● Modified in BNS
An agreement between two or more persons, with the common object of doing an illegal act or a legal act by illegal means, is a criminal conspiracy under BNS Section 61(1) -- the same core definition as IPC 120A, with "common object" added as an express qualifying phrase. This is a definitional provision with no punishment of its own; the punishment sits in BNS Section 61(2) (IPC 120B, already published in this tool).
Section 120A IPC, inserted by the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1913, defined criminal conspiracy as an agreement between two or more persons to do, or cause to be done, an illegal act, or a legal act by illegal means. A proviso barred treating a mere agreement (other than an agreement to commit an offence) as a criminal conspiracy unless some act besides the agreement was done by one or more parties in pursuance of it, and an Explanation clarified that it is immaterial whether the illegal act is the ultimate object of the agreement or merely incidental to it.
BNS Section 61(1) reproduces the definition, the proviso, and the Explanation, but inserts a new qualifying phrase: the agreement must be "with the common object" to do, or cause to be done, an illegal act or a legal act by illegal means -- wording absent from IPC 120A. The two limbs are also relettered from numerals (1)/(2) to clauses (a)/(b).
The core structure -- the two-limb definition, the proviso restricting mere agreements, and the Explanation -- is unchanged. The verified addition is the phrase "with the common object," newly qualifying the agreement element of criminal conspiracy.
This is a definitional provision; it carries no independent punishment, bail, cognizability or compounding rules of its own. Those sit under the companion punishment sub-section, BNS 61(2) (IPC 120B, already published). Common defences to the underlying offence include the absence of any overt act beyond the bare agreement (fatal where the object is not itself an offence), absence of a meeting of minds between the alleged conspirators, and that the alleged agreement did not share a genuinely common object.
Summaries are for general information and are not legal advice. For the authoritative bare-act text, see the official Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and Indian Penal Code, 1860 (full amended text, as it stood before repeal) on India Code, or the Ministry of Home Affairs' new criminal laws page. ← All comparisons