder, theft, and rioting, as it refers
criminal breach of trust, as it refers to a pre-existing agreement to the objective or goal of the crime that is being committed.
between individuals to commit a crime.

Punishment: Same as the punishment for the intended crime: Punishment: Same as the punishment for the committed crime: The
The punishment for common intention is the same as the punishment for common object is the same as the punishment for
punishment for the intended crime, as it refers to a pre-existing the committed crime, as it refers to the objective or goal that the
agreement between individuals to commit a crime. accused had in mind when committing the crime.

CONCLUSION
It is important to remember that unlawful assembly covers violent and nonviolent conduct
that disturbs peace and public order. The legislation specifies that the gathering must be
unlawful with a common object, and the assembly members are vicariously liable. You don’t

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need to worry about celebrating with a bunch of friends as long as you do not fall under any
unlawful assembly criteria.

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