Zainul vs State of Bihar 2025 INSC 1192 - S. 149 IPC - Unlawful Assembly - FIR

Indian Penal Code 1860 (IPC) - Section 149 - Where there are general allegations against a large number of persons, the court must remain very careful before convicting all of them on vague or general evidence. Therefore, the courts ought to look for some cogent and credible material that lends assurance. It is safe to convict only those whose presence is not only consistently established from the stage of FIR, but also to whom overt acts are attributed which are in furtherance of the common object of the unlawful assembly, (Para 61)

IPC - Section 149- i. There must be an assembly of five or more persons; ii. An offence must be committed by any member of that unlawful assembly; iii. The offence committed must be in order to attain the common object of that assembly, or iv. The members of the assembly must have the knowledge that the particular offence is likely to be committed in order to attain the common object. (Para 45) -Mere presence at the scene does not ipso facto render a person a member of the unlawful assembly, unless it is established that such an accused also shared its common object. A mere bystander, to whom no specific role is attributed, would not fall within the ambit of Section 149 of the IPC. The prosecution has to establish, through reasonably direct or indirect circumstances, that the accused persons shared a common object of the unlawful assembly. The test to determine whether a person is a passive onlooker or an innocent bystander is the same as that applied to ascertain the existence of a common object. The existence of a common object is to be inferred from the circumstances of each case, such as: a. the time and place at which the assembly was formed; b. the conduct and behaviour of its members at or near the scene of the offence; c. the collective conduct of the assembly, as distinct from that of individual members; d. the motive underlying the crime; e. the manner in which the occurrence unfolded; f. the nature of the weapons carried and used; g. the nature, extent, and number of the injuries inflicted, and other relevant considerations. (Para 54)

Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 - Section 154 - FIR - An FIR must faithfully reflect the information furnished by the informant at the very time it is presented. The true test for an information to qualify as an FIR lies in whether it is capable of supplying grounds for the police officer to suspect the commission of a cognizable offence. Once this requirement is met, the officer is bound to reduce it into writing. (Para 89)

S.149 IPC | Supreme Court Explains Tests To Determine If Bystander Was Member Of Unlawful Assembly With Common Object

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (October 7) observed that mere presence at the crime scene would not ipso facto render a person a member of the unlawful assembly to book him under Section 149 IPC. The…

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