Meaning

Greetings of the Day,

Regarding your question on the meaning of "express provision" under section 120B of IPC-

Section 120B of the Code prescribes punishment for criminal conspiracy cases. The section has two parts, one, conspiracy to commit offences of serious nature [120B(1)], and second, conspiracy to commit offences other than those covered under the first part [120B(2)].

In the first category, the section, however, does not give any specified punishment.

The term "no express provision" means "where no provision is provided in the Code about the punishment for committing conspiracies of offences covered in the first part". 

Hence, in such cases, the accused shall be liable to be punished in the same manner as if he had abetted the offence.

For Instance, if there is a conspiracy to commit a murder, and if there is no explicit punishment provided in the Code for such conspiracy, then the accused would be punished in accordance with Section 109 of the Code ​​​​​​, as if he had abetted the crime.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Umamageswari Maruthappan

Law Student

Criminal Conspiracy has not been defined in IPC, CrPc, or even under the IEA, only the IPC employed the words Criminal Conspiracy under the two stated provisions. This meaning has to be culled out from the various Supreme Court pronouncements, and it means; “The gist of the offence of Criminal Conspiravy is the bare agreement and association to break the law, whether the act is carried out or not. Meeting of minds is essential and not a mere knowledge or discussion is not sufficient, to constitute Criminal Conspiravy.”