Punishment of Unlawful Assembly - Section 143

According to IPC first schedule, the nature of section 143 IPC is as follows - 

A Bailable offence means that the accused of this offence has the right to claim bail and bail may be granted by the police under whose custody the accused/person is or the court itself. 

Cognizable offence means that the police don’t require a warrant which is often the case provided by the court, to arrest the accused of such offence. 

A non-compoundable offence means it is a less serious offence that can be compromised, that is the complainant may take back the charges anytime against the accused without the intervention of the court. 

IPC 143 is bailable or not?

IPC 143 is a bailable offence.

The offence under Section 143 is triable by any Magistrate. 

The following cases will elaborate upon the ingredients and nature of section 143 for its better understanding. 

In Thursday vs Rajagopal, Kerala high court: The accused were charged with sections such as section 141, 143,147 and were held to be liable by additional session court and were appealed in the high court. 

Held - The court observed that the common object required to be proved under section 141 for constituting unlawful assembly and subsequently to be punishable under section 143. Is to be construed with reference to the facts and circumstances of each of the cases. The object to be illegal has to fall under the 5 heads specified in section 141 such as criminal trespass, mischief, obtaining possession of property by use of criminal force, etc. If the object does not fall in these heads then the object is not illegal and there is no unlawful assembly. 

Therefore to attract offence under section 143 the prosecution has to establish that firstly: there was an assembly of 5 or more people, secondly: the objective of such assembly is mentioned in section 141, thirdly:  the accused should share such object of the assembly with at least 4 of the people in the assembly, and lastly the accused either intentionally or with knowledge of the object or continued after having that knowledge with the assembly. 

The court further observed that when the court frames charges regarding section 143, it should specify the unlawful common object if the assembly categorically. 

However, the highest court acquitted the accused in the present case as the prosecution failed to establish the ingredients of section 143 and due to lack of evidence and no corroboration with the witnesses the charges against the accused were quashed. 

The Apex court in Ram Bilas Singh vs the State of Bihar, 1963 

Held - the court observed that the condition for the presence of at least 5 people is not absolute and conviction under section 143 may take place. When the following evidence are furnished - 

1. Apart from the accused, other persons are also involved at the given point in time. 

2. Presence of other unidentified persons in the unlawful assembly 

3. The FIR should also reflect the same 

How can you file your case for the IPC Section 143 offence?

For the victim - If there is a violation of Section 143 the concerned victim should first report the same to the nearest police station and lodge an FIR regarding the same without any cost. Or else for more convenience lodge an E- FIR as Section 143 is a cognizable offence. 

Steps for filing E - FIR is as follows - 

1. Visit the local or concerned police's official website for instance www.uttarakhandpolice.uk.gov.in.

2. Once the website appears, click on the services option.

3.  services option leads to a drop-down menu and you have to click the nature of your case. 

4. Once the category is selected, a new page is opened and now you have to provide the following information - 

a. Complainant name 

b. Mother or father name of complainant 

c. Complainant Email ID 

d. Date of incident 

e. Place of incident 

f. Time of incident 

g. Complainant phone number 

h. Any other relevant description of the case. 

Lastly, before submission, you have to enter the captcha code on the form for confirmation. 

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Note - before submission all the details should be rechecked and ensure that the email id is correct as the FIR for future reference will be sent to this mail ID. 

After the FIR the police may conduct an investigation and if there is any substantive evidence the accused can be arrested by the police without any warrant since it is a cognizable offence. And to the contrary, if no evidence is produced the matter is not proceeded with. 

If any substantial evidence is found a charge sheet is prepared by the police. 

After completion of the charge sheet the matter is pursued as a trial in the court with the prosecution establishing the ingredients of section 143 and if successfully done then the accused may be imposed with maximum imprisonment up to 6 months or fine or both depending upon the discretion of the court. 

How can you defend your case for the IPC Section 143 offence?

The accused have to firstly apply for bail if he is in the police or judicial custody before the policemen and judge respectively. 

Then the accused has to file a written statement refuting the allegations and the defense has to ensure that the ingredients of unlawful assembly are not fulfilled to attract punishment under section 143. 

How can Lawtendo help you? 

Lawtendo will connect you with domain-specific expert lawyers handpicked with respect to your unique case from its array of 15000 lawyers. And will provide managerial assistance at every stage of the case as well. 

Further, the lawyer will draft a petition for bail or for defending the accused in the trial or on behalf of the victim can file a complaint under section 143 or provide assistance for filing FIR online. 

This blog was drafted by Ms. Garemaa Parihar, BBA LLB, 4th-year student, University of petroleum and energy studies (UPES).