Introduction
The term rioting has been mentioned under section 146 of the IPC while Section 147 prescribes for the punishment of the rioting. In certain cases, like riot, criminal offences are being committed in public without any fear of being prosecuted by the police. Riot may be regarded as a form of civil disorder; whereby a group of individuals tend to portray certain sort of aggression against an authority, property or a person.
Despite the fact that riots can lead to a serious social reformation in a society; yet the incidences of riots create chaotic situation which are scary; hard to control and result in mass destruction. In order to prevent any further mass destruction of property, be it public or private; it was dealt by the then drafters under section 146 of the IPC; whereby the offence of rioting is mentioned- as to what constitutes riots and how are they different from unlawful assembly.
A riot may be simply an unlawful assembly which may be accompanied by the use of force and violence. Therefore, it can be said that it the use of force and violence which distinguishes rioting from unlawful gathering.
Following are the essentials of the rioting: –
- There must be an unlawful assembly
- Such unlawful assembly should also have accused as its member
- Either of the member of the unlawful assembly shall use force or be violent in his acts thereof
One of the essential in order to attract penal actions against rioting is the use of force. The term ‘force’ has been defined under section 349 of the IPC.[1] Whenever force or violence is used by an unlawful assembly or by any member thereof in prosecution of the common object of such assembly every member of such assembly is guilty of the offence of rioting.
Owing to the present times and availability of use of force and violence which are readily available in the market, it is critical to curb any sort of riot since there are quite a good number of chances that riots may result in serious injuries and even in causalities. Usually, a great number of people are involved and it becomes quite a daunting task for the authorities to provide for evidences since more often evidence is entirely of a partisan character. Also, the danger to innocent lives being implicated is high owing to the tendency of parties in such matters to falsely implicate as many enemies the party can implicate.
It is on the court to ascertain what the true version of the event is since both the party usually end up providing varied and divergent versions of riot. The officials who are bestowed with the work of investigation end up prosecuting members of both the parties.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY AND RIOTING
Despite the fact that both the offences fall under the same chapter ‘Of Offences Against the Public Tranquility’, yet there exists plethora of differences between the unlawful assembly and rioting. The offence of unlawful assembly is genus while rioting is a species. Rioting may be regarded as an aggregated form of unlawful assembly and violence and use of violence is high in rioting since since there are quite a good number of chances that riots may result in serious injuries and even in causalities. As a matter of fact, huge number of individuals are involved. With regard to punishment is concerned punishment is lighter for unlawful assembly i.e., six months imprisonment or with fine or with both, whereas punishment for rioting is severe than in unlawful assembly. The punishment for rioting is two years imprisonment or with fine, or with both.
unlawful assembly which does not mentions about the public or private domain but the offence and the judgments in this regard acts as a guide in this matter.
Number of people
Another aspect for an offence to be regarded as affray is that; there must be two or more individuals in certain public domain which must result in disturbance of public peace. This is however not the case when it comes to the offence of rioting; whereby the member of unlawful assemblies takes up use of force or other violent measures not against each other but rather against some public institution, authority, property or an individual(s).
Liability
When it comes to the liability for offences of rioting and that of affray; under the Indian law the stand is such that in the prior matter every single member of the unlawful assemblage is made constructively liable which is definitely not the case; when it comes to offence of affray where only those are punished who were actually engaged in the Act. Further in order to commit the offence of rioting the basic ingredients of unlawful assembly must be satisfied Section 141; meaning thereby that Section 146 is being controlled by Section 141 which is not the case in Section 159; while dealing with affray, which happens to be an independent section in itself.
Degree of seriousness
Another aspect closely linked to the offence of rioting is the degree of seriousness involved. Since the number of people engaged in the offence of rioting is five or more than five with use of force or violence; therefore the damage which is caused is also proportionally high; when compared to the offence of affray where two or more individuals are fighting in public domain.
CONCLUSION
Maintaining the public tranquility and instilling peace and harmony in a society happens to be the crux; which are required for the development and advancement of any society. Any form of disturbances has its ripple effects not just on the individual but on the society at large. Owing to the present times and availability of use of force and violence which are readily available in the market; it is critical to curb any sort of riot since there are quite a good number of chances that riots may result in serious injuries and even in causalities. As a matter of fact, huge number of individuals are involved. And, it becomes quite a daunting task for the authorities to provide for evidences; since more often evidence is entirely of a partisan character.
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Written by : Arun Rahgav