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Q. 5 What do you understand by Culpable Homicide? In what circumstances Culpable Homicide does not amount to Murder? What are those exceptions when Culpable Homicide does not amount to Murder?
The word homicide is derived from two Latin words - homo and cido. Homo means human and cido means killing by a human. Homicide means killing of a human being by another human human being. A homicide can be lawful or unlawful. unlawful. Lawful homicide includes situations where a person who has caused the death of another cannot be blamed for his death. For example in exercising the right of private defense or in other situations explained in !hapter "# of "$! covering %eneral &xceptions. 'nlawful homicide means where the killing of o f another human is not approved or (ustified by law. !ulpable Homicide is in this category. !ulpable means blame worthy. Thus !ulpable Homicide means killing of a human being by another human being in a blameworthy or criminal manner. )ection *++ of "$! defines !ulpable Homicide as follows , Section 2 - ho ever causes death by doing an act with the intention of causing death or with the intention of causing such bodily in(ury as is likely to cause cause death or with the knowledge knowledge that he is likely likely by such act to cause cause death commits the offence offence of !ulpable Homicide.
"llustrations .
A lays sticks and turf over a pit with the intention of there there by causing death or with with the knowledge that death is likely to be thereby caused. caused. / believing the ground ground to be firm treads on on it falls in and is killed. A has committed the offence offence of !ulpable Homicide.
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A knows knows / to be behind a bush. bush. 0 does not know it A A intending intending to cause cause or knowing knowing it to be likely to cause cause /1s death death induces 0 fires and kills /. Here 0 may be guilty of no offence2 but A has committed the offence of !ulpable Homicide.
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A by shooting at at a fowl with intent to kill and steal it kills 0 who is behind behind a bush2 A not knowing that that he was there. there. Here although A was doing an unlawful act he was not guilt y of !ulpable Homicide as he did not intend to kill 0 or to cause death by doing an act that he knew was likely to cause death.
&xplanation - A person who causes bodily in(ury to another who is labouring under a disorder disease or bodily infirmity and thereby accelerates the death of that other shall be deemed to have caused his death. &xplanation * - here death is caused by bodily in(ury the person who causes such bodily in(ury shall be deemed to have caused the death although by resorting to proper remedies and skillful treatment the death might have been prevented. &xplanation 3 - The causing of the death of child in the mother1s womb is not homicide. 0ut it may amount to !ulpable Homicide to cause the death of a living child if any part of that child has been brought forth though the child may not have breathed or been completely born. 0ased upon the above definition the following are the essential elements of !ulpable Homicide .
!eath o" a human bein# is caused - "t is re4uired that the death of a human being is caused. However However it does not include the death of an unborn child unless any part of that child is brought forth.
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$y doin# an act - 5eath may be caused by any act for example by poisoning or by hurting with a weapon. Here act includes even on omission of an act for which one is obligated by law to do. For example if a doctor has a re4uired in(ection in his hand and he still does not give it to the dying patient and if the patient dies the doctor is responsible.
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Intention or %nowled#e - There must be an intention of any of the following -
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Intention o" causin# death - The doer of the act must have intended to cause death. As seen in "llustration the doer wanted or expected someone to die. "t is important to note that intention of causing death does not necessarily mean intention of causing death of the person who actually died. "f a person does an act with an intention of killing 0 but A is killed instead he is still considered to have the intention.
