Trade Unions Act, 1926 · Chapter III: Rights and Liabilities of Registered Trade Unions
Section 17: Criminal conspiracy in trade disputes
The Trade Unions Act, 1926 was repealed and replaced by the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 from 21 November 2025. It still applies to matters and proceedings from before that date, as the repealing law provides.
No [office-bearer] or member of a registered Trade Union shall be liable to punishment under sub-section (2) of section 120B of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), in respect of any agreement made between the members for the purpose of furthering any such object of the Trade Union as is specified in section 15, unless the agreement is an agreement to commit an offence.
Source: India Code (Legislative Department), the text of the Act as it stood before its repeal. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.