In Topandas v State of Bombay (1955), the Supreme Court of India held that a person cannot be found guilty of criminal conspiracy under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code if all the other alleged conspirators are acquitted. The Court highlighted that the essence of a conspiracy lies in an agreement between at least two individuals to commit an unlawful act. The decision in this case reinforced the principle that criminal conspiracy requires the involvement of more than one person. For a deeper understanding of important judicial decisions explore more Landmark Judgements.

Topan Das v State of Bombay: Introduction

Topan Das v State of Bombay (1956) is a landmark case which revolves around the legal implications of criminal conspiracy under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The case involves four accused charged with conspiracy and other criminal offences. The main issue addressed by the Supreme Court was whether a single individual could be convicted of conspiracy when the other co-accused were acquitted.

Download Topan Das v State of Bombay PDF

The case at hand revolves around accusations against four individuals who were charged with criminal conspiracy to commit illegal acts under the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The following are the brief facts of the Topan Das v State of Bombay case -

Charges Against the Accused

The Accused No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 were charged with committing criminal conspiracy to carry out illegal acts. The accused also faced charges under Section 471 r/w Section 465, Section 34 and Section 420 r/w Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC).

Trial and Acquittal

The case was tried before the Learned Presidency Magistrate in Bombay. The Court acquitted all the accused of the charges brought against them.

Appeal to the High Court

Aggrieved by the decision of the acquittal the State of Bombay filed an appeal with the High Court of Bombay. However, the High Court reversed the acquittal of Accused No. 1 but upheld the acquittal of Accused No. 2, 3 and 4.

Special Leave to Appeal

The Accused No. 1 approached the Supreme Court and filed special leave to appeal against the decision of the High Court. The Accused No. 1 challenged the judgment that reversed his acquittal and confirmed the acquittals of the other accused.

Topan Das v State of Bombay: Issue Addressed

The main question which was addressed in Topan Das v State of Bombay case was whether the accused could be convicted under Section 120B of Indian Penal Code in view of the fact that the other alleged conspirators had been acquitted?

Topan Das v State of Bombay: Legal Provisions

In Topan Das v State of Bombay case the Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code played a significant role. The following is the analysis of this provision -

Section 120B of Indian Penal Code: Punishment for Criminal Conspiracy

Section 120B provides punishment for Criminal Conspiracy (Now Section 61 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023). It states that-

1. Whoever is a party to a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or rigorous imprisonment for a term of two years or upwards shall, where no express provision is made for the punishment of such a conspiracy be punished in the same manner as if he had abetted such offence.
2. Whoever is a party to a criminal conspiracy other than a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence punishable shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding six months or with fine or with both.

Topan Das v State of Bombay: Judgement and Impact

The Supreme Court in the case of Topan Das v State of Bombay examined whether Accused No. 1 could be convicted of criminal conspiracy under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) given that the other co-accused i.e., Accused Nos. 2, 3 and 4 were acquitted of the charge of conspiracy.

According to Section 120A of the IPC Criminal conspiracy requires -

• an agreement between two or more persons 
• to commit an illegal act or to perform an act in an illegal manner

The main ingredient of the offence is the agreement between multiple parties. Therefore, a conviction for conspiracy cannot stand if there is no evidence of an agreement between two or more persons.

In Topan Das v State of Bombay the charge of conspiracy was framed against all four accused and Accused Nos. 2, 3 and 4 were acquitted. It is to be noted that it was legally impossible to convict Accused No. 1 for the conspiracy charge. It is a well settled principle that a single person cannot be guilty of conspiracy.

The judgment in The King v. Plummer and Indian precedents such as Gulab Singh v. The Emperor and King-Emperor v. Osman Sardar bolstered this principle. The cases ruled that when multiple individuals are charged with conspiracy and one or more are acquitted the remaining accused cannot be convicted.

The Court in Topan Das v State of Bombay after analysing these legal principles observed that the conviction of Accused No. 1 under Section 120B of the IPC was found to be unlawful. The 3-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Natwarlal H. Bhagwati, Justice T.L. Venkatarama Ayyar and Justice Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha quashed the conviction of Accused No. 1 for conspiracy.

However, the convictions for the offences under Section 471 r/w Section 465 and Section 420 IPC were upheld. Therefore, in Topan Das v State of Bombay the appeal was allowed only to the extent that the conviction for conspiracy under Section 120B was quashed whereas the convictions for the other offences and their respective sentences remained in force.

Conclusion

In Topan Das v State of Bombay (1956) the Supreme Court affirmed that criminal conspiracy requires the agreement of two or more persons. The Court quashed the conviction of Accused No. 1 for conspiracy. However, the convictions for other criminal offences under Sections 471, 465 and 420 of the IPC were upheld. The Topan Das vs State of Bombay case provides important insights into the application of criminal conspiracy laws in India.