This article was written by Ms. Naina Singh, a 2nd year law student from Amity University, Punjab.
ABSTRACT
Crime is an unlawful act that is forbidden and punished by the state or the law. In other words, anything which is injurious to public welfare is a crime. Every nation has its own set of codified laws which describe various crimes and punishments. Regardless of which laws we refer to, there are always some elements of crime common to all of them. These elements usually lay down the foundation of every crime. In this article, the essentials of 4 basic elements of crime will be discussed in detail, which include:
- Human Being
- Mens rea
- Actus reus
- Injury
INTRODUCTION
The major criminal laws in our country, India, include the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Criminal Procedure Code (Cr PC) and Indian Evidence Act. Apart from these laws, we also have other laws that relate to specific kinds of offences like, The Prevention of Money Laundering Act which deals with certain monetary crimes. The paramount link in all these laws is that they hold certain basic elements which are discussed further……..
Human Being
The primary element of a crime is a human being. The wrongful act must be committed by a ‘human being’. Any non-living thing or animal is not considered in the category of ‘person/human being’. Although during ancient times, “retribution” was the basis of criminal law, punishments were imposed on animals who caused injury., For example, a pig was burnt in Paris for having devoured a child and a horse was killed for kicking a man.
Fortunately, under the IPC 1860, if an animal causes an injury, it is not held liable but the owner is held liable for such injury. Hence, the essential of this primary element is a ‘human being’, who must be under the legal obligation to act in a particular manner and should be a fit subject for granting appropriate punishment.
Section 11 of IPC provides that the word ‘person’ includes a company or association or body or persons, whether incorporated or not. The word ‘person’ comprises artificial or judicial persons.
Mens rea
The second important essential element of any crime is man rea or evil intent or guilty mind or; a guilty or wrongful purpose or; criminal intent; guilty knowledge and willfulness.
Any wrongful act committed by a human being cannot be called a crime if committed without evil intent. There must be an evil intent while doing an act.
Tere is a well-known maxim– ‘Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea.’ It means ‘the act itself does not make a man guilty unless his intentions were so.’ From this maxim, there came another maxim- ‘actus me invito factus non est mens actus,’ which means ‘an act done by me against my will is not my act at all.’
The Act can be voluntary or involuntary, and the guilt is determined by the facts of the case. Mens Rea as such, is not punishable.
CASE LAW] Nathulal vs. State of M.P (AIR 1966 SC 43)
In this case, the accused was a food grain dealer who applied for a license and deposited the requisite license fee. Without knowledge of rejection of his application, he purchased food grains and sent returns to the Licensing Authority, who, on checking, found that they were in excess of the quantity permitted by Section 7 of MP Food Grains Dealers Licensing Order, 1958. The accused were prosecuted. However, he was acquitted on the ground that he had no guilty mind
State of Maharashtra v. MH George (AIR 1965 SC 722)
In this case, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) placed some restrictions on the entry of gold into India, thus superseding an earlier notification. The accused reached Mumbai from Manila, where gold bars were recovered from his jacket. The accused pleaded that he had no Mens Rea and that he had no knowledge of the RBI notification. After considering the object and subject matter of the statute, the Court held that there was no scope for the invocation of the doctrine of Mens Rea in this particular case.
- Actus reus
The third essential element of the crime is the actus reus. The criminal intent to be punishable must be obvious in some voluntary act or omission. As per Kenny, ‘actus reus’ is such a result of human conduct as the law seeks to prevent. The act committed must be one that is forbidden or punished by the law. For example, in the case of murder, the death of the victim is brought by stabbing. Here the actus reus is homicide, which is brought by the conduct of the offender, i.e. stabbing.
An act also includes omissions. A man is also held liable if some duty is imposed upon him by law, and he omits to discharge that duty. There may be situations where the law commands or permits harm to be inflicted. In such cases, the act done does not amount to offence. For example: a duly appointed executioner who puts to death a condemned criminal. No criminal liability arises in such cases. An omission must be a breach of a legal duty.
- Injury
Injury is the last important, or we can say the essential element of a crime. It must be caused illegally to another human being or the body of individuals or society at large. ‘Injury’ has been defined in section 44 of the Indian Penal Code as ‘any harm whatever illegally caused to any person in body, mind, reputation or property.’
However, there can be some crimes that may not cause any injury to anybody. For example, if you drive a vehicle without a driving license, it is a crime, even if it does not cause any injury to someone.
CONCLUSION
A crime or an offence is an act which is harmful not only to the person but also to the community, society or the state. Such acts are forbidden and punished by law.
To establish criminal liability, crime can be broken down into elements which a prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
In general, every crime involves four elements:
First, the accused person (human being);
Second, The act or conduct (actus reus);
Third, the individual’s mental state at the time of the act (mens rea);
And fourth, the injury between the act and the effect.