Indian Penal Code, 1860 / Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita
The IPC is replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (in force 1 July 2024). The definitions are largely retained, but sections are renumbered: culpable homicide is s.100, murder s.103, theft s.303, cheating s.318 and defamation s.356. Questions may use either numbering.
Core rules
- Every offence requires actus reus and mens rea, except offences of strict liability.
- Sections 299 and 300: culpable homicide becomes murder unless it falls within one of the five exceptions. Exception 4 (sudden fight) is the most examined.
- Section 34 requires a prior meeting of minds and a common intention; s.149 requires an unlawful assembly of five or more persons with a common object. Section 34 does not create a substantive offence.
- Abetment (s.107) requires instigation, conspiracy or intentional aid; mere acquiescence is not abetment.
- Attempt (s.511) must be proximate to the offence; preparation is generally not punishable.
- Sedition under s.124A has been omitted and replaced by s.152 BNS on acts endangering sovereignty; adultery under s.497 was struck down in Joseph Shine v. Union of India (2018) and is not re-enacted.
Worked example
During a sudden quarrel over a boundary, A, unarmed, delivers a single fist blow to B's face; B falls, strikes his head on the kerb and dies. There is no premeditation, the fight was sudden and the blow was not aimed at a vital part with a weapon. Exception 4 to s.300 applies, and the offence is culpable homicide not amounting to murder under s.304, not murder.
Traps
Section 34 is treated as an independent offence; s.149 and s.34 are interchanged; preparation is punished as attempt; and students forget that a single blow can still be murder where it is aimed at a vital part with a deadly weapon.