IEA 10 — Things said or done by conspirator in reference to common design

Indian Evidence Act, 1872

Statutory text

Where  there  is  reasonable
ground  to  believe  that  two  or  more  persons  have  conspired  together  to  commit  an  offence  or  an  actionable
wrong, anything said, done or written by any one of such persons in reference to their common intention, after
the time when such intention was first entertained by any one of them, is a relevant fact as against each of the
persons believed to be so conspiring, as well for the purpose of proving the existence of the conspiracy as for the purpose of showing that any such person was a party to it.

Illustrations
Reasonable ground exists for believing that A has joined in a conspiracy to wage war against the

[Government of India].
The facts that B procured arms in Europe for the purpose of the conspiracy, C collected money in Calcutta for a
like  object,  D  persuaded  persons  to  join  the  conspiracy  in  Bombay,  E  published  writings  advocating  the  object  in
view  at  Agra,  and  F  transmitted  from  Delhi  to  G  at Kabul  the  money  which  C  had  collected  at  Calcutta, and  the
contents of a letter written by H giving an account of the conspiracy, are each relevant, both to prove the existence
of  the  conspiracy,  and  to  prove  A’s  complicity  in  it,  although  he  may  have  been  ignorant  of  all  of  them,  and
although  the  persons  by  whom  they  were  done  were  strangers  to  him,  and  although  they  may  have  taken  place before he joined the conspiracy or after he left it.

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