BNS Section 310: Dacoity

Definition of BNS Section 310

Section 310 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 states:

(1) When five or more persons conjointly commit or attempt to commit a robbery, or where the whole number of persons conjointly committing or attempting to commit a robbery, and persons present and aiding such commission or attempt, amount to five or more, every person so committing, attempting or aiding, is said to commit dacoity.

(2) Whoever commits dacoity shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

(3) If any one of five or more persons, who are conjointly committing dacoity, commits murder in so committing dacoity, every one of those persons shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, or rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

(4) Whoever makes any preparation for committing dacoity, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

(5) Whoever is one of five or more persons assembled for the purpose of committing dacoity, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.

(6) Whoever belongs to a gang of persons associated for the purpose of habitually committing dacoity, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Explanation and Illustration of Section 310

This section is applicable to any person within the sovereign borders of India, whether citizen, resident or otherwise. It deals with the offence of dacoity. Let us break down the section to get a better understanding of it.

• Offence

  Dacoity is one of the offences that are considered as ‘serious offences’ under the BNS. Like the other serious offences such as theft, robbery and extortion, dacoity also has various aspects to it and all those aspects are provided for under the provisions of this section. The section has been divided into 6 subsections. The first subsection defines dacoity for the purposes of this section whereas the remaining sections define the punishment for the various aspects of dacoity. Let us take a look at them one by one.
  
  Subsection (1) defines dacoity for the purposes of this section. According to this section, when five or more persons together commit robbery, it shall be considered dacoity. Section 309 defines robbery as theft and extortion performed with immediate threat to death and in the immediate presence of the victim. Theft has been defined in section 303 as dishonestly dispossessing a person of his or her property. Section 308 has defined extortion as an act of threatening someone with the intent of extracting some valuable property from them. When you take all of these put together, the following qualifying conditions become key to the definition of dacoity

  • Involves dispossessing a person of his or her property
  • Involves immediate threat of injury or death or unlawful restraint
  • Involves the presence of all perpetrators in the immediate vicinity of the victim
  • Involves five or more persons carrying out such act

• When an act of robbery meets all the above conditions, each and every member of that group shall be considered as having committed dacoity.
  
  Subsection (2) defines the punishment for committing dacoity.
  
  Subsection (3) defines the punishment for committing murder in the course of committing dacoity.
  
  Subsection (4) provides for persons found guilty of preparing to commit dacoity.
  
  Subsection (5) provides for persons caught while assembling to commit dacoity.
  
  Subsection (6) defines the punishment for any person found to be member of a gang of habitual dacoits.

• Punishment

  The punishment for dacoity has been categorised into five different aspects of dacoity. Let us take a look.

  • Any person found guilty of committing dacoity shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
  • If any person from a band of dacoits commits murder in the course of committing dacoity, then every member of that group shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, or rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
  • Any person found guilty of making preparations for committing dacoity, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
  • Any group of persons found assembling for the purpose of committing dacoity shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
  • Any person found to be a member of a gang whose members are habituals dacoits, then such person shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

• The above actions may not be an offence under this section if:

  • The offender is forced or coerced into performing the offence
  • The offender is a minor or not of sane mind.

• However, there may be other sections under the BNS under which the above actions can be prosecuted and while they may be disqualified under the provisions of this section, such actions will still be punishable under the provisions of those respective sections of the BNS.

• Illustration

  Z and six of his friends decide to break into the house of a neighbour and threaten him until he hands over all his money. Z and his friends are committing dacoity.

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