Jus Corpus Law Journal

Open Access Law Journal – Copyright © 2022 – ISSN 2582-7820

Editor-in-Chief – Prof. (Dr.) Rhishikesh Dave; Publisher – Ayush Pandey

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Analysis of Exceptions of Murder amounting to Culpable

Homicide

Mansi Choudharya Yashi Mudgalb

a
Rajasthan School of Law for Women, Jaipur, India bRajasthan School of Law for Women, Jaipur, India

Received 25 March 2022; Accepted 11 April 2022; Published 15 April 2022

__________________________________

There have been various issues regarding the understanding of two terms as used in the Indian Penal Code came in 1860. The
terms are described under section 299 and section 300 as Culpable Homicide and Murder respectively. There raised many
critics against the IPC in the context of these two sections. Sir James Stephen also stated, after reviewing that, the definitions
given in the IPC of Culpable homicide and murder closely resemble each other. Both are described ‘as the causing of death,
forming the similarities between the two. According to Sir James Stephen, it is described as the weakest part of the Indian Penal
Code, therefore, making it quite difficult to understand and distinguish the terms. This manuscript deals with the difference
between culpable homicide and murder. Research then proceeds to the exceptions of murder, which is a topic of significance, while
dealing with culpable homicide and murder, together. Various cases are put forward with the aim of a clear understanding.
Culpable homicide in simple words is the Unnatural death of a human being, while murder is the culpable homicide with
intention.

Keywords: culpable homicide, murder, exceptions, IPC.

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INTRODUCTION

In this article, we shall learn about various offenses affecting the human body such as the
Analysis of exceptions if murder, amounts to culpable homicide. we will also get to know that
culpable homicide and murder seems to be similar to each other but there is a very minor
difference between them .they both are correlated to each other. But when we talk about such
differences we can also differ from the culpable homicide, amounting to and not amounting to
murder. The provision that we are going to discuss in this article covers the wide range of
offenses that can be committed against any human. Firstly we will discuss the two essential
ingredients of crime that are mens rea and actus reus. The term, mens rea means the guilty
mind i.e. the person having the intention of committing a crime and causing harm to others
whereas actus reus refers to the guilty act of the person. This article talks about the two
important sections of IPC i.e. sec 2991 and sec 3002 which tell about culpable homicide and
murder respectively.

CULPABLE HOMICIDE

Acts done can be accidental and intentional. In accidental acts, no criminal intention arises in
section 803 of the IPC. There is liability under the law of torts if the cause of death is negligence
and no gross negligence, there the liability can arise under both criminal and civil law. The
word homicide has been derived from the Latin word 'homo' meaning man and 'cidi' meaning
I cut. An act or omission irrespective of its nature causes the death of the person.

HOMICIDE IS EITHER LAWFUL OR UNLAWFUL

Unlawful homicide includes

 A culpable homicide does not amount to murder (section 299).

 Murder (section 300).

1 Indian Penal Code, 1860, s 299

2 Indian Penal Code, 1860, s 300
3 Indian Penal Code, 1860, s 80

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 Rash or negligent homicide (section 304A4).

 Suicide (sections 305 and 3065).

Culpable homicide may or may not amount to murder. It is a less severe offense than murder
being punishable with imprisonment for life, whereas murder is punishable with death or
imprisonment for life. It can be easily assumed that Homicide per se is not an offense, whereas
the Indian Penal Code makes provision for Culpable Homicide. The meaning of the word
"Culpable" is blameworthy or it can also be said a person is responsible for the death of
another human being. Hence, to charge someone for Culpable Homicide the ingredients of
section 299 of the Indian Penal Code have to be present.

SECTION 2996, I.P.C. provides: whenever a person causes death by doing an act or omission
to cause death and such bodily injury as it also likely to cause death or with the intention that
he likely by such act to cause death and commits the offenses of culpable homicide.

