8.3 Looting (Lutpit) and Its Family

Looting (robbery), by the Code's scheme: theft ripened by force — theft in which the offender, in order to the taking or the carrying away, voluntarily causes or attempts to cause death or hurt, or wrongfully restrains any person; and its twin form — extortion ripened into robbery: where the threat is of instant death, hurt or forceful restraint and the property is delivered then and there (the highwayman's alternative). The three ingredients: theft/extortion + force or threat of instant force + the causal purpose (the force serving the taking or carrying away). The family's grading: Looting — the individual violent taker; Dakaiti (dacoity) — looting by a gang (the statutorily-defined number acting conjointly — the gang's organized danger); attempted dacoity itself punishable (Unit 5's preparation-conspiracy doctrine made offence); Extortion — the non-violent threat: delivery induced by fear of future injury (the blackmail structure) — the family's base, looting's stepping-stone; Aggravations — with weapons, at night, on highways, causing grievous hurt or death: the sentencing ladder's top. The Nepali reality: the highway and border-trade robbery patterns; the dacoity tradition of the Terai's criminal lore; the gang-robbery provisions used against organized crime's modern forms (Unit 11's interface). The Distinctions Table (the unit's banker question) Point Theft Cheating Looting Extortion Consent No consent at all Consent induced by deception (the victim's hand…