assignment rajni MURDER
assignment rajni MURDER
Assignment-1
On
Murder
I would like to thank MS. Rajni Rani, Asst. Professor, Department of Law,
Desh Bhagat University, Mandi Gobindgarh for their kind support.
I also owe my sincerest gratitude towards MS. Rajni Rani for her valuable
advice & healthy criticism throughout my work which helped me immensely
to complete my work successfully.
I would also like to thank my parents who helped & supported me. I would
also like to thank everyone who has knowingly & unknowingly helped me
throughout my training. Last but not least, a word of thanks for the authors of
all those books & papers which I have consulted during my project work as
well as for preparing the report.
Kirandeep Singh
LLM 1st Sem
23282248012
Table of Contents
Introduction
o Ingredients of Murder
o Illustrations
o Illustration
o Cases
Exceptions to Section 300 of IPC where culpable homicide is not considered as murder
o Illustration
o Case
o Illustration
o Case
Sudden Fight
o Case
o Consent
o Illustration
Culpable Homicide in the exercise of good faith
o Illustration
Culpable Homicide by causing the death of the person other than the person whose
death was intended (Section 301)
o Case
o Causing Death by negligence (Section 304A)
o Cases
o Illustrations
o Illustration
o Punishment
Conviction of a Minor
Sentence to Co-accused
Landmark Judgments
Conclusion
References
Introduction
Section 299 and Section 300 of Indian Penal Code deal with murder. All murders are culpable
homicides but all culpable homicides are not murders. Culpable Homicide is genus and murder is
its species, thus, murder is a culpable homicide but all culpable homicide are not murder.
The word homicide is derived from Latin where homo means man while the meaning of cide is I
cut. Thus, the killing of a man by a man is the meaning of homicide. Culpable homicide is
punishable by law. Homicide can be lawful or unlawful. Culpable homicide is further divided
into two categories:
Ingredients of Murder
Causing death: There should be an intention of causing death,
Doing an act: There should be an intention to cause such bodily injury that is likely to
cause death, or
The act must be done: with the knowledge that the act is likely to cause the death of
another.
o Illustrations
o Illustration
X induces Y to put the fire at the place having the knowledge that Z was sitting behind a
covered area. Here, X is liable for the offence of culpable homicide, as he had prior
knowledge that Z was present in that area and his actions will lead to Z’s death. Here,
intention makes X liable to culpable homicide.
Y is diagnosed with a terminal illness and to live from day to day he needs certain drugs.
Z confines Y in a room and prevents him from taking his medication. Here, Z is guilty
of culpable homicide.
Cases
In the case of Reg. v. Govinda, 1876 the accused had knocked down his wife, kept a knee on her
chest and gave two to three violent blows with the closed fist on her face. This act produced
extraversion of blood on her brain and afterwards, the wife died due to this. The act was not
committed with the intention of causing death and the bodily injury was not sufficient to cause
death in the ordinary course of nature. The accused was liable to culpable homicide not
amounting to murder.
The difference between murder and culpable homicide is intention. If the intention is present the
crime is said to be committed under Section 300 of IPC. If the intention is absent, then the crime
is dealt under section 300 of IPC.
o Illustration
A is given grave and sudden provocation by C. A fires at C as a result of this provocation. A
didn’t intend or have knowledge that his act is likely to kill C, who was out of A’s sight. A kills
C. A is not liable to murder but is liable to culpable homicide.
Cases
K.M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra, 1961
In this case, the Supreme Court had extensively explained the law relating to provocation in
India. It was observed by the Court:
The test of “sudden and grave provocation” is whether a reasonable man, who belongs
to the same society as the accused, is placed in the situation in which the accused was
placed would have been so provoked as to lose his self-control.
Under certain circumstances, words and gestures may also lead to sudden and grave
provocation to an accused, so as to bring his act under an exception.
The mental background of the victim can be taken into consideration, taking account of
his previous act to ascertain whether the subsequent act leads to sudden and grave
provocation for committing the offence.
The fatal blow clearly should trace the influence of passion that arises from the sudden
and grave provocation. It should not be after the provocation has been cooled down
due to lapse of time, otherwise, it will give room and scope to the accused for altering
the evidence.
Muthu v. state of Tamil Nadu, 2007
ln this case, it was held by the Supreme Court that constant harassment might deprive the power
of self-control, amounting to sudden and grave provocation.