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Intention o" causin# such bodily in&ury as is li'ely to cause death - The intention of the offender may not have been to cause death death but only an in(ury that is likely to cause the death death of the in(ured. For For example A might intended only to hit on the skull of a person so as to make him unconscious but the person dies. "n this case the intention of the person was only to cause an in(ury but the in(ury is such that it is likely to cause death of the person. Thus he is guilty of !ulpable Homicide. Homicide. However However if A hits 0 with a broken glass. A did not know that 0
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was haemophilic. 0 bleeds to death. A is not guilty of !ulpable Homicide but only of grievous hurt because he neither had an intention to kill 0 nor he had any intention to cause any bodily in(ury as is likely to cause death. 6r the act must have been done with the knowledge that such an act may cause death - hen a person does an act which he knows that it has a high probability to cause death he is responsible for the death which is caused as a result of the act. For example A knows that loosening the brakes of a vehicle has a high probability of causing death of someone. "f 0 rides such a bike and if he dies A will be responsible for 01s death. "n (amaluddin)s case *+2 the accused while exorcising a spirit from the body of a girl beat her so much that she died. They were held guilty of !ulpable Homicide. 7egligence - )ometimes even negligence is considered as knowledge. "n %an#la *++ the accused struck a man whom he believed was not a human being but something supernatural. However he did not take any steps to satisfy himself that the person was not a human being and was thus grossly negligent and was held guilty of !ulpable Homicide. Murder ,When Culpable Homicide amounts to Murder8urder is a type of !ulpable Homicide where culpability of the accused is 4uite more than in a mere !ulpable Homicide. )ection 399 says that !ulpable Homicide is 8urder if the act by which the death is caused is done
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with the intention of causing death
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or with an intention of causing such bodily in(ury as the offender knows to be likely to cause the death of the person
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or with an intention of causing such bodily in(ury as is sufficient in ordinary course of nature to cause death.
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"t is also 8urder if the person committing the act knows that the act is so dangerous that it will cause death or such in(ury as is likely to cause death in all probability and he has no valid reason for d oing that act.
Illustrations A shoots / with an intention of killing him. / dies in conse4uence. A commits 8urder. A intentionally gives / a sword cut that sufficient in ordinary course of nature to cause death. / dies because of the cut. A commits 8urder even though he had no intention to kill /. A without any excuse fires a loaded canon on a crowd. 6ne person dies because of it. A commits 8urder even though he had no intention to kill that person.
Thus it can be seen that 8urder is very similar to !ulpable Homicide and many a times it is difficult to differentiate between them. ( Mel/ill in the case o" 0 /s 1o/inda *+3 $om. analy;ed both in the following table Culpable Homicide
Murder
4 person commits Culpable Homicide i" the 4 person commits Murder i" the act by which death is caused is done act by which death is caused is done
. with the intention of causing death.
. with the intention of causing death.
*. with an intention to cause such bodily in(ury as the offender knows to be likely *. with an intention to cause such bodily in(ury to cause death of the person to whom the harm is caused. as is likely to cause death. 3. with an intention of causing bodily in(ury to any person and the bodily in(ury intended to be inflicted is sufficient in ordinary course of nature to cause death. 3. with the knowledge that such an act is likely :. ith the knowledge that the act is so imminently dangerous that it must in all to cause death. probability cause death. 0ased on this table he pointed out the difference - when death is caused due to bodily in(ury it is the probability of death due to that in(ury that determines whether it is !ulpable Homicide or 8urder. "f death is only likely it is !ulpable Homicide if death is highly probable it is 8urder. "n 4u#ustine Saldanha /s State o" %arnata'a ( 2667 )! deliberated on the difference of !ulpable Homicide and 8urder. )! observed that in the scheme of the "$! !ulpable Homicide is genus and 8urder its specie. All 18urder1 is 1!ulpable Homicide1 but not vice-versa. )peaking generally 1!ulpable Homicide1 sans 1special characteristics of 8urder is !ulpable Homicide not amounting to 8urder1. For the purpose of fixing punishment proportionate to the gravity of the generic offence the "$! practically recogni;es three degrees of !ulpable Homicide. The first is what may be called )Culpable Homicide o" the "irst de#ree). This is the greatest form of !ulpable Homicide which is defined in Section 766 as 18urder1. The second may be termed as )Culpable Homicide o" the second de#ree) . This is punishable under the first part of Section 768. Then there is )Culpable Homicide o" the third de#ree) . This is the lowest type of !ulpable Homicide and the punishment provided for it is also the lowest
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among the punishments provided for the three grades. !ulpable Homicide of this degree is punishable under the second part of Section 768. "t further observed that the academic distinction between 18urder1 and 1!ulpable Homicide not amounting to 8urder1 has always vexed the !ourts. They tried to remove confusion through the following table Culpable Homicide
Murder
4 person commits Culpable Homicide i" the Sub&ect to certain exceptions 9 Culpable Homicide is Murder i" the act by act by which death is caused is done which death is caused is done I:;<:;I=:
. with the intention of causing death2 or
*. with an intention to cause such bodily in(ury as the offender knows to be likely to cause death of the person to whom the harm is caused. 3. with an intention of causing bodily in(ury to any person and the bodily in(ury intended to be inflicted is sufficient in ordinary course of nature to cause death.
