Accomplice - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition accomplice

Definition :

Accomplice [fr. complice, Fr., complex, Lat., bound up with one in a project, but always in a bad sense], one concerned with another or others in the commission of a crime, Hawk. P.C. 87. An accomplice could always be called to give evidence, and by virtue of (English) Lord Denman's Act, 1843 (6 & 7 Vict. C. 85), s. 1, even though convicted, and now by virtue of the Criminal Evidence Act, 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. C. 36), s. 1, he can with his consent be called for the defence, but should he give evidence tending to incriminate his co-prisoner, such co-prisoner may cross-examine him, R. v. Hadwen, 1902 (1) KB 882; see also R. v. Rowland, 1910 (1) KB 458; R. v. Paul, 1920 (2) KB 183). See APPROVER.

The word 'accomplice' has not been defined by the Evidence Act and it is generally understood that an accomplice means a guilty associate or partner in crime. An accomplice by becoming an approver becomes a prosecution witness, M. Shamsudhin v. State of Kerala, (1999) 3 SCC 351 (357): 1995 SCC (Cri) 509. (Evidence Act, 1872, s. 133)

A person is an accomplice of another in committing a crime if, with the intent to promote or facilitate the commission of the crime, he solicits, requests or commando the other person to commit it or aids the other person in planning or committing it, (Wharton's Criminal Law)

--it is well-settled that a prosecutrix complaining of having been a victim of the offence of rape is not an accomplice after the crime. There is no rule of law that her testimony cannot be acted upon without corroboration in material particulars. She stands on a higher pedestal than an injured witness. In the latter case, there is injury on the physical form, while in the former, it is both physical as well as psychological and emotional. However, if the court of facts finds it difficult to accept the version of the prosecutrix on its face value, it may search for evidence, direct or circumstantial, which would lend assurance to her testimony. Assurance, short of corroboration, as understood in the context of an accomplice would do, State of Punjab v. Ramdev Singh, (2004) 1 SCC 421 (427): AIR 2004 SC 1290. (Evidence Act, 1872, s. 133)