Culpable Homicide

Introduction To Cupable Homicide

Homicide is the act of one human killing another. A homicide requires just a volitional act by someone else that results in death, and along these lines, a homicide may result from accidental, negligent, or careless acts regardless of whether there is an intent to cause hurt. Culpable Homicide is the killing of one individual by another with the intention of causing death.

In India, Culpable Homicide is mentioned in Section 299 of the Indian Penal Code.
Section 299:” Culpable homicide.— Whoever causes death by doing an act with the intention of causing death, or with the intention of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, or with the knowledge that he is likely by such act to cause death, commits the offense of culpable homicide.”

Components of Culpable Homicide

• Actus Reus (Act)
• Mens Rea (Intention)

Essentials of Culpable Homicide

1) Causing the death of an individual.

2) Such death must be caused by an act

i. With the intention of causing death; or
ii. With the intention of making such bodily injury as is likely reason death; or
iii. With the information that the doer is likely by such an act to cause death.

The fact that the death of an individual is caused isn’t sufficient. Except if one of the mental states referenced in the element is available, an act of causing death can’t add up to Culpable Homicide.

Types Of Culpable Homicide

I. Culpable homicide amounting to murder.

II. Culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Culpable homicide is the Genus, and murder is the Species. All murder is culpable homicide yet not the other way around, it has been held in Nara Singh Challan v/s State of Orrisa (1997). Section 299 can’t be taken to be meaning of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Culpable homicide is the genus. Section 300 characterizes murder which implies murder is the species of culpable homicide. It is to be noted here that culpable homicide not amounting to murder isn’t characterized independently in IPC, it is characterized as a part of Murder in section 300 of IPC.

Section 300 – Except in the cases hereinafter excepted, culpable homicide is murder, if the act by which the death is caused is done with the intention of causing death, or

Culpable Homicide isn’t adding up to murder:

Special case 1 to 5 of s300 of IPC characterizes conditions when culpable Homicide isn’t amounting to murder:

I. Provocation
II. Right of private defense
III. Public servant surpassing his power.
IV. Sudden fight
V. Consent

Special case 1-culpable homicide isn’t adding up to murder if the guilty party, while deprived of self-control by grave and sudden provocation, caused the death of the individual who gave the provocation or causes the death of any individual by accident or mistake.

The above exemption is liable to these provisions:-

1. The provocation isn’t looked for or intentionally provoked by the guilty party as a reason for killing or harming any individual.
2. The provocation isn’t given by anything done in compliance with the law, or by a public servant in the legal exercise of the powers of such a public servant.
3. The provocation isn’t given by anything done in the lawful exercise of the right of private defense.

The provocation must be grave: maintained in Venkatesan v/s State of Tamil Nadu (1997)

The trial of the grave and sudden provocation is whether a reasonable man having a place with the same class of society as the accused, set in the circumstance in which the accused was set would be so provoked as to lose his self-control.
In India, words and gestures may likewise, in specific situations, cause grave and sudden provocation
The mental background made by the last act of the victim might be taken into consideration in deciding whether the consequent act caused grave and sudden provocation for committing the offense.

Section 300 likewise characterizes the situation when culpable homicide turns into the murder which is punished under Section 302. Under the following 4 conditions:

The intention of causing death-

I. Culpable homicide turns into murder if the act by which the deaths is caused is done with the Intention of Causing death or
II. In an act done with the intention of causing such bodily injury as the offender knows to probably make the death of the individual whom the harm is caused, or
III. In the done with the intention of causing bodily injury to any individual and the bodily injury intended to be inflicted is adequate in the ordinary course of nature to cause death, or
IV. On the off chance that the individual committing the act realizes that it is so imminently dangerous that it must, most likely, cause death or such bodily injury as is probably going to cause death, and commits such act with no reason for acquiring the danger of causing deaths or such injury as previously mentioned.

Whoever commits culpable homicide not amounting to murder will be punishable with
(i) imprisonment for life or imprisonment of either up to ten years, and will likewise be subject to fine if the act by which the death is caused is with the intention of causing death, or of such bodily injury as is probably going to cause death; or
(ii) with imprisonment of either depiction up to ten years or fine or both, if the act is done with the knowledge that it is probably going to cause death, however with no intention to cause death or to make such bodily injury as is likely reason death.

