There is a pre-arranged plan between A and B to beat C. During the beating, A tells B to murder C. Consequently B murders C. Is A guilty of murdering C? Give reasons and also refer to case law, if any, on the point.

Question: There is a pre-arranged plan between A and B to beat C. During the beating, A tells B to murder C. Consequently B murders C. Is A guilty of murdering C? Give reasons and also refer to case law, if any, on the point.

Find the answer to the mains question of IPC only on Legal Bites. [There is a pre-arranged plan between A and B to beat C. During the beating, A tells B to murder C. Consequently B murders C. Is A guilty of murdering C? Give reasons and also refer to case law, if any, on the point.]

Answer

The facts of the present case resemble the case of Krishnan Govind Patil v. State of Maharashtra, 1963 AIR 1413, in which the Supreme Court clearly held that common intention may also develop on the spot in the course of the commission of the offence which is pre-planned together between the parties.

In the present problem, A and B had no common intention originally to murder C, but it developed on the spot, i.e. at the place of occurrence in the course of beating C as soon as A told B to kill C and B acted upon A’s direction. Thus, along with B, A is also guilty of the offence of murder in the present case under section 302 read with 34 of IPC.

The Privy Council in the case of Ganesh Singh v. Ram Raja, (1969) 3 BLR 44 (PC) observed that where parties go with a common purpose to execute a common object, each and everyone become responsible for the acts of each and every other in execution and in furtherance of their common purpose; as the purpose is common so must be the responsibility.

It is pertinent here to mention that common intention denotes the meeting of minds or a pre-arranged plan wherein the unity of purpose may be formed on the spot.

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