Section 147- Punishment for rioting
Section 147 IPC states the Punishment for committing the offence of rioting.
As defined under the code, sec 147 IPC reads as, “Whoever is guilty of rioting, shall be punished with imprisonment for either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both”.
The offence of rioting is defined under section 146 of the penal code, whereas, IPC section 147 prescribes punishment for it. A riot can be defined as the disturbance of the peace in a public place by three or more persons gathering at a place, with intent to cause or commit violence, by inducing terror to the people and so on.
To hold a person liable for the offence of rioting and making him liable under section 147 of the Indian Penal Code, the following ingredients must be present:
- There must be an unlawful assembly as defined under section 141 of the code.
- The accused must be a member of such unlawful assembly as defined under section 142 of the code.
- There must be the use of force or violence by the said unlawful assembly or it could be by any person amongst them.
- The said force or violence must be used in the prosecution of the common object of the said unlawful assembly. This principle was held in the case of Hazara Singh v. the State of Punjab.
To attract Sec 147 of the Indian Penal Code, the use of force is a necessary condition. This is so because mere intention to use force is not enough to hold a person liable for rioting in public.
The use of any force, even though it be of a slightest possible character, by any member of the assembly once established would constitute rioting.
Say for an instance, if a member of an unlawful assembly in prosecution of the common object throws down a man, the offence of rioting is complete and the person is liable to punishment under the ambit of IPC 147.
The thing that needs to be kept in mind is, if the common object of the assembly is not illegal, and there is occurrence of any sudden violence, with no intention to disturb the public peace, then, in that case, the act will not be considered as rioting, even if force is used by any member of that assembly.
Moving further with the offence of rioting and it’s punishment as prescribed in the Indian Penal Code, the section explains every perk provided in this provision. In the case of rioting, there can be no right to private defence if the riot is caused by both the parties. When both the parties are armed with weapons and are ready to fight, it cannot be presumed that who will attack first, unless it is proved that the other party was acting within the limits of the right of private defence, and used force in order to save their lives.
The punishment as provided under section 147 IPC for committing rioting is imprisonment for 2 years, or fine, or it could be both depending on nature and harm caused because of the riot so committed. The acts committed are termed as Cognizable and bailable offences which are triable by any Magistrate.