Case
Nathan v. State of Madras, 1972
In this case, the landlord was trying forcefully to evict the accused. The accused killed the
landlord while exercising his right to private defence. There was no fear of death to the accused
as the deceased was not holding any deadly weapon that could have caused grievous hurt or
death of the accused. The deceased had no intention to kill the accused, thus, the accused
exceeded his right of private defence. The accused was liable to culpable homicide not
amounting to murder.
o Illustration
If the police officer goes to arrest a person, the person tries to run away and during that
incident, if the police officer shoots the person, the police officer will not be guilty of
murder.
Case
Dakhi Singh v. State, 1955
In this case, the appellant was the constable of Railway Protection Force, while he was on duty
he killed a fireman unintentionally, while he was firing bullet shots to catch the thief. The
constable was entitled to benefit under this section section’s benefit.
Sudden Fight
The sudden fight is when the fight is unexpected or premeditated. Both the parties don’t have
any intention to kill or cause the death of another. The fact that which party had assaulted or
offered a provocation first is not important.
Case
Radhey Shyam and Anr. v. State of Uttar Pradesh, 2018
In this case, the appellant was extremely angry when he got to know that his calf had come to the
deceased place. The appellant started abusing the deceased, when it was tried to stop him, the
appellant fired at the deceased. The deceased was unarmed at that time, thus the appellant had an
intention to kill the deceased, hence, he was held liable to murder.
Consent
If the act is committed with the consent of the victim. The consent should be unconditional,
unequivocal and without any sort of reservation.
o Illustration
A instigated F who was under 18 years of age, to commit suicide. F was incapable of
giving consent to his own death. Therefore, A is guilty of murder.
X killed his stepfather Y, who was old and infirm. X killed Y with his consent. This was
punishable under Section 304.
o Illustration
Y attempts to horsewhip Z, not to cause grievous hurt to Z. Z takes out a pistol, Y persists to the
assault. Z in good faith in order to prevent himself from being horsewhipped, shoots at Y, such
that he dies because of that. Z is guilty of culpable homicide and not murder.
The act is punishable under Section 302 of IPC if it does not fall under the exception of Section
300 of IPC.
Case
Abdul Ise Suleman v. State of Gujarat, 1994
In this case, the accused persons had freely fired on the fleeing complainant party in a
commercial locality in the course of an altercation. In the first shot, the person was injured, while
a ten-year-old son of a complainant was dead in the 2nd shot. It was held by the Supreme Court
that the child death was intentional and hence applies Section 300 read with Section 301 of IPC.
Cases
State of Karnataka v. Mohd. Ismail, 1988
In this case, a 28-year-old motorcyclist had pushed an 85-year-old man from behind. The old
man died on spot due to head injuries attained at the time of the accident. The death was a result
of rash and negligent conduct.
The punishment for Dowry death is imprisonment for a minimum of seven years or a maximum
of imprisonment for life.
o Illustrations
R shoots S with an intention to kill her. If under such circumstances death has ensued, R
will be guilty of murder.
P, with an intention to cause death to Q, who is a child of seven years of age, leaves him
in a deserted land. P commits an offence under this section, though the death of the
child is not ensured.
o Illustration
A due to sudden and grave provocation fires at Z. If Z dies due to this incident, A will be
guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Punishment
Punishment for murder (Section 302)
The punishment for murder is provided under Section 302 of IPC. Under this section whoever
commits murder is punished with:
Death
Life imprisonment
Fine
Punishment for Culpable Homicide (Section 304)
Culpable homicide is not murder if it falls under any one of the five exceptions given under
Section 300. Section 304 of IPC describes the punishments for culpable homicide not amounting
to murder, that is:
It was held by the Court that if a person is released by remission who was undergoing
imprisonment for life for murder, is not considered under the sentence of imprisonment for life
any longer. If the murder is committed during the period of remission, it will not be considered
while giving punishment under Section 303 of IPC. Thus, the accused shall not be given
imprisonment for life.
In the case of Mithu v. State of Punjab, 1983 the constitutional validity of Section 303 of IPC
was questioned. Section 303 was held to be arbitrary and unconstitutional as it was held by the
Court that mandatory death penalty to a life convict is arbitrary and unreasonable, due to:
Conviction of a Minor
According to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, the individuals
who were under 18 years of age, when the crime was committed cannot be executed. The
Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 was replaced by The Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. The amended Act
allows the person from 16 to 18 years of age to be tried as an adult if they are found to be liable
for any heinous crime like rape and murder.
Sentence to Co-accused
Section 30 of the Indian Evidence Act provides confession of the co-accused. The persons who
are accused of the same crime shall be awarded the same amount of imprisonment. The
confession made co-accused holds a proper evidentiary value. It is ensured by the parity
principle that the sentence should be similar for the same offenders or persons who are convicted
of the same crime. Fairness and equality are ensured by this principle while awarding the
sentences.
