38. Persons concerned in criminal act may be guilty of different offences.

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.

Illustration-
A attacks Z under such circumstances of grave provocation that his killing of Z would be only culpable homicide not amounting to murder B, having ill-will towards Z and intending to kill him, and not having been subject to the provocation, assists A in killing Z. Here, though A and B are both engaged in causing Z’s death, B is guilty of murder, and A is guilty only of culpable homicide.

Read Indian Penal Code (IPC) in a better and systematic way.

Read IPC each section wise.

Download beautiful, colourful, mobile friendly PDF for IPC.

• About
• Latest Posts

WritingLaw

WritingLaw offers important Bare Acts, PDFs, law notes, law Q&A, articles, and MCQ practice tests for students, advocates, and people in the legal field.

Latest posts by WritingLaw (see all)

• Section 521 – Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) - 10th March 2026
• Section 522 – Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) - 10th March 2026
• Section 523 – Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) - 10th March 2026