Criminal Law and Procedure
Criminal Law and Procedure tests both the general part of the penal law and the machinery that brings an offence to trial. Since 1 July 2024 the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (BNSS) and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (BSA) replace the IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act, but offences committed earlier are still tried under the old statutes.
General principles
- Crime requires actus reus and mens rea; the BNS retains general exceptions such as mistake, necessity, infancy, insanity, intoxication and private defence.
- Stages: intention, preparation, attempt, commission; abetment and criminal conspiracy are separate offences.
- Common intention and common object are distinct: prior meeting of minds versus membership of an unlawful assembly.
Offences to master
- Culpable homicide, murder and the five exceptions; hurt and grievous hurt.
- Theft versus extortion, robbery and dacoity; criminal breach of trust versus cheating; forgery.
Procedure
- FIR, investigation, arrest, remand, bail (bailable, non-bailable, anticipatory), cognizance, charge, trial, appeal and revision.
- BNSS emphasises time-bound investigation, electronic records and videography.
Worked example
X, without provocation, stabs Y in the chest knowing the injury is sufficient to cause death. The act falls within murder; X cannot claim Exception 4 (sudden fight) because there was no sudden quarrel. If X had acted on grave and sudden provocation, the offence would be culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Traps
Do not apply the BNS retrospectively; do not mix common intention with common object; theft requires movables and dishonest intention; breach of contract is not cheating without fraudulent inducement.