Section 100

Section 100 defines culpable homicide — the genus of which murder is the species. It is the foundational provision in the BNS's architecture for dealing with the taking of human life. The definition turns on three alternative mental states, each sufficient to establish the offence: (i) intention to cause death — the clearest case; (ii) intention to cause such bodily injury as is likely to cause death — where the offender aims not necessarily to kill but to cause serious harm, knowing death may result; and (iii) knowledge that the act is likely to cause death — where the offender may not intend any specific outcome but acts with awareness of the lethal risk. The third category captures reckless killings: a person who fires a gun into a crowd without targeting anyone specific has knowledge that death is likely, and is guilty of culpable homicide if death results. The distinction between culpable homicide and murder (defined in BNS 101) is one of the most complex and litigated questions in Indian criminal law. All murders are culpable homicides, but not all culpable homicides are murders. Murder requires a higher level of intentional or knowing conduct without any of the five mitigating circumstances (exceptions) listed in BNS 101.