INDIAN PENAL CODE

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
CULPABLE HOMICIDE
AND MURDER

SUBMITTED TO:

SUBMITTED BY:

B.A.LLB. 6th Sem

CULPABLE HOMICIDE
Section299oftheIndianPenalCodedefinesCulpableHomicideas“Whosoevercausesdeath
bydoinganactwith the intention of causing death or with the intention
ofcausingsuchbodilyinjuryasitislikelytocausedeathorwith the knowledge that he is
likely by such act to causedeath,commitstheoffence ofCulpable Homicide.”
The essentials of Culpable Homicide are :-

Whoevercausesdeath–
Deathmeansdeathofahumanbeing.Itdoesnotincludethedeathofanunborn child ,
but it may amount to culpable homicide tocause death of a living child if any
part of the child hasbeen brought forth . However its not necessary that
theperson whose death has been caused must be the verypersonwhose death
wasintended.

By doing an act – death may be caused in number

ofwayssuchasbypoisoning,starving,striking,drowning or communicating some
shocking news etc. .Acthereincludesillegalomissions. Anomissionisillegal if it
be an offence and in some direction is abreach oflaw
.
(a) Intentiontocausedeath–Intentionmeanstheexpectation of the consequence
in question . when amanischargedwithdoingtheactofwhichtheprobable
consequence maybe highly injurious , the intention isinferred from the acts of
the accused and circumstanceofthe case .

(b) With the intention of causing such bodily injury as islikelytocausedeath–

Theintentionoftheoffendermaynotbe to cause death , it would be sufficient if he
intended tocausesuch bodilyinjurywhich waslikelytocause death.
(c) With the knowledge that he is likely by such an act tocause death –
Knowledge is a strong word and imports acertainty and not merely a
probability . Here knowledgerefers to the personal knowledge of the person who
doestheact.

Some of the examples of culpable homicide are –

A lays sticks and turf over a pit, with the intention ofcausing death or with the
knowledge that death is likelyto be caused. Z believing the ground to be firm
treadsonit,fallsin itanddies.HereAhascommitted culpablehomicide .

A kicked the abdomen of B with such a violence as tocause fracture in 2 ribs

and rupture of spleen which wasnormaldue towhich B
died.ItwasheldthatAknew thatthe abdomen is the most delicate and vulnerable
part ofhuman body and presumed to have kicked with theknowledge that by so
kicking he was likely to causedeath

Section 304 defines punishment for culpable homicide notamountingto murder–

the punishmentisofimprisonment
for life or imprisonment which may extend to ten years andalsobe liable to fine
CaseLaw1:Kusa Majhi v State of Orissa1985Cr.L.j1460

The deceased admonished her own son for not going forfishing with the co-villagers.
Infuriated on this the accused,the son brought an axe and dealt
withtheblowsonhershoulderandshedied.Therewasnopreplanoftheoffence.Theblowswe
renotontheneckorheadregion.The accused dealt blows likely to cause bodily injury
whichwas likely to cause death and he dealt blows on the spur ofmoment and anger.
Therefore it was held to be a case ofculpable homicide .

CaseLaw2:Ganesh Dooley TulsaI.L.R20All.143

A snake charmer exhibited in public a venomous snake ,whose fangs he knew had not
been extracted and to showhis skills without any intention to cause harm to anyone
,placed the snake on head of one of the spectators . Thespectator trying to push off
the snake was bitten and died inconsequence . The snake charmer was held to be
guilty ofculpablehomicidenotamounting tomurder.

MURDER
Section300oftheCodedefinesmurderas–Exceptinthecases,culpable homicide
ismurderif–
1 If the act by which the death is caused is done with theintentionofcausing death
.

2 If it is done with the intention of causing such bodilyinjury as the offender

knows likely to cause death of thepersonto whomthe harmiscaused

3 If it is done with the intention of causing such bodilyinjury to any person and
the bodily injury intended to beinflicted is sufficient in the ordinary course of
nature tocausedeath

4 Ifthepersoncommittingtheactknowsthatitissoimmediatelydangerousthatitmustin
allprobabilitycause death or such bodily injury as is likely to causedeath and
commits such an act without an excuse forincurringthe riskofcausing death
orsuch bodilyharm

AsincaseofCulpableHomicideintentionandknowledgeforcommittingtheactisimporta
nt.Whereamanintentionallyinflictsbodilyinjurysufficientintheordinarycause of nature
to cause death, then such a person will beliable for murder in case of murder the
probability of death ismorethan in the case ofculpable homicide
Ingredients of Murder are –

1 Actbywhichthedeathcausedisdonewiththeintentionofcausingdeath:Whenanactis
donewiththeintentionofcausingdeath,thenitisculpablehomicideamountingtomur
 der.‘Act’includesillegalomission also. Death may be caused by illegal
omissionaswell.Itistheactionofapersonwiththeclearintentionofkilling a person.
2 With the intention of causing such bodily injury as
theoffenderknowstobelikelytocausedeath: Aspersecond clause of Section 300,
if a person intentionallycausesbodilyinjury,withtheknowledgethatsuchbodily
injury will cause death of the person injured, thenit will be culpable homicide
amounting to murder. Incase of offence falling under clause (2) of Section
300,thereisfirst,theintentiontocausebodilyharmandnext, there is the ‘subjective
knowledge’ that death willbethelikelyconsequenceoftheintendedinjury.

