COMMON INTENTION – SECTION 34 IPC
1. It is only a Rule of Evidence and does not create a substantive offence. It requires a prior consent or a pre-planning.
2. The accused can be convicted only if an intention to commit the Crime had been shared by all the accused.
3. Such a Common Intention should be anterior in point of time to the commission of Crime but may also develop at the instant when such Crime is committed.
4. The constructive liability of Sec- 34 is invoked on fulfilment of two ingredients :
a. There must be Common Intention to commit a criminal act.
b. There must be participation of all the persons in doing of such act in furtherance of that intention.
5. It is open to the Court of Law to take recourse to Sec 34 IPC even if the said section was not specifically mentioned in the Charge.
REFER : Dhanna Vs State of Madhya Pradesh
Kripal Vs State of UP AIR 1954 SC 706
Jageshwar Vs State of MP
Krishna Govind Patel Vs State of Maharashtra, 1964 (1) SCR 678
6. There can b hardly any direct evidence of Common Intention. Existence or Non- Existence of Common Intention amongst accused has to be deciphered cumulatively from their conduct and behaviour in facts and circumstances of each case. Events prior to occurrence, as also after, and during the occurrence, are all relevant to deduce if there existed any Common Intention.
REFER : State of Rajasthan Vs Shobha Ram ( 2013) 14 SCC 732
Raj Kishore Purohit Vs State of Madhya Pradesh (01-08-2017)
7. Section- 34 IPC is applicable even if no injury has been caused by the particular accused, since all came together.
8. VICARIOUS LIABILITY : The principle of Vicarious liability enshrined in Sec-34 would be attracted only if One or More than One accused person conjointly act in the commission of an offence with others. So long as the Prosecution brings forward the evidence that discloses that one or more accused persons had acted in concert with other persons not named or identified, the liability under section 34 would still be attracted.
REFER : Krishna Govind Patel Vs State of Maharashtra, 1964 (1) SCR 678