Okay, so this is about Murder and everything related to it in terms of Indian criminal law. Now, the word is said to have been derived from the Germanic word, mortna, which means secret killing.Ā Early Germanic people were believed to draw a distinction between open killing and secret killing. The former was punishable while the latter was not. But, by the 12th century, every homicide, whether open or committed in ambush was considered to be a punishable offence.
The term āmurderā has been defined and explained in Section 300 of the Indian Penal Code, as an act of culpable homicide (except for certain exceptions provided) by which death is caused with the intention of causing death,
or, secondly, with the intention of causing such bodily injury as the offender knows to be likely to cause death of the person to whom the harm is caused,
or thirdly, 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, with the person committing the act knowing 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.
Sounds a little confusing? Here are a few illustrations to make it easier!
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- Suppose, A shoots B with the sole intention of killing him and B dies in consequence. A is said to have committed a murder.
- X, without any reasonable excuse, fires a loaded pistol into a mass of people and thus kills one of them. X is guilty of murder although he may not have had a premeditated design to kill any particular person.
- Y, knowing that Z is suffering from a serious disease and is weak in health, strikes him with the intention of causing bodily injury. Z dies as a result of the blow. Y is guilty of murder though the blow wouldnāt have resulted in death if Z hadnāt been suffering from disease.
- G intentionally wounds H with a sword that is sufficient to cause death if left unattended. H dies in consequence. Here, though G did not have intentions of absolutely killing H, he is still guilty of murder.
Exceptions to the general rules of Murder:
Ā There are a few exceptions to the general rules of murder and if any case falls under these exceptions, it reduces to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, punishable under Section 304 IPC and not under Section 302.Ā The Exceptions are as follows:
- Grave and sudden provocation that may have angered the offender to commit such an offence
- Offence committed in course of private defence
- Offence committed in course of exercise of legal power
- Offence committed in the course of a sudden fight and without any premeditation
- Causing death by consent or mercy killing
Punishment:
According to Section 302, IPC, a person guilty of murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine.
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