Offences against human body
Two kinds:
• Not amounting to murder
• Amounting to murder
Sec. 299- Culpable homicide
An act done with the intention of causing death or causing such bodily injury which is likely to cause
death or having the knowledge that he can likely by his act cause death, he’ll be committing the
offense of culpable homicide.
• Intention of causing death
• Intention of causing bodily injury leading to death
• Knowledge that the consequence of an act is death
Causing bodily injury to an ailing or infirm person thereby accelerating their death shall amount to
culpable homicide
Death caused due to the lack of due diligence such as remedies or treatment that could have
prevented such death
Death of an unborn child:
• Killing a child in the womb is not culpable homicide
• Killing a child who comes out of the womb, in part, is culpable homicide
Sec. 301- Culpable homicide by causing the death of a person other than the person whose death
was intended
If a person, by doing anything which he intends or knows to be likely to cause death, commits culpable
homicide by causing the death of any person, whose death he neither intends nor knows himself to
be likely to cause, the culpable homicide committed by the offender is of the description of which it
would have been if he had caused the death of the person whose death he intended or knew himself
to be likely to cause.
Dharam Pal and Ors. vs. State of Delhi (2004)
• A had a financial dispute with X.
, • A, B, C and D accused of administering liquor mixed with acid to X on the fateful night
• The victim dies after deposing against the accused- dying declaration
• The facts establish that the accused had run away after administering the spurious liquor to
the deceased who,
• later, succumbed to the internal injuries caused by the acid
• The court observed that the accused may not have had the intention to kill X but they certainly
knew that the
• acid could cause injury of a fatal nature
• They were held liable and awarded seven years of rigorous imprisonment under Sec. 304/34
304: Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder: difference in degree of intention
imprisonment for life or imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years,
and fine, if the act by which the death is caused is done with the intention of causing death, or of
causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death;
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, or with fine, or with
both, if the act is done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death, but without any intention
to cause death, or to cause such bodily injury as is likely to cause death.
Paul vs. State of Kerala (2020)
The accused A (husband) and B (his mother) were charged under 498A and 302 read with Section 34
of IPC for killing X (wife of A)
The court observed that in cases where it has to distinguish between culpable homicide and murder,
it is appropriate to approach the problem in three stages:
• The question to be considered at the first stage would be, whether the accused has done an
act which has caused the death of another.
• Proof of such causal connection between the act of the accused and the death, leads to the
second stage for considering whether that act of the accused amounts to “culpable homicide”
as defined in Sec. 299
If the answer to this question is prima facie found in the affirmative, the stage for considering the
operation of Section 300 of the Penal Code, is reached. This is the stage at which the court should
determine whether the facts proved by the prosecution bring the case within the ambit of any of the
four clauses of the definition of “murder” contained in Section 300
(i) If the answer to this question is in the negative the offence would be “culpable homicide not
amounting to murder”, punishable under the first or the second part of Section 304, depending,
respectively, on whether the second or the third clause of Section 299 is applicable.
Two kinds:
• Not amounting to murder
• Amounting to murder
Sec. 299- Culpable homicide
An act done with the intention of causing death or causing such bodily injury which is likely to cause
death or having the knowledge that he can likely by his act cause death, he’ll be committing the
offense of culpable homicide.
• Intention of causing death
• Intention of causing bodily injury leading to death
• Knowledge that the consequence of an act is death
Causing bodily injury to an ailing or infirm person thereby accelerating their death shall amount to
culpable homicide
Death caused due to the lack of due diligence such as remedies or treatment that could have
prevented such death
Death of an unborn child:
• Killing a child in the womb is not culpable homicide
• Killing a child who comes out of the womb, in part, is culpable homicide
Sec. 301- Culpable homicide by causing the death of a person other than the person whose death
was intended
If a person, by doing anything which he intends or knows to be likely to cause death, commits culpable
homicide by causing the death of any person, whose death he neither intends nor knows himself to
be likely to cause, the culpable homicide committed by the offender is of the description of which it
would have been if he had caused the death of the person whose death he intended or knew himself
to be likely to cause.
Dharam Pal and Ors. vs. State of Delhi (2004)
• A had a financial dispute with X.
, • A, B, C and D accused of administering liquor mixed with acid to X on the fateful night
• The victim dies after deposing against the accused- dying declaration
• The facts establish that the accused had run away after administering the spurious liquor to
the deceased who,
• later, succumbed to the internal injuries caused by the acid
• The court observed that the accused may not have had the intention to kill X but they certainly
knew that the
• acid could cause injury of a fatal nature
• They were held liable and awarded seven years of rigorous imprisonment under Sec. 304/34
304: Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder: difference in degree of intention
imprisonment for life or imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years,
and fine, if the act by which the death is caused is done with the intention of causing death, or of
causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death;
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, or with fine, or with
both, if the act is done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death, but without any intention
to cause death, or to cause such bodily injury as is likely to cause death.
Paul vs. State of Kerala (2020)
The accused A (husband) and B (his mother) were charged under 498A and 302 read with Section 34
of IPC for killing X (wife of A)
The court observed that in cases where it has to distinguish between culpable homicide and murder,
it is appropriate to approach the problem in three stages:
• The question to be considered at the first stage would be, whether the accused has done an
act which has caused the death of another.
• Proof of such causal connection between the act of the accused and the death, leads to the
second stage for considering whether that act of the accused amounts to “culpable homicide”
as defined in Sec. 299
If the answer to this question is prima facie found in the affirmative, the stage for considering the
operation of Section 300 of the Penal Code, is reached. This is the stage at which the court should
determine whether the facts proved by the prosecution bring the case within the ambit of any of the
four clauses of the definition of “murder” contained in Section 300
(i) If the answer to this question is in the negative the offence would be “culpable homicide not
amounting to murder”, punishable under the first or the second part of Section 304, depending,
respectively, on whether the second or the third clause of Section 299 is applicable.
