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IPC 1860REPEALED

Section 301-316

Culpable Homicide: Where Effect Not Intended; Punishment if Act by which Death Caused is Done in Self-Defence; Attempt to Commit Culpable Homicide; Attempt to Commit Suicide; Thug; Concealing Design to Commit Offence; Punishment for Suicide of Child; Biting off Limb of a Live Person

Replaced by: BNS BNS 102-122

Non-Bailable (most)Cognizable: Yes (most)Court of Session (most)
THE STATUTE

Original Text

Section 301: If a person, by doing anything which he intends or knows to be likely to cause death, commits culpable homicide by causing the death of any person, whose death he neither intends nor knows himself to be likely to cause, the culpable homicide committed by the offender is of the description of which it would have been if he had caused the death of the person whose death he intended or knew himself to be likely to cause. Section 303: Whoever, being under sentence of imprisonment for life, commits murder, shall be punished with death. Section 305: If any person under eighteen years of age, any insane person, any delirious person, any idiot, or any person in a state of intoxication, commits suicide, whoever abets the commission of such suicide, shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Simplified

Sections 301–316 address important gaps and extensions in the homicide framework. Section 301 (transferred intent) is a doctrine of fundamental fairness: if A shoots at B intending to kill them but accidentally kills C (a bystander), A is guilty of culpable homicide of C as if they had intended to kill C. The accidental victim's death is treated as equally culpable as the intended victim's would have been. Section 303 (murder by life convict) was STRUCK DOWN by the Supreme Court in Mithu v. State of Punjab (1983) as unconstitutional — its mandatory death sentence denied judicial discretion, violating Article 14 (equality). Section 305 (abetment of suicide by vulnerable persons — minors, insane persons) carries the death penalty if the abetted victim is a child, insane person, or intoxicated person — the most serious abetment of suicide provision. Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide — already covered) and Section 309 (attempt to suicide — decriminalised) complete this cluster.

Legal Evolution

Mithu v. State of Punjab (1983) is the foundational case on Section 303 — the Supreme Court struck down the mandatory death sentence as unconstitutional, leaving that section effectively inoperative. It remains on the books but cannot be enforced with the mandatory death sentence.

Landmark Precedents

Mithu v. State of Punjab (1983)

AIR 1983 SC 473
RELEVANCE

Supreme Court struck down Section 303 IPC — mandatory death sentence for murder by a life convict was unconstitutional as it denied the sentencing court all discretion.

Practical Scenarios

"A person who fires at a rival in a crowd and accidentally kills an innocent bystander — guilty of murder of the bystander under Section 301 (transferred intent)."
"An adult who convinces a 14-year-old to commit suicide — Section 305 (abetment of suicide of child, potentially death penalty)."

Common Queries

Yes — Section 301 (transferred intent) makes you guilty of the same offence as if B was your intended target. If you intended murder of A, the killing of B is treated as murder. Your intent 'transfers' to the actual victim.