3 Withtheintentionofcausingbodilyinjurytoanyperson
– sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to causedeath:
Accordingtoclause(3)ofSection300,itissufficientthatthereisintentiontocausetheb
odilyinjury that was actually caused. The subjective
factorendswiththat.Thereneedbenofurtherenquirywhether the offender has the
intention or the
knowledgethatsuchbodilyinjuryshouldbesufficientintheordinarycourse ofnature
to cause death

4 Personcommittingtheactknownthatitissoimminentlydangerousthatitmust,inallp
robability,cause death, or such bodily injury as is likely to causedeath :Clause
(4) of Section 300 applies to cases ofdangerous action without an intention to
cause specificbodilyinjurytoanypersone.g.,furiousdrivingorfiringat a target near
the public road. However, the act mustbe accompanied with the knowledge that
the act was soimminentlydangerousthatitmustinallprobabilitycause (i) death, or
(ii) such bodily injury as is likely tocausedeath.
Some of the examples of murder are:-

A shoots Z with the intention of killing him. Z dies in

theconsequence.Acommitsmurder.

A withoutanyexcusefiresaloadedcanonintothecrowd of persons and kills one of

them. A is guilty ofmurder

Case law 1: B.N. Srikantiah v. Mysore State [AIR 1958 SC672]

There were as many as 24 injuries on the deceased and ofthem 21 were incised. They
were either on his head, theneck,ortheshouldersorontheforearms.Since,mostofthe
injuries were on vital parts and the weapons used wereshort, it was held that the
intention of causing bodily injurieswasestablished,bringing itunderthe
coverofSection300

CaseLaw 2:State ofAPvsMSobharBabu

Accused A1 And A2 entered the house of deceased
armedtocommitrobbery.Accusedonbeingoverpoweredbydeceased caused the knife
injury on the abdomen of thedeceased. He also caused injury to sister of deceased
whocame to rescue the deceased. Co – accused also causedknife injuries on the legs
of the deceased and
threatenedotherswithdireconsequences.Itwasheldthatthoughaccused came to commit
robbery and common intention canbe inferred from circumstances of the case.
Intention can begathered from circumstances as they arise even during theincident.
As such the case was the accused will be held formurder.
Section300oftheCodealsomentions5exceptionswhere
culpablehomicidedoesnotamounttomurder-

Exception 1:Suddenandgraveprovocation–Sometimes a person may commit

an act which leads
todeathofanotherpersonduetograveandsuddenprovocation.Thensuchapersonwill
beheldforculpable homicide not amounting to murder. In such acase the person
loses his self-control for a moment andcommitssuch an act.

Essentials of this exception are –

Theremustbeaprovocation

Theprovocation mustbegrave and sudden

By reason of such grave and sudden provocation theoffender must have been
deprived power of self-
control.Thedeathofthepersonwhogaveprovocationorofanyotherpersonbymistake
oraccidentmusthavebeen caused.

Exception 2: Exceeding the right of private defence-The law contained in this

exception is based on the rulethat in a case in which law itself empowers an
individualto inflict any harm short of death, it ought hardly to visithimwith
highestpunishmentifhe inflictsdeath.

Essentialsofthisexception are–
Anactmustbedoneinexerciseofrighttoprivatedefenceofperson orproperty

Actmusthave been donein good faith.

The person doing the act must have exceeded his rightgivento himbylaw and
have alreadycaused the death.

Actmusthavebeendonewithpremeditationandwithout any intention of causing

 more harm than wasnecessaryin selfdefence.

Exception 3: Offence committed by a public servant –This exception shall not

apply where the act of a
publicservantisillegalandunauthorisedbylaworifheglaringlyexceedsthe
powersentrusted tohimbylaw.

Essentialsofthisexceptionare-

Offence committed by a public servant or by some otherperson acting in the

aid of such public servant, in theadvancementofpublicjustice.

Publicservantorsuchotherpersonexceedsthepowersgiven tohimbylaw.

Death is caused by doing an act which he in good faithbelieves to be lawful

and necessary for the discharge ofhisdutyassuch publicservant.

Theactmusthavebeendonewithoutanyill-willtowardsthe person whose death

iscaused.
Exception 4: Death caused in sudden fight- By fighthere we mean something
more than a verbal quarrel. Afight is a combat between two or more person
whetherwith or without weapons. Fight per se is not a
palliatingcircumstance,itmustbesudden,norpre-arranged.Therefore the time gap
between the quarrel and fight isveryimportant.

Essentialsofthisexceptionare-

Deathmustbe caused in a sudden fight

Suddenfightmustbe withoutanypremeditation.

Itmustoccurintheheatofpassionuponsuddenquarrel.

The offender must have not taken undue advantage

ormusthavenotactedinacruelorunusualmanner.

It is immaterial as to which party offered the provocationorcommitted the

firstassault.

Thefightmustbe with theperson killed.

Exception5:Deathcausedofpersonconsentingtoit:Culpable homicide is not murder

when the person whosedeath is caused being above the age of 18 years,
suffersdeathortakestheriskofdeath withhisown consent.

Essentialsofthisexceptionare-:
 The death was caused with the consent of
thedeceased;

Thedeceased wasthen above18 yearsofage;

Thatsuchconsentwasfreeandvoluntaryandnotgiventhrough
fearormisconceptionoffacts.

THE MAIN POINTS OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CULPABLE HOMICIDE AND

MURDER ARE:

1 Culpablehomicideiswiderthanthetermmurder.Culpable homicide is therefore

considered as the genuswhile as murder is regarded as a species. All
murdersareculpablehomicidebutallculpablehomicidesarenotregarded asmurder.

2 Murderisan aggravated formofculpable homicide.

3 In murder, the offender has a definite knowledge thatthe act would result in the
death while as in culpablehomicidethe knowledge isnotso definite
.
4 Theprobabilityofcausingdeathishigherinmurderthanculpable homicide.