Alka Verma –
Published On: November 3, 2021 at 09:30 IST
The Supreme Court of India ruled that to commit any Dacoity, there must be 5 or more persons involved in it.
The Court held that to change a Robbery and Dacoity, more persons must be involved in it.
“Only in a case where five or more than five persons commit or attempt to commit a robbery it would be dacoity,” stated the Court.
Adding to this, the Court also held that it is an essential to possess and display any deadly weapon to convict a person of Dacoity with intention to murder.
The Court stated that it is also essential that the victim should have seen the weapon and then have been terrified because of the existing danger.
“When the offence of robbery is committed by an offender being armed with a deadly weapon which was within the vision of the victim so as to be capable of creating a terror in his mind, the offender must be deemed to have used that deadly weapon in the commission of the robbery,” stated the Court.
The Court also stated the Dacoity is nothing but an exaggerated form of Robbery.
“It is submitted that it is more of an aggravated form of robbery and generally the robber is armed with deadly weapons,” stated the Judgment.
A Bench comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah also stated that Section 397 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) is only applied to that one person who uses deadly weapons while committing Dacoity.
Adding to this, the Court also stated that other co-accused will not be vicariously liable for the act of the co-Accused.
“The term ‘offender’ is confined to the offender who uses any deadly weapon to attract Section 397 IPC,” stated Justice Shah.
The Court made all these directions while hearing an Appeal filed by a man who was booked under Section 397.
The man in his Appeal claimed that he did not possess any deadly weapon while attempting the robbery.
Clarifying that the man never used any deadly weapon, the Bench quashed all the charges of Section 397 against him.
Click here to read/download the Order
Also Read: Robbery and Dacoity- A comparative Study
Difference between Theft, Extortion, Robbery and Dacoity under Indian Penal Code, 1860