The field of Culpable Homicide is tremendous and is of practical utility. It incorporates all felonious homicide not amounting to murder. It is fundamentally a killing which the killer neither intended nor anticipated as likely to occur; it is an unintentional, accidental felonious killing. There have been numerous cases in which this field of law has been utilized and correctly applied too. The Sections 299, 301, 304, 304A deal with the diverse angles covered under this subject in an elaborate way every one of the provisions are not exhaustive and there is a need to put into application a considerable lot of the recommendation of the Law Commission for better organization of Justice since it would help in the evolvement of this subject with time.

Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code

Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code talks about punishment for murder.

302. Punishment for murder

Whoever commits murder shall be punished with death, or 1[imprisonment for life], and shall also be liable to fine. Murder is the unlawful killing of one human being by another without any justification or valid excuse and with malice intended.

Section 300 of the IPC talks about murder.

300. Murder

Except in the cases hereinafter excepted, culpable homicide is murder, if the act by which the death is caused is done with the intention of causing death, or—

Secondly, If it is done with 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, or—

Thirdly, If it is done with the intention of causing bodily injury to any person and the bodily injury intended to be in­flicted is sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death, or—

Fourthly, If 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. Section 302 makes murder a cognizable and non-bailable offense.

Rajesh v. State (NCT of Delhi)

This is a case in Delhi High Court, a Division Bench comprising of S. Muralidhar and Vinod Goel, JJ. dismissed a criminal appeal filed against the order of the trial court whereby the appellant was convicted under Section 302 IPC. The appellant was alleged to have murdered his wife. It was proved that the deceased was last seen with the appellant. The prosecution examined 45 witnesses before the trial court. Based on the testimonies of witnesses and findings of the court, the appellant was convicted for the murder of his wife under Section 302 and sentenced accordingly. Aggrieved thus, the appellant filed an appeal against his conviction and sentence.

The High Court perused the record and took note of the findings as made by the trial court. The Court noted that the mother of the appellant (PW 1) deposed that the appellant and the deceased slept together and also that she saw the appellant with the deceased on the night of the incident. Further, the post-mortem report clearly showed that the death of the deceased was a result of serious injuries which were caused by the sharp-edged weapon, maybe a farsa. In the Court’s opinion, the prosecution proved that the death was homicidal. Moreover, the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) Report proved that the death was caused inside the jhuggi where the deceased was sleeping with the appellant. The Court observed that there was no alternative theory to suggest how the deceased may have suffered the injuries in the facts and circumstances of the case. For the reasons aforestated, the Court was unable to reach a conclusion different from that of the trial court. Resultantly, the conviction of the appellant was upheld and the appeal was dismissed.

Arjun and ANR. Etc Vs State of Chattisgarh

On 19.11.2006 at about 9:45 AM, deceased Ayodhya Prasad had gone to his field alongside Bajrang Manjhi, Borri Verma, Gilli Raout and Makunda Raout. The deceased was cutting a tree with the help of the persons along with him and at that time, the appellants came in the field and they stopped the deceased and his labor from cutting the tree. Deceased Ayodhya Prasad told the appellants that he was the owner of the tree, therefore he was cutting the tree. Some quarrel took place between them and the appellants assaulted the deceased with a knife and stone. The deceased fell down and sustained injuries on his head. His head was severely injured, he was taken to Bilaspur for treatment, but, he died on the way near Mahanadi Bridge. Shivprasad, the brother of the deceased lodged a First Information Report.  The post-mortem was conducted, the cause of death was a hemorrhagic shock due to head injuries and the death was homicidal in nature. The investigation was completed and a charge sheet was filed against the appellants in the Court of Judicial Magistrate, who committed the case to the Court of Session  Raipur, from where it was received on transfer by Second Additional Sessions Judge, Balodabazar, who conducted the trial and convicted and sentenced the appellants.

The appellants approached the Supreme Court for relief. The division bench of the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals and upheld the judgment of the Additional Sessions Judge. The appellants were held liable for punishment under Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code.

This article aimed to define the meaning of Section 302, the nature of Section 302, the punishment of murder and also some landmark judgments on Section 302.

Learn The Truth About Domestic Violence Act- An Overview In The Next 60 Seconds.

The position of women in Indian society has never been stable. Their journey started from enjoying equal rights in the ancient period to struggle against discrimination in the medieval time and fighting for their rights in the modern era.

Women have been facing abuses since long back. They have not only suffered emotionally, mentally, verbally, religiously but also physically. This all often takes a wrong turn and women end up suffering from marital rape, dowry death, suicide, acid attacks, beating, female genital mutation, etc.

