Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, use of violence by a member of an unlawful assembly consisting…

Under Section 191(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (formerly Section 146 IPC), whenever force or violence is used by an unlawful assembly (an assembly of five or more persons having a common unlawful object under Section 189(1) BNS), or by any member thereof, in prosecution of the common object of such assembly, every member of the assembly is guilty of the offence of rioting. While the group of twenty persons is an unlawful assembly prior to the use of force, the use of violence in furtherance of their common object elevates the offence to rioting. Affray under Section 194(1) BNS involves two or more persons fighting in a public place to disturb the public peace without requiring an unlawful assembly.