Example: A by shooting at a fowl with intent to kill and steal it, kills B who is behind a bush: A
not knowing that he was there. Here A was not guilty of culpable homicide, he did not intend
to kill B, or cause death by doing an act.

This illustration indicates that merely because death is, so to say, accidentally caused by the
commission of an unlawful act that by itself will not convert the accidental killing into murder.
All killing is not necessarily murder. A's primary motive or intention was not to murder. If and
shot both the fowl and b he would be guilty of murder, his motive being to kill b under the
pretext of killing the fowl. Section 299 defines the concept of culpable homicide as a genus
including both kinds of homicides i.e. murder and a homicide not amounting to murder.

MURDER

Section 3007 of the Indian Penal Code, talks about the concept of murder. Murder is a type of
culpable homicide only. Murder is, causing death to someone in the presence of men's rea,

4 Indian Penal Code, 1860, s 304A

5 Indian Penal Code, 1860, s 305 and s 306
6 Indian Penal Code, 1860, s 299

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various cases have the men's rea and other elements of murder but are still not considered to
be murder, these are known as the exceptions of section 300 i.e. murder.

EXCEPTIONS TO MURDER

There are some exceptions to murder which are described below:

Exception 1: sudden and grave provocation:

If any person loses its self -control due to sudden and grave provocation, which is causing the
death of the person who gave rise to such provocation or any other person due to accident,
then he will be held liable under culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The essential condition is as:

1. It needs to be sudden.

2. The accused must have lost his controlling power and self–control.

3. The deceased must have provoked the accused.

4. There must be the cause of death of the person who gave the provocation.

5. It also needs to be grave.

6. A person should not have malafide intention.

For example A insults and abuses the sister of B and gives the sudden and grave provocation
to B. B loses his self-control and fires a pistol at A. Therefore, A died immediately. Bis is liable
for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Case - K.M Nanavati v Maharashtra8: It is a landmark case. The court gave its decision in the
case, is as follows:

7 Indian Penal Code, 1860, s 300

8 K.M Nanavati v Maharashtra (1962), AIR 605
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 The sudden and grave provocation to an accused is due to gestures and words under
certain situations to bring the person's action under this exception.
 For determining the sudden and grave provocation, a test is established if any
reasonable man having the same belongings and capacity to the same class and section
of the society and if placed in the same situation as the accused person would also be
provoked as to lose his/her self-control and power.
 To determine whether the act of the deceased was sufficient to cause a sudden and
grave provocation, the previous act of the victim is to be taken into consideration.

Exception 2: Private defense:

If the person, exercises in good faith of the right of private defense of property and a person
and exceeds the power given to him by-law and causes the death of the person against whom
he is exercising such right of defense without premeditation, and without the intention of
doing more harm than is necessary for such defense.

The person will be held liable for murder if he exceeds his right of private defense
intentionally.

Exception 3: Public servant exceeding his power:

Any public servant causing the death of a person with the aim of providing public justice is
exempted from the liability of a murderer.

Case – Dukhi Singh v the State of UP9

In this case, the constable of the Railway Protection Force 10 went to arrest the person. The thief
was trying to run he fired a shot to catch him. The judgment of the court, in this case, is that
the constable is entitled to benefits.

Exception 4: Sudden Fight

9 Dukhi Singh v State of UP AIR 1955, All 379

10 Railway Protection Force Act, 1957
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There was no intention of any person to kill and cause death to any other person. Hence, It
means that the fight was unexpected or sudden.

Case-Narayan Nair v State of Travancore11

In this case, it was held by the court that “There must be the fight with the person killed” in
order to cover the case to the extent of exception.

Exception 5: Consent:

When the person himself agrees to suffer the harm and gives his consent then it will be
culpable homicide not accounting to murder.

Essentials – the person whose death is caused should be above the age of 18 years.

- He must have given his consent.

