- Criminal Conspiracy was inserted in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in 1913 as the experience at that time showed that dangerous conspiracies are entered into in India and that the existing law was inadequate to deal with the prevailing conditions.
- It comprises of only two sections 120A and 120B.
- Section 120A, IPC defines criminal conspiracy.
- It is a substantive offence in itself.
- a criminal conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime.
- Two or more persons must be parties to such an agreement and one person alone can never be held guilty of criminal conspiracy for the simple reason that one cannot conspire with oneself. [Haradhan v. Union of India, AIR 1990 SC 1210]
- A conspiracy consists not merely in the intention of two or more, but in the agreement of two or more to do an unlawful act, or to do a lawful act by unlawful means.
- So long as a design rests in intention only, it is not indictable.
- When two or more persons agree to carry it into effect the very plot is an act itself, and the act of each parties, promise against promise actus contra actum capable of being enforced, if lawful, punishable if for criminal object or for the use of criminal means.[Mulcahy v. R., (1868) 3 HL 306]
- The gist of the offence of conspiracy lies not in doing the act or effecting the purpose for which the conspiracy is formed, nor in attempting to do any of the acts nor in inducing others to do them, but in forming of the scheme or agreement between the parties to break the law
Note: CONTRACTUS EST QUASI ACTUS CONTRA ACTUM means A contract is an act as it were against an act
