| CASE NAME | Chirangi v. State |
| CITATION | AIR 1952 NAGPUR 282, ILR (1952) NAGPUR |
| COURT | Bombay High Court |
| BENCH | Hon’ble Justice Hemeon, Hon’ble Justice V.R. Sen |
| PETITIONER | Chirangi Lohar |
| RESPONDENTS | State of Madhya Pradesh |
| DECIDED ON | Decided on 19th February, 1952 |
INTRODUCTION
The legal concept of “mistake of fact” as a criminal law defense under Sections 76 and 79 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is at the center of the Chiranji v. State (1952) case. Suppose someone commits an offense while acting on an incorrect belief about the truth. In that case, they are generally exempt from criminal prosecution under these rules so long as their error is sincere and reasonable.
In this instance, the accused, Chiranji, was accused of killing a person while on a hunting trip. Because of the situation and the surroundings, Chiranji shot the victim because he thought it was an animal. Since he honestly thought he was shooting an animal, not a human, his defense claimed that the killing was an honest error of fact. Before the court, the question was whether Chiranji’s incorrect belief qualified for the protection provided by Section 79 of the IPC, which declares that actions carried out in good faith and under an error of fact are not punished.
This case explores the definition of a “reasonable” mistake of fact in a broader sense as well as how courts assess the circumstances surrounding the accused’s actions. The ruling in Chiranji v. State demonstrates how the court makes the distinction between willful misconduct and honest errors. It also makes it clear that the defense of mistake of fact must be based on reasonableness, which means that an ordinary person might have made the same mistake under the same conditions. In criminal cases involving human error, the ruling provides important insights into how the judge weighs intent, belief, and culpability.
FACTS OF THE CASE
In Idnar, Bastar, Mr. Chirangi Lohar, 45, resided with his unmarried daughter, Khotla, his nephew, and his only son, Ghudsai, who was 12 years old. They were friendly and cordial with one another. Chirangi suffered from a leg abscess on a physical level.
While Chirangi’s nephew Khotla was working in the field in the afternoon on April 3, 1951, Chirangi and his son Ghudsai visited a nearby mound known as “Budra Meta” with the intention of gathering “said” leaves. They brought an “axe” with them for the purpose. Khotla noticed that his uncle was sleeping with a blood-stained axe next to him when he got home and that Ghudsai was gone.
When Chirangi awoke throughout the night, Khotla asked him where Ghudsai had gone. Then Chirangi admitted that he killed his son in Budra Meta after becoming insane because he thought the tiger was magical. He lost consciousness at the scene, so he wasn’t able to remember everything that happened, but he did know that he fell on the stones.
Chirangi may have suffered from the fall on the stones at Budra Meta or from coming into contact with anything hard and abrasive because he had two superficial abrasions on the front of his shoulders and a ½” × ½” superficial abrasion on the outside of his left eyebrow.
ISSUES RAISED
- Whether accused can get defense of mistake of fact under general exceptions of IPC?
ARGUMENTS FROM BOTH SIDES
Argument from the side of the Petitioner
The appellant’s attorney contended that Chirangi had absolutely no justification for killing his son. He liked his son very much. It was a “bona fide” factual error brought on by his mental state. The case’s accessors further claimed that his son’s death may have been caused by his brief loss of mental stability following his fall.
Argument from the side of the Respondent
The defendant’s attorney said that there was insufficient evidence to establish the appellant’s insanity at any point in time, either before or during the incident. There was also little evidence to support the idea that he was strange or unusual by nature. Therefore, it is inconceivable to argue that the appellant was justified in using Section 79 of the IPC to kill his kid due to a factual error.
JUDGMENT
Dr. Dube’s findings made it abundantly evident that Chirangi’s fall and his medical infirmities at the time could have led him to believe, in good faith, that a tiger rather than his kid was the intended victim of his attack. That assessment was supported by the appellant’s post-incident behavior, which made it clear that he had no intention of misbehaving or breaking any laws. It is quite evident that Chirangi would have resisted right away if he had even the slightest suspicion that his son was the target of his attack. They were obviously committed to each other, and there was absolutely no reason why he would have chosen to attack him.
Because the accused, Chirangi Lohar, mistakenly believed that a tiger was approaching him, the defense of error of fact was employed, and he was spared prosecution for the murder of his own kid. The defendant attacked his own son with an axe because, in a moment of delusion, he thought the animal was a tiger. It was decided that he was justified because he didn’t take responsibility for his error and believed a person to be a dangerous animal.
CONCLUSION
This viewpoint was upheld in Bonda Kui v. Emperor, a case in which a woman witnessed an apparently human form dancing in total nudity in the middle of the night with a ripped mat around her waist and a broomstick tied on one side. The woman disrobed, assuming the shape of a demonic spirit or something that devours people and used a hatchet to repeatedly strike the object until it was on the ground. However, an examination revealed that she had murdered a person—the brother’s wife of her spouse. The accused woman’s conviction and sentence under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code were overturned on the grounds that she was fully protected by Section 79 ‘ibid.’ This was because her statements, which were the only evidence in the case, clearly showed that she believed she was justified in killing the deceased, even though she didn’t think of him as a human being but rather as something that devoured humans.
When someone commits an act but misunderstands an unquestionable fact that disproves a part of the crime, that is an error of fact. A mistake of fact can be used as a defense for various offenses. Suppose the criminal defendant can demonstrate that he committed the act believing it to be a factual error or misinterpreted an unquestionable fact. In that case, it proves a part of the crime was not committed.
