This article has been written by Ms Arundhathi G, a 3rd year BA LLB Student from Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed to be University, New Law College, Pune.
Introduction
Section 299 to Section 377 dealing with crimes causing bodily harm is the largest chapter in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 1860. The provisions in this chapter cover a wide range of crimes that can be committed against human life. The two essential ingredients of a crime are mens rea and actus reus. Mens rea is the guilty mind or intent to commit a crime, while actus reus refers to the guilt necessary to prove the crime. A culpable act can be both the performance of an illegal act and the neglect of such an act, which the person was compelled to do by law. This article deals with the two main subjects of the IPC, culpable homicide and murder, both of which are mentioned in Section 299 and Section 300 respectively.
“Homicide” means the killing of a person by a person. This is the highest physical injury that can be inflicted on the human body. However, it is not always necessary for the person who murdered to be responsible. The answer to the question of whether a person is responsible or not depends on the circumstances of the crime, the type of crime and several other factors. For example, killing a person in the exercise of a right related to private defence, section 100 of the IPC; or accidentally, Section 76 of the IPC; or according to Section 78 of the IPC, in pursuance of a lawful authority etc. is not guilty. Depending on these factors, murder can be legal or illegal, the first is not punishable, the second is.
Culpable Homicide
Culpable homicide is defined in Section 299 of the IPC as – Whoever causes death by an act intended to cause death, or to cause such bodily harm as may cause death, or knowing that he is likely to cause death by such act, commits culpable homicide. Culpable homicide is one type of unlawful killing and explains when causing the death of a person is culpable homicide. The essential ingredients that must be present to constitute culpable homicide are:
- Causing death: For the purposes of the provisions of this section, death shall be caused.
- Doing of an act: the action explained in Section 32 of the IPC has been given a wider scope of application. It includes not only the commission of an unlawful act but also the unlawful omission to cause the death of a person.
- Intention of causing death.
- Intent to cause bodily harm likely to cause death.
- Knowing that such an act could cause death.
If the above conditions are met, the act committed by the person is called culpable homicide, which is not murder and falls under Section 299 of the IPC. Punishment for culpable homicide is prescribed in Section 304 of the IPC.
In Nara Singh Challan Vs. State of Orissa, the court observed that: “To determine the correct punishment, which is proportional to the current crime, the IPC divided homicide into three degrees. The first is the most serious form of homicide defined in Article 300 of the Penal Code, the second is homicide. second degree, punished according to Article 304 of the Indian Penal Code, Part 1., and the third is the lowest degree of culpable homicide punishable according to Section 304, Part 2 of the Indian Penal Code.
Thus, the crime punishable by death depends on the intent and seriousness of the crime. Section 301 IPC defines the doctrine of transferred malice. It says that if a person intends to kill someone, but unintentionally, without intending to kill another, his responsibility would be the same as if he had caused the death of that person, which he intended to do. This doctrine was used by this court while applying Section 301 in Shankarlal Kacchrabhi and others Vs. State of Gujrat.
Culpable homicide amounting to murder
Culpable homicide equivalent to murder, simply called murder, comes under Section 300 of the IPC which states: Culpable homicide is murder if it is caused by:
- intent to cause death or
- The purpose is to cause bodily harm which the offender knows may result in death.
- The intent is to cause bodily harm which is naturally sufficient to cause death.
- The perpetrator of the act knows that it is so imminently dangerous that it is likely to cause death or such bodily harm as is likely to cause death, and does the act without pretence to cause death or bodily harm. likely to cause death. Section 300 of the Indian Penal Code states when culpable homicide is murder. The exceptions in the same section deal with when culpable homicide does not amount to murder. If the act by which the death is committed fulfils one of the said conditions and does not fall within any of the exceptions in section 300, the act is called murder, i.e. killing that can be equated with murder.
Exceptions to Section 300 of the IPC
Section 300 of the IPC has certain exceptions which exempt the accused from the conversion of the offence from culpable homicide to murder. Exceptions are as follows:
(a) Culpable homicide is not murder, if, in the crime, the offender lost his self-control due to a serious and sudden provocation and caused the death of the instigator or any other person by accident or accident. It should be noted that there are some conditions attached to this exemption; provocation must not be used as an excuse to kill or injure someone, incitement must not be an incitement using the legal authority of a public official, or such provocation is not considered if it is made in the lawful exercise of one’s right. private protection b. If a person exceeded his right to self-defence and caused the death of the person against whom he exercised those rights, but did not intend to cause more damage than is necessary for his self-defence. c. When an officer causes death over his legal authority, what he does in good faith, believing that he must do so. d. When death results from a sudden struggle in the heat of passion after a sudden quarrel. e) If the death of such a person is caused, he is over 18 years of age and has consented to his death. In K.M., Nanavati Vs. In the state of Maharashtra, the court ruled that “the test to determine whether the conduct of the accused falls under provocation or not must ask whether any reasonable man in the same position and belonging to the same class or group. If in the same situation as the defendant, it would provoke loss of self-control.” The court also stated that the act resulting from a sudden and serious provocation must occur as soon as the person is provoked, but not after sufficient time has passed to calm down.
The punishment for culpable homicide amounting to murder, is prescribed under Section 302 of the IPC, which provides that “the person who commits the murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life and with a fine.”
Conclusion
Culpable homicide and murder are similar to each other and it is very difficult to understand the difference between the two. However, reading the prescription, one can analyse that murder is nothing but an aggravated form of culpable homicide, and in the case of murder, it is aggravated due to the higher probability of death. Furthermore, murder is not defined in the IPC but is mentioned in Section 300 of the Indian Penal Code as a condition under which culpable homicide would be murder. So murder is just one culpable homicide. Section 300 of the Indian Penal Code deals with the circumstances under which culpable homicide would constitute murder, and exceptions to the same sections set forth certain conditions under which culpable homicide does not constitute murder.
References
- Nara Singh Challan Vs. State of Orissa, 1997 I OLR 243.
- Shankarlal Kacchrabhi and others Vs. State of Gujrat, AIR 1965 1260
- K.M., Nanavati Vs. In the state of Maharashtra, AIR 1962 605.
- https://prolawctor.com/culpable-homicide-and-murder-ipc-notes/
- https://www.srdlawnotes.com/2017/07/murder-when-culpable-homicide-is-not.html
- https://www.lawtendo.com/indian-kanoon/ipc/section-300
- https://lawctopus.com/clatalogue/clat-pg/ipc-notes-culpable-homicide-and-murder/