Landmark Judgments
o Jag Mohan Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh, 1972
In this case, there was a murder which came up after the amendment of the Code of Criminal
Procedure in 1973, where the death penalty was no longer a mandatory sentence for murder and
it became subject to the discretion of the Court. The arguments were raised regarding the
constitutionality of a death penalty, it was on the ground that a vide discretionary power vested
with the Courts as there were no guidelines or standards. It was held that it violated Article
14, Article 19 and Article 21.
It was held by the Supreme Court that the Right to life was not a part of Article 19 and the death
could not be called as unreasonable or opposed to public policy since it was the punishment
which was part of the law even before the commencement and the legislature would be presumed
to know its existence. And since it was not removed, it could be assumed that the legislature did
not think of it as unreasonable.
Article 14 could hardly be invoked in matters involving judicial discretion, as each case would
be peculiar to facts and circumstances. The discretion given to Courts to award a death sentence
cannot be termed aa unguided. The Code of Criminal Procedure lays down the detailed
procedure about when a death sentence is imposed and following the procedure established by
law cannot be held as unconstitutional.
Article 19
In this case, writ petitions were filed in the Supreme Court, challenging the constitutional
validity of allowing the death penalty as an alternative to punishment for murder.
The significant changes from Jagmohan case to Bachan case was that the scope of Article 19
and Article 21 was expanded by the interpretation given in the Maneka Gandhi’s case. By this
time India had become a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It was
held by the Court that the Covenant did not outlaw the death penalty.
If the freedom mentioned under Article 19 are infringed, then Article 19 can be invoked. Since
the right to life is not covered under Article 19, it cannot be invoked to determine the
constitutionality of Section 302 of Indian Penal Code, that provides death penalty as an
alternative punishment to murder. Merely on the ground that the death penalty remotely affects
the freedom under Article 19, the death penalty cannot be held to be unconstitutional.
The Court held that a pre-sentencing hearing introduced in The Code of Criminal Procedure was
a mandatory requirement. It was made necessary to consider the circumstances of both crimes as
well as the criminal.
It was held that the sentence imposed should be carried out under procedure established by law.
If there is a prolonged delay irrespective of the cause in carrying out the execution, it has a
dehumanizing effect, which violates Article 21 by unjustly depriving a person of his life and
liberty.
If there is a delay beyond two years, it entitles a prisoner for quashing of a death sentence.
For a very long time, Arushi’s parents had been held under custody. Still, it is not clear whether
it was Arushi’s parents or the other two servants that worked in her house. Though Arushi’s
parents have been acquitted, yet no one knows who killed Ayushi and Hemraj.
She died after a day she had accused Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar of stalking her husband on
twitter. According to the post-mortem report, it was concluded that she had committed suicide.
But the report from doctors of All India Medical Institute said that the death was due to drug
overdose and she had injury marks on her body.
Neeraj’s friend Maria Susairaj had filed a missing complaint in the police station. She was later
found to be involved in the killing. It was discovered that Maria’s boyfriend in a fit of rage had
killed Neeraj suspecting that Maria was having an affair with Neeraj.
o Sharath murder case
Sharath was a 19 years old son of an Income-tax officer who was killed in Bangalore. Sharath’s
body was found on the outskirts of the city near Ramohalli lake with his hands tied together. It
turned out that the kidnappers had strangled Sharath to death and later on the same day they had
dumped his body.
The police found out that the kidnappers were friends of Sharath and his close friend Vishal was
the one who had planned this murder and abduction to clear off the loan.
Conclusion
The Court awards death penalty only in rarest situations only in cases where the accused is a
threat to the society the Court understands the value of life. The Court has all the rights and
power to reduce the punishment.
References
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/626019/
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/cri_m.htm
https://www.lawnn.com/murder-section-300-indian-penal-code/
https://lawsikho.com/course/certificate-criminal-litigation-trial-
advocacy
https://www.project39a.com/landmark-judgements
http://lawtimesjournal.in/murder/
https://www.advocatekhoj.com/library/bareacts/codeofcivilprocedure/
index.php?Title=Code%20of%20Civil%20Procedure,%201908
https://www.indiatimes.com/culture/11-most-mysterious-and-
sensational-cases-of-murder-in-india-334096.html
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https://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/police-files-
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https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/2017/sep/23/
friend-plotted-the-kidnap-and-killing-of-i-t-officials-son-
1661452.html