An Overview Of Vicarious Liability Under Section 149 Of IPC
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An "Offence" shall mean any act or omission made punishable by any law for the time being in force as defined in Section 3(38) of the General Clauses Act. Section 40 of the Indian Penal Code,
inter alia, defines the word "Offence" denoting a thing made punishable by this Code. Article 20(1) of the Indian Constitution by guaranteeing as a fundamental right, mandates that no person shall be convicted of any offence except for violation of a law in force at the time of the commission of the act charged as an offence. From these statutory definitions and the Constitutional protection, it is manifestly clear that a person can be punished for an act or omission done by him which is forbidden by law and made punishable under a Penal law. In other words, for the act or omission committed by someone else, he cannot be punished. The Doctrine of Vicarious Liability is applicable to Civil Law. But the Criminal Law, being in the nature of depriving a person of his freedom, personal liberty and life, therefore, does not recognise the said doctrine into its ambit except in certain specific contingencies. But it is regrettable that, of late, a wrong trend is being set to blindly apply the said Doctrine to Criminal cases and to punish persons for the offences that they have not committed at all. This trend is truly dangerous to the human values and rights and it may result in disorderliness in the society. This trend has surfaced, perhaps, because of the lack of understanding of the first principles of Criminal Law, more particularly, the principles underlying in Sections 34, 149, 120B and 109 of IPC.