BACK TO SECTIONSAIR 1977 SC 45
BNS 2024ACTIVE FRAMEWORK
Section 105
Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder
Replaces colonial-era: IPC 304
Non-BailableCognizable: YesCourt of Session
Reform Highlights
1
Direct renumbering from IPC 304 to BNS 105.
2
Two-tier punishment structure (intent vs. knowledge) fully preserved.
THE STATUTE
The Clause
Whoever commits culpable homicide not amounting to murder shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine, if the act by which the death is caused is done with the intention of causing death, or of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death; or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, or with fine, or with both, if the act is done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death, but without any intention to cause death...
Legal Commentary
Section 105 provides the punishment for culpable homicide where murder has been found not to apply — typically because one of the five exceptions in BNS 101 reduces the offence. The section has a two-part punishment structure that tracks the underlying mental state. Part 1: where the act was done with the intention of causing death or likely-to-cause-death injury (but one of the exceptions applies — e.g., sudden provocation, sudden fight), the punishment can be life imprisonment or up to 10 years. Part 2: where the act was done only with knowledge that death may result (but without any intention), the punishment is up to 10 years or a fine or both. The distinction between 'intention' and 'knowledge' as the basis for punishment is philosophically significant — intention involves a higher moral culpability, explaining why Part 1 of BNS 105 includes life imprisonment while Part 2 does not. This section is the destination for convictions where the accused successfully establishes one of the exceptions to murder — typically sudden provocation or sudden fight — reducing what would otherwise be a life-or-death murder conviction to a lesser category, usually 7–10 years in practice.
Landmark Precedents
State of AP v. Rayavarapu Punnayya (1976)
RELEVANCE
Classic Supreme Court analysis of when to apply BNS 103 (murder) vs. BNS 105 (culpable homicide), laying out the three degrees of culpable homicide and how punishment scales.
Case Simulations
"A husband who, on seeing his wife in an act of infidelity, immediately kills her in a fit of rage — if Exception 1 (sudden provocation) applies, convicted under BNS 105 Part 1 rather than murder."
"Two men in a sudden street brawl; one kills the other with a single punch — possible BNS 105 (sudden fight, Exception 4) rather than murder."
"A person who fires a gun recklessly into the air without intending harm and someone is killed — possibly BNS 105 Part 2 (knowledge without intention)."
Expert Insights
Depending on whether the act involved intention or mere knowledge: where intention is established (but an exception reduces from murder), up to life imprisonment; where only knowledge is established (no intention to kill), up to 10 years or a fine or both.
Honour killings — murders of family members for perceived social transgressions — are typically prosecuted as murder (BNS 103), not BNS 105. Courts have consistently held that premeditated killing for 'honour' is not sudden provocation and does not attract the exceptions. BNS 103(2) may also apply if the killing is communal in nature.