What are the Ingredients of S. 307, I.P.C.?

Section 307, I.P.C. reads: Who­ever does any act with such intention or knowledge, and under such circumstances that, if he by that act caused death, he would be guilty of murder, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine; and if hurt is caused to any person by such act, the offender shall be liable either to imprisonment for life, or to such punishment as is hereinbefore mentioned.”

To justify a conviction under S. 307, I.P.C. it is not essential that bodily injury capable of causing death should have been inflicted.

Although the nature of injury actually caused may often give consid­erable assistance in coming to a finding as to the intention of the accused, such intention may also be deduced from other circum­stances and may even, in some cases, be ascertained without any reference at all to actual wounds. The section makes a distinction between an act of the accused and its result, if any.

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Such an act may not be attended by any result so far as the person assaulted is con­cerned, but still there may be cases in which the culprit would be liable under this section. It is not necessary that the injury actually caused to the victim of the assault should be sufficient under ordinary circumstances to cause the death of the person assaulted.

What the Court has to see is whether the act, irrespective of its result, was done with the intention or knowledge and under circumstances mentioned in this section.

An attempt in order to be criminal need not be the penultimate act. It is sufficient in law, if there is present an intent coupled with some overt act in execution thereof. (State of Maharashtra v. Balram Bama Patil, A.I.R. 1983 S.C. 305; 1983 Cri. L J. 331).

Problems

A. State if any offence has been committed in the following cases:

(a) A, intending to murder Z, buys a gun and loads it. (b) A after purchasing the gun fires it at Z. (c) A, intending to murder Z, by poison, purchases poison and mixes the same with food which remains in A’s keeping, (d) A places the poisoned food on Z’s table or delivers it to Z’s servant to place it on Z’s table, (e) A woman, with the intention of committing suicide by throwing her­self in a well, actually ran towards it, when she was seized by another person.

(a) A preparation to commit an offence is generally not punished except preparing to wage war or to commit depredation on the territories of any friendly power. But an attempt is always punish­able. In the particular case no offence has been committed by A, because it is impossible to show that the preparation was directed to a wrongful end.

(b) The moment A fires the gun at Z, he has committed the offence defined in Section 307,1.P.C., viz., attempt to murder and if by such firing he wounds Z, he is liable to punishment for life,

(c) A has not yet committed the offence, for it amounts only to preparation,

(d) A has committed the offence defined in Section 307, viz., attempt to murder,

(e) It has been held that her act simply amounted to prepa­ration and not attempt to commit suicide and as such not punishable under Section 309, for she might have changed her mind, and she was caught before she did anything which might have been regarded as the commencement of the offence.

B. What offence, if any, is committed in the following cases?

(a) In the course of a dispute between A and B, A gives a push to B with the result that B fell into a pit, below the road containing stones. A did not know of the pit. In consequence of the fall B’s head sustained injuries from which he died.

(b) A obtained poison from a chemist’s shop for the purpose of causing death of his relation but by mistake administered some other substance which caused no harm to that relative.

(a) The offence committed by A is culpable homicide not amounting to murder and falls under Exception 4 to Section 300, I.P.C. A gave a push to B in the midst of a fight between them. It was without premeditation and committed in the heat of passion and since A did not know of the existence of the pit it cannot be said that he took undue advantage of the existence of the pit there or he acted in a cruel or unusual manner. The case, therefore, clearly falls under Ex­ception 4 to Section 300, I.P.C. and the offence is culpable homicide and not murder.

(b) No offence is committed in this case as neither death nor any injury has resulted. Mere purchase of poison with the intention of killing someone is no offence. At best it is a preparation to commit an offence which is not punishable. It cannot be classed as an attempt to an offence of murder. An attempt to commit murder is provided for by Section 307, I.P.C. which does not apply to the facts of the case here.

C. A and B aged 20 and 19 were friends. Sudden quarrel broke between them. B called a thief and A gave one knife blow to B causing a simple injury. B was in hospital for 19 days. A used to visit B in hospital to enquire after his health. Is A guilty of an offence under S. 307 (attempt to murder) or S. 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), I.P.C.

Please also discuss the essential elements of S. 307, I.P.C.

If a simple hurt is caused to a person, it is hardly possible to arrive at the conclusion that the perpetrator of that injury or injury had the requisite intention as contemplated under S. 307, I.P.C. Section 307 is applicable to attempt to commit murder. That section is applicable where there is not merely a commencement of an execution of the purpose but something just short of a complete execution, the perfec­tion or the act of completion being prevented by circumstances inde­pendent of the will of the perpetrator.

The two essential elements of S. 307, I.P.C. is that (i) the act must be capable of causing death, and (ii) the existence of the inten­tion of the author to cause death.

In the present case no intention to kill or cause grievous hurt to B is proved and only hurt is caused which is not grievous within the meaning of S. 326, I.P.C. A will, therefore, be convicted under S. 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) I.P.C. (Nantu Deb Ray v. The State, (1978 Cri. L.J., NOC, 209 Gau.)