Section: Pakistan Penal Codes ACT 1860

Question About: Aspect of S34 of Pakistan Penal Code 1860

What are the salient aspects of S. 34 of Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 and explain the terms “act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention”?

Answer

Act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention:

S. 34 of the P.P.C. lays down 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 runnier as if it were done by him alone. v>

Salient aspects:

The salient aspects or essential ingredients to be provided in order to fix joint responsibility are:
(a) That there was a pre-concert or pre-planning to do a certain criminal act.
(b) That the act was done by several persons should be less than five as enjoined by S. 141, P.P.C., 1860.
(c) That those persons did that act in furtherance of the common intention.
(d) That there should be common intention, in that each accused helped to further common intention. The word “act” mentioned in the section does not mean a single act but includes a series of acts done by several persons (not more than four) but all such acts should be in furtherance of common intention.
To constitute a common intention it is necessary that each of the accused should well know of it and be shared. The common intention may be the result of pre-planning and it could be made shortly and instantly at the time of the crime as common intention can develop even in the course of events.
When the above essentials are satisfied each of such persons would be liable for the entire criminal act in the same manner as if he alone had done it, irrespective of the fact whether he was present at the time not. A furtherance of a common deign is a condition precedent for convicting each of the persons who take part in the commission of a crime and if what the several accused did are clearly individual acts done of their own accord rather than acts done in furtherance of a prearranged or pre-conceived plan or arrangement between them, the liability of each accused can be in respect of his own individual act and not the joint liability contemplated in S. 34 of the Code. It has been held that the fact that the accused kept standing in the room in which a brutal murder was being committed is sufficient to convict them of the murder. Failure to rescue the victim does not render them liable, unless community of design is proved. It has further been held in another case that where the common intention was to commit theft and one of the thieves commits murders, every one of his companions is not liable. However, if one of them openly carried a gun with him all of them must be deemed has intended the murder.
S. 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code does not create an offence. It is not a penal provision. It simply lays down a principle of criminal liability or constructive criminality under which all are held liable for the acts of one of them. It does not lay down any general formula of prescribe a standard to suit a combination of all possible circumstances in relation to a criminal act.
The principle underlying the section is that if two or more persons intentionally do a thing jointly it is just the same as if each of them had done it individually. It is a well recognized and established canon of criminal jurisprudence that if parties go with a common purpose to execute a common object each and everyone becomes responsible for the acts each and every other in execution and furtherance of their common purpose as the purpose is common so must be the responsibility. All are guilty of the principle offence, not of abatement joint offenders.
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