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:. ith the knowledge that the act is so imminently dangerous that it must in all probability cause death.
Thus it boils down to the knowledge possessed by the offender regarding a particular victim in a particular state being in such condition or state of health that the internal harm caused to him is likely to be fatal notwithstanding the fact that such harm would not in the ordinary circumstances be sufficient to cause death. "n such a case intention to cause death is not an essential re4uirement. 6nly the intention of causing such in(ury coupled with the knowledge of the offender that such in(ury is likely to cause death is enough to term it as 8urder. Situations where Culpable Homicide does not amount to Murder )ection 399 also specifies certain situations when the 8urder is considered as !ulpable Homicide not amounting to 8urder. These are - ,Short !etails.
"f the offender does an act that causes death because of grave and sudden provocation by the other.
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"f the offender causes death while exceeding the right to private defense in good faith.
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"f the offender is a public servant and does an act that he in good faith believes to be lawful.
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"f the act happens in a sudden fight in the heat of passion.
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"f the deceased is above ? and the death is caused by his own consent.
,>ull !etails
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That the provocation is not sought or voluntarily provoked by the offender as an excuse for killing or doing harm to any person.
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That the provocation is not given by anything done in obedience to the law or by a public servant in the lawful exercise of the powers of such public servant.
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That the provocations not given by anything done in the lawful exercise of the right of private defence.
&xplanation-hether the provocation was grave and sudden enough to prevent the offence from amounting to 8urder is a 4uestion of fact. Illustrations
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A under the influence of passion excited by a provocation given by / intentionally kills @ /1s child. This is 8urder in as much as the provocation was not given by the child and the death of the child was not caused by accident or misfortune in doing an act caused by the provocation.
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@ gives grave and sudden provocation to A. A on this provocation fires a pistol at @ neither intending nor knowing himself to be likely to kill / who is near him but out of sight. A kills /. Here A has not committed 8urder but merely !ulpable Homicide.
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A is lawfully arrested by / a bailiff. A is excited to sudden and violent passion by the arrest and kills /. This 8urder in as much as the provocation was given by a thing done by a public servant in the exercise of his powers.
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A appears as a witness before / a 8agistrate / says that he does not believe a word of A1s deposition and that A has per(ured himself. A is moved to sudden passion by these words and kills /. This is 8urder.
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A attempts to pull /1s nose / in the exercise of the right of private defence lays hold of a to prevent him form doing so. A is moved to sudden and violent passion in conse4uence and kills /. This is 8urder in as much as the provocation was given by a thing done in the exercise of the right of private defence.
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/ strikes 0. 0 is by this provocation excited to violent rage. A a bystander intending to take advantage of 01s rage and to cause him to kill / puts a knife into 01s hand for that purpose. 0 kills / with the knife. Here 0 may have committed only !ulpable Homicide but A is guilty of 8urder.
&xplanation-"t is immaterial in such cases which party offers the provocation or commits the first assault. "n a very recent case of $y/arapu 0a&u /s State o" 4 266 )! held that in a 8urder case there cannot be any general rule to specify whether the 4uarrel between the accused and the deceased was due to a sudden provocation or was premeditated. B"t is a 4uestion of fact and whether a 4uarrel is sudden or not must necessarily depend upon the proved facts of each caseB a bench of (udges Ari(it $asayat and 5 C Dain observed while reducing to 9 years the life imprisonment of a man accused of killing his father. The bench passed the ruling while upholding an appeal filed by one 0yvarapu Ea(u who challenged the life sentence imposed on him by a session1s court and later affirmed by the Andhra $radesh High !ourt for killing his 1drunkard1 father.
