15. Conspiracy in trade disputes or work disputes
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 2025. 3 amendments in all.
An agreement or a combination by 2 or more persons to do or procure to be done any act in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute between employers and employees, or a work dispute between platform operators and platform workers, shall not be punishable as a conspiracy if such act committed by one person would not be punishable as a crime.
trade dispute
“trade dispute” means any dispute between employers and employees or between employees and employees, or between employers and employers which is connected with the employment or non-employment, or the terms of employment or the conditions of labour, of any person.
An act done in pursuance of an agreement or a combination of 2 or more persons shall, if done in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute or work dispute, not be actionable unless the act, if done without any such agreement or combination, would be actionable.
Nothing in this section shall exempt from punishment any person guilty of a conspiracy for which a punishment is awarded by any written law.
Nothing in this section shall affect the law relating to riot, unlawful assembly, breach of the peace or any offence against the State or the President.
Nothing in this section —
affects the power of a court to punish for contempt of court within the meaning of section 3 of the Administration of Justice (Protection) Act 2016; or
applies to an act that is an offence under —
section 39 or 40 of the Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act 2025;
section 17E or 17F of the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act 1990; or
section 267C or 505 of the Penal Code 1871.
A crime for the purposes of this section means an offence for the commission of which the offender is liable under the law making the offence punishable to be imprisoned either absolutely or at the discretion of the court as an alternative for some other punishment.