Section 384 of the Indian Penal Code : Extortion

Section 384 IPC defines the punishment for extortion as

Whoever commits extortion shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

In other words, if someone is found guilty of extortion, he might get imprisoned for a term extending up to 3 years, or might have to pay a fine, or both. For a better understanding of Section 384, we first need to understand what extortion exactly is.

Section 383 of the IPC defines Extortion as-

Whoever intentionally puts any person in fear of any injury to that person, or to any other, and thereby dishon­estly induces the person so put in fear to deliver to any person any property or valuable security, or anything signed or sealed which may be converted into a valuable security, commits “extor­tion”.

For an action to be considered as extortion, the following conditions should be satisfied-

1. Intentionally putting the person in fear of any injury
2. for the purpose of dishonestly inducing the person
3. to deliver to any other person any valuable security.

The fear of injury does not necessarily have to be of bodily harm, it could be fear of injury to a person’s reputation or property, it could be fear of injury to his loved ones. This fear is inflicted to the extent that the person agrees to deliver valuable security. The element of free and voluntary action (which constitutes consent) is absent.  Section 44 of the IPC defines Injury as, any harm whatever ille­gally caused to any person, in body, mind, reputation or proper­ty. Extortion is considered a serious or criminal offense.

For instance, A threatens to kill the son of B, if he fails to provide him with a blank signed stamp paper. A has induced B to give him the blank signed stamp paper. A has committed extortion. A could be punished with imprisonment for a term up to three years, or with fine, or with both. Another example could be, A threatens to fire B from his job if he doesn’t cast his vote for the CEO position to A. A has committed extortion.

The offense under section 384 of the IPC is a cognizable offense, which means that the police has the authority to arrest the person without a warrant. It is also a non-bailable offense i.e bail is a matter of discretion of the court. The offense of extortion is also non-compoundable. Compounding is a process where the victim and the accused agree to some compromise in order to avoid trial. There are some offenses which are so grave and serious in nature that they can not be compounded, except in certain situations where the case can be quashed by the supreme court or any high court. Since these cases are filed by the state i.e. police, the question of entering into a compromise doesn’t even arise. A full trial is conducted in the respective court and judgment is provided at the end of the trial.

Case laws-

In the case of Chander Kala v. Ram Kishan [AIR 1985 SCC 1268], the complainant (Smt. Chander Kala) was working as a teacher in a Govt. Middle School and the respondent (Ram Kishan) was the headmaster of the same school. The accused, after a series of events, called the complainant to his house and threatened to attack her modesty if she refused to sign three blank papers. And when she did, he threatened that he will use those signed papers to blackmail her by recording any statement on the papers, if she refused to act according to his wishes. The Supreme Court held that the accused had committed an offense under Section 384.

In the case of State Of Karnataka vs Basavegowda Alias Chandra [1997 CriLJ 4386], the accused husband took her wife (the complainant) to the forest under the pretext of going for the wedding of a friend. He then threatened to kill her if she didn’t hand all of her ornaments to him. After she handed him all her ornaments, he assaulted her with a big stone and his fists and ran away when saw two men coming. Though he wasn’t held guilty for robbery, he was punished for the offense of extortion under section 384.

References-

1. Indian Penal Code
2. Code of Criminal Procedure
3. AIR 1985 SCC 1268
4. 1997 CriLJ 4386

Section 120b IPC – Criminal Conspiracy Definition And Punishment

Introduction

A conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit an offense. The mere meeting of mind of the parties to commit an offense is a conspiracy.

Initial Position

Originally, the IPC consisted of only two provisions for punishing the offense of conspiracy. First, the provision of section 107, which made a conspiracy by the way of abetment, punishable. The others are specific provisions involving offenses which are included conspiracies to commit them. As for example,  Section 310 (in the definition of thugs), Section 400 (belonging to a gang of dacoits), Section 401 (belonging to a gang of thieves), etc.

