ORGANISED CRIME: ANALYSING INDIA’S UNIFORM APPROACH UNDER SECTION 111 OF THE BNS — A COMPARISON WITH THE U.S. “RICO” MODEL
AUTHOR – SAMARTH R, STUDENT AT SCHOOL OF LAW, CHRIST (DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY)
BEST CITATION – SAMARTH R, ORGANISED CRIME: ANALYSING INDIA’S UNIFORM APPROACH UNDER SECTION 111 OF THE BNS — A COMPARISON WITH THE U.S. “RICO” MODEL, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (3) OF 2026, PG. 288-301, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.
ABSTRACT
The recent addition of Section 111 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter ‘BNS’), constitutes India’s first parliament-enacted provision against ‘Organised Crime’ at the national level.[1] The deliberate structural similarities between Section 111 and the multi-statutory framework of state legislations — including the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (hereinafter ‘MCOCA’),[2] the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act, 2000 (hereinafter ‘KCOCA’),[3] and the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Act, 2015 (hereinafter ‘GUJCTOC’)[4] — reflect a conscious legislative policy favouring a uniform national approach to dismantling organised crime syndicates. On the other side of the globe, the United States of America has its federal counterpart, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act (hereinafter ‘RICO’) under Title IX of the Organised Crime Control Act of 1970,[5][6] which is widely recognised for its landmark prosecutions against the American Mafia and for its subsequently expansive scope in restraining diverse forms of organised crime. The present comparative study aims to analyse the legislative intent, constitutionality, and evolved definitional scope of Section 111 of the BNS through a socio-legal lens — drawing on doctrinal scholarship, constitutional provisions, and judicial precedents — while benchmarking its substantive intricacies against the principles of RICO jurisprudence. By engaging with the Global Organised Crime Index and contextualising its statistical methodology within the American and distinctively Indian milieus, this paper seeks to answer the supervening question: ‘Has India, in its control of organised crime, transitioned from a fragmented legal framework to a uniform one comparable to the core principles of American RICO jurisprudence, and is such a transition the correct step toward curbing organised crime?’
Keywords: Jurisprudential Analysis, Organised Crime, Prosecutorial Efficacy, RICO Act, Section 111 — Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, Constitutional Validity.
[1]Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, No. 45 of 2023, § 111 (India).
[2]Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, No. XII of 1999 (Maharashtra, India) [hereinafter MCOCA].
[3]Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act, No. 10 of 2000 (Karnataka, India) [hereinafter KCOCA].
[4]Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Act, No. 35 of 2019 (Gujarat, India) [hereinafter GUJCTOC].
[5]Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968 (1970) [hereinafter RICO].
[6]Organised Crime Control Act of 1970, Pub. L. No. 91-452, 84 Stat. 922 (1970).