- Consent must be voluntary and free

DISTINCTION BETWEEN MURDER AND CULPABLE HOMICIDE

The distinction between murder and culpable homicide is a matter of concern as murder is a
type of culpable homicide. By many scholars, culpable homicide is considered to be a genius
and murder as its species. Therefore, it can be said that all murders come under culpable
homicide but all culpable homicides are not murder. Culpable homicides meet the
requirements and essentials of both the sections, firstly section 29912 and section 30013. Any
wrongful act which doesn’t meet the requirements of section 299 is not considered a culpable
homicide. Although there is not much difference between the essentials of both, still they are
essential to study for understanding the two concepts properly.

Essentials of culpable homicide (section 299);

11
Narayan Nair v The State of Travancore AIR 1956, SC 99
12 Indian Penal Code, 1860, s 299
13 Indian Penal Code, 1860, s 300

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 Mens rea;
 An act, causing intentional body injury, which may cause death;
 Knowing the consequences of that act

Essentials of murder (section 300);

 Mens rea;
 The Act that may cause death;
 Intentional body injury, sufficient to cause death;
 Knowing that the act, in all possibilities, would lead to the death of the person.

The difference between the two concepts, according to the language of the bare act, is almost
negligible but this thin line difference can and does make huge differences. the difference
between the two is uncertainty, in the elements of culpable homicide, “an act” is used,
showing the uncertainty of death of the person, with whom the act is being done; while in the
elements of murder, instead of “an act”, “the act” is being used, hence, show the certainty in
the context. It shows the certainty of the death of the person, with whom the act is being done.

The basic difference between murder and homicide is the degrees of intention and knowledge.
For example Illustration (a) of section 29914 is an example of the degree of knowledge and
intention. In this a person, covers a pit on the road, to cause the death of another person, who
was about to walk that road, this is termed as culpable homicide. Now next part of the
illustration shows the elements of murder, a person, putting poisonous snakes in the same
amounts to the offense of murder as the degree of intention and knowledge is quite high in the
case.

ANALYSIS: EXCEPTIONS OF MURDER AMOUNTING TO CULPABLE HOMICIDE

There have been many explanations on how culpable homicide mounts for murder, but very
few on whether all the exceptions of murder amount to culpable homicide or not. Every
offense which falls under the category of section 299, amounts to culpable homicide. On the

14 Indian Penal Code, 1860, s 299

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other hand, every offense which falls under the category of section 300, amounts to murder
and culpable homicide. While talking about exceptions of murder, it's normally mentioned as
offenses, which does not amount to murder, but it's rarely mentioned anywhere that these
exceptions amount to culpable homicide too. Death caused by the accused due to some grave
provocation by the other, death by some public servant by exceeding his power, death in the
case of private defense, death the consent of another, and during a sudden fight will not cause
murder as given in section 300 but it doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t amount to culpable
homicide. Therefore all the murders and all the exceptions of murder amount to culpable
homicide as described in section 299 of the Indian penal code.

CONCLUSION

The research paper is about the rare concept of “exceptions of murder amounting to culpable
homicide, the concept of culpable homicide is the longest topic in the Indian penal code,
starting from section 299 to section 37715. This research paper talked about 2 sections of this
vast topic, sections 299 and 30 16. This research paper is written to analyze the concepts of
exceptions of murder, that amount to culpable homicide. In making, the author used
secondary data for the research work to meet the requirements. The research paper used
descriptive and analytic methods to cover the important concepts of the topic, “Analysis on
Exceptions of murder, amounting to culpable homicide”. Commencing with making the
concepts of culpable homicide and murder, the paper proceeds to the distinction between the
two. To switch on the main focus of the paper, exceptions to murder are being discussed. The
analysis on the main topic concludes the topic, mentioning that the exceptions of murder
amount to the offense of culpable homicide. This issue has always been in an area of concern,
the paper is written to contribute and minimize a bit of confusion on the topic.

15 Indian Penal Code, 1860, s 377

16 Indian Penal Code, 1860, s 299 and s 30
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