Concept of Culpable Homicide under IPC

By Tania Maria Joy

Introduction

Homicide is a term that originates from the Latin term ‘Homo’ means human and ‘caedere’ means killing. The act of homicide is an act that has been a part of human life since day 1. Early men used to kill each other for food or to create dominance, the kings used to perform homicide to win territories and now people kill each other in the way of jealousy, greed, etc. 

Homicide is one of the most grievous acts a person can commit as it is the highest order of bodily injury inflicted on a human being hence that’s why regulations regarding Homicide are grave, for instance, culprits are usually sentenced to life imprisonment or the death penalty as these are the most extreme punishments given by the judiciary. 

In India homicide is divided into two forms- Culpable Homicide (Section 299 of the Indian Penal Code) and Culpable Homicide amounting to murder (Section 300 of the Indian Penal Code). Both of these have a very minimal difference but these differences prove to be very crucial for the legal system as the delivery of a fair judgment is dependent on these differences.

In this article, we’ll be discussing the third type of Unlawful Homicide, ‘Culpable Homicide’. What is culpable homicide, what are the ingredients, the difference between culpable homicide and murder, punishment regarding it and certain landmark cases to prove our contentions?

Lawful and Unlawful Homicide 

A culprit in a case of Homicide cannot always be culpable. This derives from the notion of lawful homicide where the accused had a valid reason to commit the crime. In these cases, the person will not tend to be tried by the law and can also be exempted from the charges. 

These can include death caused in self-defence or by mistake of fact or there was a bonafide execution of the law etc. Hence Homicide can be lawful as well as unlawful. Lawful Homicide may include justifiable and excusable homicide. Unlawful Homicide may include death by rash and negligent act (Sec 304-A), suicide (Sec 309) or culpable homicide.

Culpable Homicide

As mentioned before culpable homicide is a type of unlawful homicide. Laws regarding culpable homicide are enshrined in the Indian Penal Code 1862 (IPC). According to which, there are two types of culpable homicides-

Culpable Homicide not amounting to Murder (Section 299 IPC)

It can be simply referred to as culpable homicide, this comes under the purview of Section 299 of The Indian Penal Code 1862 which states that:

An act was done to cause death or cause such bodily injury which is likely to cause death or knowing that he can likely by his act caused death, he’ll be committing the offence of culpable homicide.

Conditions

After bifurcating the definition, we get 3 conditions that have to be fulfilled to attract Section 299 of the Indian Penal Code these are-

• The intention of causing death.
• The intention of causing such bodily injury is likely to cause death.
• With the knowledge that he is likely by such an act to cause death.

In the case of Nara Singh Challan v. State of Orissa (1997), Section 299 of the Indian Penal Code is the genus and Section 300 of the Indian Penal Code is the species. Hence, there are no independent sections regarding culpable homicide not amounting to murder it is the part of Section 300 of IPC which defines Murder. 

Herein, the court observed that:

“For deciding the proper punishment which is proportionate to the current offence, IPC has divided culpable homicide into three degrees. First is the gravest form which is Murder it is defined under section 300 of IPC, the second is the culpable homicide of the second degree which is punishable under Section 304 part 1 of IPC and Third is the lowest degree of culpable homicide which is punishable under Section 304 part 2 of IPC.” 

Culpable Homicide amounting to Murder

It can be simply referred to as Murder, this comes under the purview of Section 300 of the Indian Penal Code 1862 which states that:

Culpable homicide is murder, if the act is done to cause death or if it is done to cause such bodily injury as is likely to cause the death of the person or if the inflicted bodily injury is sufficient enough in the ordinary course of nature to cause death or if there is knowledge involved that the act done is so fatal that in all probability it can cause death or such bodily injury as is likely to cause death and commits such act without any excuse.

Conditions

After bifurcating the definition, we get 4 conditions that have to be fulfilled to attract Section 300 of the Indian Penal Code these are-

• The intention of causing death.
• The intention of causing such bodily injury as the offender knows to be likely to cause the death of the person to whom the harm is caused.
• To cause bodily injury to any person and the bodily injury intended to be in­flicted is sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.
• The person committing the act knows that it is so imminently dangerous that it must, in all probability, cause death or such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, and commits such act without any excuse for incurring the risk of causing death or such injury as aforesaid.

Culpable homicide amounts to murder when the act is done to cause death, but this principle doesn’t apply in the cases mentioned below. The following acts can amount to culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Exceptions 1-5 in the (d) and (f) illustrations of section 300 of the IPC define conditions when culpable homicide is not amounting to murder, these are as follows-

• It is not culpable homicide amounting to murder if it is committed by a person who gets deprived of the power of self-control and causes the death of someone because of a grave and sudden provocation. 
• It is not culpable homicide amounting to murder when the offender causes the death of someone while exercises his right of private defence of person and property in good faith
• It is not culpable homicide amounting to murder if a public servant causes someone’s death while performing his duties and in good faith and he believes that his acts were lawful.
• It is not culpable homicide amounting to murder if a person causes the death of someone commits it in a sudden fight in the heat of passion upon a sudden quarrel 
• It is not culpable homicide amounting to murder when a person suffers death with his this principle doesn’t apply, consent when he is above 18 years of age.

Culpable Homicide not amounting to Murder

According to the definition provided under Section 299 of the Indian Penal Code, there are majorly 3 essential ingredients to prove that the person is liable for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. These are-

• The intention of causing death.
• The intention of causing such bodily injury is likely to cause death.
• With the knowledge that he is likely by such an act to cause death.

This principle doesn’t apply, to culpable Homicide amounting to Murder

According to the definition provided under Section 300 of the Indian Penal Code, there are majorly 4 essential ingredients to prove that the person is liable for culpable homicide amounting to murder. These are-

• The intention of causing death.
• The intention of causing such bodily injury as the offender knows to be likely to cause the death of the person to whom the harm is caused.
• To cause bodily injury to any person and the bodily injury intended to be in­flicted is sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.
• The person committing the act knows that it is so imminently dangerous that it must, in all probability, cause death or such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, and commits such act without any excuse for incurring the risk of causing death or such injury as aforesaid.

Punishment for culpable homicide amounting to murder (Sec 300) is given under Section 302 which is either death penalty or life imprisonment as well as fine. Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Sec 299) is given under Section 304, either imprisonment for 10 years or fine or both. It can extend to life imprisonment if there was intention present. 

There is one interesting section as well in the act which talks about a person killing another person by mistake while he was trying to kill another person, it is Section 301 of IPC. We learned about some very interesting cases regarding Culpable homicide, through the case of Bhagwan Singh we got to know about regulations regarding celebratory firing, we got to know the international status of validity of euthanasia through the South African Case of Minister Justice.