Current Position

The position, however, changed with the Indian Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1913 (8 of 1913).

Chapter V-A of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) deals with ‘Criminal Conspiracy’.  Legislature inserted it in the aforesaid amendment. It consists of two sections 120A and 120B. Section 120A gives the definition of criminal conspiracy. Section 120B deals with punishment for committing the offense of criminal conspiracy.

The law of conspiracy covers the following:

(i) Conspiracy as a Substantive offense i.e. conspiracy is in itself an offense (ch V-A: ss 120A and 120B);

(ii) Conspiracy as a form of abetment (ch V: s107 Secondly);

(iii) Conspiracy to wage, attempt to, or abet war against the Government of India (ch VI: s 121A), and

(iv) Involvement in specific offenses (ch XVI: ss 310 and 311; ch XVII: ss 400, 401 and 402).

Criminal Conspiracy

An offense occurs when:

a) Two or more persons agree to do an illegal act.

b) Two or more persons cause to be done an illegal act.

c) If two or more persons agree to do a legal act by illegal means.

d) Two or more persons cause to be done a legal act by illegal means.

An agreement is made between two or more persons to commit any one of the aforesaid offenses, is called criminal conspiracy.

Moreover, an act done in pursuance of this agreement is part of the criminal conspiracy. Hence, it is immaterial that the act done is the ultimate object or merely incidental to the object.

Thereby an agreement for committing an offense, two or more persons agree to do an illegal act or cause to be done an illegal act is amounting to criminal conspiracy even though the object of the agreement is not fully accomplished.

Section 120A of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860)

A plain reading of s 120A gives ingredients of Criminal Conspiracy as follows;

• There should be two or more persons.
• There should be an agreement between themselves.
• The agreement must be to do or cause to be done:

(a) an illegal act; or

(b) a legal act by unlawful means.

Moreover, in the case of a conspiracy to commit an illegal act, the mere agreement is sufficient to impose liability; however, in the case of conspiracy, to do a legal act by illegal means, there ought to be some overt act which is committed by parties to the agreement.

Punishment of Criminal Conspiracy

Sec 120B deals with the punishment of criminal conspiracy. This section is in two parts i.e. sec 120B (1) and 120B (2).  Any person, whoever is a party to a criminal conspiracy to commit an offense is punishable under this section.

Sec 120B (1) deals with heinous and grievous offenses. However, sec 120B (2) deals with minor criminal offenses.

Firstly, we will discuss sec 120B(1) and then sec 120B (2).

Section 120B (1) of the Indian Penal Code

Particularly, this section deals with the conspiracy of three types of offenses. They are as follows:

• an offense in which punishment is death;
• an offense in which punishment is life imprisonment;
• or an offense in which punishment is rigorous imprisonment for a term of two years or upwards.

According to Section 120B (1), when there’s no expressed provision regarding the conspiracy of aforesaid offenses in the code then this section is applicable. Further, it says that the parties who commit any of the aforesaid offenses are punishable in the same manner as the abetment of such offenses.

Section 120B (2) of the Indian Penal Code

This section deals with the criminal conspiracy of remaining offenses. Generally, it covers minor criminal offenses. In other words, we can say it covers the conspiracy of those offenses which is punishable with less than 2-years of imprisonment. Thus, the section imposes nominal punishment i.e. imprisonment for the term not exceeding 6 months.

Thus, section 120B (2) says that a person who is the party in criminal conspiracy other than section  120B  (1), shall be punished with

• either imprisonment for the term of not exceeding 6 months
• or with fine or both

Conclusion

Any agreement between two or more person to commit an offense is a criminal conspiracy. For the purpose of punishment, s 120B divides criminal conspiracies into two classes. A party to a conspiracy to commit a serious offense, is, in the absence of an express provision in the IPC, punished in the same manner as if he had abetted the offense. Conspiracies to commit any other offenses punishable with imprisonment for a term up to six months with or without fine or both.