According to former Union Minister for Women, Renuka Chowdhary 70% of women in India are the victims of Domestic Violence.[1]

These practices became so prevalent and entrenched that the Government of India took a step forward and implemented an Act on 13 September 2005 for the protection of women from all kind of violence. The Act came to be known as The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

Domestic Violence – Definition

The word ‘domestic violence’ has been defined in Section 3 of the PWDVA, 2005. The definition has a significant amplitude and covers all types of abuses against women. It covers physical, sexual, verbal and emotional, and economic abuse.

The sections read as follows-

For this Act, any act, omission or commission or conduct of the respondent shall constitute domestic violence in case it—

1. harms or injures or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well‑being, whether mental or physical, of the aggrieved person or tends to do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse, and economic abuse; or
2. harasses, harms, injures or endangers the aggrieved person to coerce her or any other person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any dowry or other property or valuable security; or
3. has the effect of threatening the aggrieved person or any person related to her by any conduct mentioned in clause (a) or clause (b); or
4. Otherwise, injuries or causes harm, whether physical or mental, to the aggrieved person.[2]

The framework of the definition has been taken from ‘UN Declaration on Violence Against Women and a Model Code’.

Read More Here: Domestic Violence Act

Who can file a complaint under the Domestic Violence Act?

Any ‘aggrieved person’ as per Section 2(a) of the Act can seek relief.

“Aggrieved person” means any woman who is, or has been, in a domestic relationship with the respondent and who alleges to have been subjected to any act of domestic violence by the respondent.[3]

• It is very clear from the definition that only a female victim can be an ‘aggrieved person’.
• The victim should have a ‘domestic relationship’ with the respondent. According to Section 2(f), the domestic relationship includes a relationship by means of living together or sharing household and is related to each other by consanguinity, marriage, relationships in nature of marriage, adoption, etc.

The victims of Live-in Relationships are also protected under the Act. This right has been recognized in various judgments like Khusboo v. Kannimal[4]; Chanmuniya v. Virendra Kumar Singh Khushwaha[5].

Against whom the complaint can be filed?

Section 2(q) defines ‘respondent’ as follows:

“Respondent” means any adult male person who is, or has been, in a domestic relationship with the aggrieved person and against whom the aggrieved person has sought any relief under this Act: Provided that an aggrieved wife or female living in a relationship in the nature of a marriage may also file a complaint against a relative of the husband or the male partner;

Therefore, from the above definition, it is very clear that the victim can file a suit against her husband who commits such act against her or any other male partner with whom she is in a live-in or the relatives of the husband/male partner, i.e. the in-laws.

Who may or may not be included in the ambit of relatives is of utmost importance and differs from case to case.

This was upheld in Sandhya Wankhede v. Manoj Bhimrao Wankhede[6].

Relief that can be sought by the victim under the Act

The Act recognizes many reliefs to empower a woman to tide over an emergency.

If the victim obtains relief under this law that does not mean she is barred from approaching courts under the personal law. The PWDVA is a secular law and runs parallel to personal laws.

The Act provides the following reliefs-

• Counseling (Sec. 14)

The magistrate before whom the parties are presented may direct either the parties or the party who requires to the counseling process.

• Protection Orders (Section 18)

The magistrate can issue protecting order against the respondent. This is generally done to keep the victim in a protective shell so that the respondent doesn’t reach out to her for causing violence.

A  Protection Officer, preferably a woman, is appointed by the concerned government to file a domestic incidence report.

• Residence ( Sec. 19)

The Magistrate can restrict the respondent from the place of the victim. Further, the respondent cannot evict the victim from the place of the residence.

• Maintenance (Sec. 20)

Under Section 20, the respondent may be directed to provide monetary compensation to the victim for any loss she has accrued, be it property loss, medical loss or any other financial loss.

• Child’s Custody (Sec. 21)

The custody of the child should be in the victim’s hand. The father of the child may be provided visiting rights.

Retrospective effect of the Act

The Delhi HC in its 2012 decision of V.D.  Bhanot v. Savita Bhanot [7]viewed that “even a wife who had shared household before the DV Act came into force would also be entitled to the protection of this Act”.

Therefore, giving the aggrieved party the right to file a suit even for the acts which have been committed before the enforcement of the Act.

Citation

[1] ‘India tackles domestic violence’ (BBC News, 26 October 2006) <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6086334.stm> accessed 3 February 2019

[2] The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005, s 3

[3] The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005, s 2(a)

[4] Khusboo v. Kannimal (2010) 5 SCC 600.

