Legal Provisions of Section 148 of Indian Penal Code, 1860.
Rioting, armed with deadly weapon:
While section 147 prescribed penalty for rioting, this section deals with punishment for rioting while being armed with deadly weapon or with anything which, used as a weapon of offence, is likely to cause death. It says that whoever is guilty of the offence of rioting while he is armed with deadly weapon or anything which, used as a weapon of offence, is likely to cause death, shall be punished with simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term extending up to three years, or with fine, or with both.
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As is natural the penalty prescribed under this section is comparatively more severe than that under the preceding section because here the member of an unlawful assembly is armed with deadly weapon or with anything which, used as a weapon of offence, is likely to cause death. The danger to public peace is greater here and so a severer penalty has been provided. If a person is not armed with a deadly weapon, or is armed with something which cannot be used as a weapon of offence at all, this section does not apply.
An offence under this section is distinct from one which might be committed in prosecution of the common object of the unlawful assembly. Therefore, separate punishments could be passed under this section and under section 324 of the Code.
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Where certain persons who were attempting to smuggle bags of cardamom across the border, did not use any force against the police who confronted them, conviction under section 148 of the Code was set aside, even though it was proved that the accused had fired some shots the direction of which could not be ascertained because the incident took place in darkness.
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The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that use of deadly weapon is not necessary to be proved and merely being armed with such weapon is enough for conviction under this section.
The Supreme Court has held that where there was neither any evidence that the accused persons were armed nor that they had committed any overt acts, sections 147 and
148 of the Code could not be applied merely on the ground that they were also present in a crowd of fifty or sixty persons when a fight took place.
The offence under this section is congnizable, bailable and non-compoundable, and is triable by court of session, metropolitan magistrate or magistrate of the first class.