Explained: Common Intention under the Indian Penal Code

Common intention under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is a legal concept that refers to the shared intention of two or more persons to commit a criminal act. It is defined in Section 34 of the IPC, which states that when a criminal act is done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all, each of such persons is liable for that act in the same manner as if it were done by him alone.

Common intention is different from mere presence or participation in a crime. In order to prove common intention, the prosecution must show that all of the accused persons had a prior agreement or meeting of minds to commit the crime. This can be done through circumstantial evidence, such as the fact that the accused persons were seen together before and after the crime, or that they had made incriminating statements to each other.

Common intention is a key concept in Indian criminal law because it allows for the prosecution of all of the persons involved in a crime, even if they did not all directly participate in the act itself. For example, if a group of people agree to rob a bank and one of them enters the bank and commits the robbery, all of the people in the group can be held liable for the robbery, even if they did not enter the bank themselves.

Here are some examples of common intention under the IPC:

• A group of people agree to rob a bank and one of them enters the bank and commits the robbery.
• A group of people agree to beat a person up and one of them delivers the fatal blow.
• A group of people agree to kidnap a person and one of them holds the person hostage.
• A group of people agree to rape a woman and one of them commits the rape.

In each of these cases, all of the people involved can be held liable for the crime, even if they did not all directly participate in the act itself.