[5] Chanmuniya v. Virendra Kumar Singh Khushwaha 1 SCC 141.

[6] Sandhya Wankhede v. Manoj Bhimrao Wankhede (2011) 3 SCC 650.

[7] V.D. Bhanot v. Savita Banot(2012) 3 SCC 183

Procedure after FIR is lodged and FIR cancellation procedure

Introduction

The first information report is a written report prepared by the police department of the respective police station where the crime  (Cognizable offense) has occurred. This is an essential practice which gives a kickstart to a criminal proceeding in a court. It is prevalent in countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc. An FIR is generally logged by the victim of a cognizable offense. However, in the cases where the victim is deceased or is in such a condition as unable to lodge an FIR, someone on his behalf can also lodge an FIR either orally or in writing to the police. FIR is defined under Section 154 of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973.   As the name itself suggests, An Fir must contain all the information which the victim is possessing about the cognizable offense. Also, Fir must be read to the person giving information or lodging complaint to the police and must contain his signature. This prevents cases of fraud FIRs lodged by the police officials if the complainant is illiterate.

After lodging an FIR

Once the FIR is lodged, the police can start the investigation work. The investigation includes collecting evidence, questioning witnesses, inspecting the crime scene, forensic testing, recording statements of the witnesses. It is always said that, after experiencing a cognizable offense, the first thing a victim should do, is to lodge an FIR. The reason for the same is attributed to the fact that, if there will be a considerable amount of time duration between the commission of a crime and lodging an FIR, this will give an opportunity to the offender to manipulate the shreds of evidence, eye-witness or any such material which can turn the judgment of the bench. For example, in rape cases, certain medical tests are to be conducted within a span of 2 days. Otherwise, there will be no evidence left in the victim’s body.

Once the stage of investigation is completed, the police may form a Charge Sheet often called as Challan and record their findings in it. If it is deemed that there is enough proof in the charge sheet, the case reaches the court.

Also, if after the completion of the investigation, the police concludes that there is not enough evidence, so as to establish the crime, they may close the case. Reason for closing the case must be backed by a rational in the competent court of jurisdiction.

When authorities refuse to lodge an FIR

Remember, that no police station can deny for lodging an FIR and they have to do this free of cost.

1. You can contact Superintendent of Police or any other high officials and bring to their notice the complaint filed by you.
2. You can contact such high officials by sending the complaint to them in writing. If they are satisfied by your complaint, they may order for the investigation of the case of may investigate the case himself.
3. A private complaint can be lodged in the court of competent jurisdiction.
4. You approach the authorities such as the State Human Rights Commission or the National Human Rights Commission.

Filing a Criminal Complaint accompanied by Vakalatnama and Court Fees

This is a petition which is submitted by the complainant authorizing an advocate to plead the case. This contains written allegations of the complainant, the summary of the happening of offense and the complaint prays for the relief he seeks for the same.

Criminal Complaint must be accompanied by a Vakalatnama. It gives the advocate (Who will be representing you in the court) the authorization to fight for justice, appear on his behalf, and handle all the court procedure. The lawyer who has signed the Vakalatnama is bonded by all the duties of an advocate, such as Attorney-Client Privilege. All such terms and conditions are explicitly mentioned in Vakalatnama.

Plaints are also required to be accompanied by court fees to be paid to the court. The amount of court fees is governed by the rules an regulations embodied in the Court Fees Stamp Act. Court fees are usually a nominal percentage to the suit value, and it differs from case to case.

Cancellation of FIR

Once the Fir is registered, FIR cannot be canceled. Even when the complainants urge for the same. It can be disposed of only as per the manner prescribed under the Criminal Procedure Code.

FIR is disposed of in the following circumstances-

1. When the Offender cannot be traced even after making all possible efforts, and there are no changes for finding him in the future.
2. When the Complainant has registered a false complaint.
3. The accused person dies before filing the charge sheet against him in the court.
4. When the complaint withdraws the case or requests the court to refer the case to Lok Adalat/ National Lok Adalat. So that the case can have a lead towards settlement.

In addition to the aforementioned circumstances, the government has the power to withdraw prosecution of a criminal case against him in the court. This power is conferred under Section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Conclusion

All citizens should get to know about their rights to filing FIRs. At the same time, they must be aware of the steps that they can take if the police refuse to register their complaints. In some cases, it is best to file a complaint petition before the judicial magistrate instead of registering an FIR.