Indian Penal Code, 1860 · Chapter II: General Explanations
Section 38: Persons concerned in criminal act may be guilty of different offences
The Indian Penal Code, 1860 was repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 from 1 July 2024. It still applies to offences and proceedings from before that date.
Where several persons are engaged or concerned in the commission of a criminal act, they may be guilty of different offences by means of that act.
Corresponding sections were matched by comparing the wording of both official texts, and for the IPC and BNS, also against a published correspondence table. Wording, punishments and structure often changed, so read both sections before relying on the match.
Source: India Code (Legislative Department), the text of the Act as it stood before its repeal. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 38
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The Union of India Through the Assistant Director v. Kanhaiya Prasad
Issue arose as regards the correctness of the order passed by the High Court granting bail to the respondent without considering the rigours of s.45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
- Krishnamurthy @ Gunodu and Others v. State of Karnataka
- Mano Dutt & Anr. v. State of U.P.
- State of Orissa v. Choudhuri Nayak (Dead by Lr) & Ors.
- Israr v. State of U.P.
- Babulal Bhagwan Khandare and Anr. v. State of Maharashtra
- Saravanan and Anr. v. State of Pondicherry