"Homicide means killing of a human being by a human being." Explain the statement and distinguish between culpable homicide amounting to murder and not amounting to murder.
Homicide, in its broadest sense, denotes the killing of one human being by another. It may be lawful, as in self-defence or execution of a judicial order, or unlawful, which is the concern of criminal law. Within the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, unlawful homicide is primarily addressed under the rubric of “culpable homicide.”
Section 299 IPC defines culpable homicide as causing death by doing an act with the intention of causing death, with the intention of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, or with the knowledge that such act is likely to cause death.
Section 300 IPC defines murder as a graver form of culpable homicide. Thus, every murder is culpable homicide, but not every culpable homicide is murder. The distinction lies in the presence and intensity of mens rea and the surrounding circumstances. Culpable homicide amounts to murder if:
- The act is committed with the intention of causing death.
- The act is done with the intention of causing such bodily injury as the offender knows is likely to cause death.
- The intended bodily injury is sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.
- The act is so imminently dangerous that it must, in all probability, cause death or such injury as is likely to cause death, and is committed without justification.
However, Section 300 provides five exceptions where culpable homicide does not amount to murder: grave and sudden provocation; exceeding the right of private defence; public servant exceeding powers in good faith; death caused in a sudden fight without cruelty; and death with the free consent of a person above eighteen years.
The classic distinction, emphasized in Reg. v. Govinda (1876), rests on the degree of intention and knowledge. Murder reflects malice aforethought, whereas culpable homicide not amounting to murder embodies a lower degree of culpability.
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