UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM & ENERGY STUDIES

COLLEGE OF LEGAL STUDIES

BA., LL.B. (HONS) ENERGY LAW
SEMESTER- I
PROJECT FOR LEGAL METHOD & LEGAL REASONING
TOPIC : CRIMINAL LAW SYSTEM

Under the supervision of : Ms Pooja Gautam

NAME – SURYATANU DEY

SAP NO.- 500054618
ROLL NO.- 114
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION - PAGE-1
2. HISTORY AND OBJECTIVE- PAGE-2
3. ELEMENTS AND KINDS OF CRIMINAL LAW PAGE-3-4
4. PRINCIPLES - PAGE- 5
5. STRUCTURE OF INDIAN PENAL CODE- PAGE-5-6
6. PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS - PAGE-7
7. CONCLUSION - PAGE-8
8. BIBLIOGRAPHY - PAGE-9
 PROJECT OF LEGAL METHOD AND
REASONING
TOPIC:- CRIMINAL LAW SYSTEM

 INTRODUCTION
Criminal Law System is the body of law that relates to crime.It regulates social conduct and
prescribes whatever is threatning ,harmful or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety
and moral welfare of people. It includes the punishment of people who violates these laws.(1)
Criminal law in India means offenses against the state including felonies and misdemeanor. A
body of rules and statutes that defines conduct prohibited by government because it threatens and
harms public safety and welfare and that establishes punishments to be imposed for the
commission of such act. The term criminal law means crimes that may establish punishment
whereas criminal procedure describes the process through which the criminal law is enforced.
No criminal law is found in uncivilized society. A state may exist without Constitutional Law but
not without Criminal Law. Sir James Stephen says, 'Crime is an act which is both forbidden by
law and revolting to the moral sentiments of the society."In earlier days there was no criminal law
in the uncivilized society. Every man was liable to be attacked in his person or property or attack
another person to redress a grievance. As time advanced , the injured person agreed to accept
compensation instead of killing his adversary. For a long time, the application of this principles
lay with the parties themselves but gradually this function came to be performed by the state.
Crimes are usually categorized as felonies or misdemeanors based on their nature and the
maximum punishment that can be awarded .A felony involves serious misconduct that is
punishable by death or by long term imprisonment. Other crimes are misdemeanors or violations
for which punishment are losses.(2)

1. Introduction to criminal law by Karyll Mitra : www.slideshare.net

2. www.wikepedia.org

Page-1
 ● HISTORY AND OBJECTIVE
The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the main criminal code of India. The code was drafted in 1860 on
the recommendation of first Law Commission Of India established in 1834 under the Charter
Act of 1833 under the chairmanship Thomas Babington Macaulay .It came into force during 1860
and forms the backbone of modern Indian Penal Code (IPC) of India. It did not apply to the
princely states which had their own legal system and courts till 1940. The code has since been
amended a number of times and is now supplemented by other criminal provisions. This code
does not apply to the state of Jammu and Kasmir. After partition of the Indian subcontinent this
code forms the backbone of Penal Code of countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,
Singapore, Brunei and other colonial settlements. Trial by Jury was abolished in India in 1960 on
the grounds that jury are susceptible to media and public influence (based on acquittal of K.M.
Nanavati)
Ancient India represented a distinct tradition of law. She has an historically independent school of
legal theory and practice. The Arthashastra (400 B.C) and Manusmriti (100 A.D) were
influential treaties in India.(4) The germs of criminal jurisprudence came into existence in India
from the time of Manu. In the category of crimes ,Manu recognized assault, theft, robbery, false
evidence, slander, criminal breach of trust ,cheating, adultery and rape. Later with the advent of
western jurisprudence and advent of British rule ,the Indian society adjusted or adapted tothe
adversarial system of justice dispensation which prevails even today with lots of changes to suit
the needs of changing times. The highest law in India is the Constitution of India; no other law is
above it. If any law has a provision against the Constitution, it is ultra vires and not binding.The
essential objective of criminal law is to protect society against criminals and lawbreakers. For this
purpose the law holds out threats of punishments to prospective offenders and attempt to make
them suffer prescribed punishments for their crimes. Therefore, criminal law in its wider
sense ,consists of both the substantive and the procedural criminal law
The objective of this Act is to provide a Penal Code for India including Jammu and Kashmir
where it is known as Ranbir Penal Code (RPC).The code applies to any offense committed by an
Indian citizen anywhere and on any Indian registered ship or aircraft.(3) The Act does not repeal
the Penal Laws which were in force at the time of coming into force in India. This is because the
code does not contain all offenses and it may be possible that some offenses might still be left out
of the Code which were not intented to be exempted from penal consequenses. Though this code
consolidates the whole of law on the subject and is exhaustive on the matter in respect of much it
declares the law many more Penal statutes governing various offenses have been created in
addition to the Code.

3. Indian Legal System : An introduction by Talwant Singh DHJS (Addl. District and sessions
Judge, Delhi)
4. Indian Penal Code : A presentation by Rishabh Vakharia, D.E.S. Law College Pune.

Page-2
●ELEMENTS AND KINDS OF CRIMINAL LAW
Indian Criminal Law is divided into 3 major Acts. They are:-

i. Indian Penal Code

ii. Code Of Criminal Procedure,1973
iii. Indian Evidence Act,1872

Besides these major acts, special criminal laws have also been passed by the Indian Parliament;
example of such are - NDPS, Prevention of Corruption Act, Food Adulteration Act, Dowry Prevention
Act, The Defence of India Act.

Criminal Law can be categorized into (4)

i. Substantive Law
ii. Procedural Law
iii. Evidential Law

Substantive law defines the offences like theft,robbery,dacoity,murder ,etc. They are mostly
contained in the Indian Penal Code,1860 and other special acts like the Railways Act, Prevention of
Corruption Act.

Procedural law lays down the procedure of the following:

i. how an offender shall be arrested and by whom

ii. how an investigation will be made
iii. how the bail will be allowed
iv. what are the various courts and how they shall try an offender
v. codified in the Criminal Procedure Code,1973

Evidential law speaks of the relevant evidence which may be given in court to prove any
particular offence. It is contained in the Indian Evidence Act,1872.

4. Indian Penal Code : A presentation by Rishabh Vakharia, D.E.S. Law College Pune.

Page-3
Elements of crime constitutes of a guilty act with a guilty mind. ACTUS NON FACET REUM NISI MENS
SIT REA, the genesis of crime i.e, an act does not constitute guilt unless done with guilty intent. There
are two components of crime:

i. ACTUS REUS: guilty act

ii. MENS REA: guilty mind

ACTUS REUS is the consequence of human act which is sought to be prohibited by law. It
covers three elements:

a. a willed omission or commission

b. certain circumstances
c. certain consequences

MENS REA means an evil intention or a knowledge of the wrongfulness of the act i.e,
blameworthy conditions of mind. It is identified through intention, motive, recklessness, negligence,
knowledge, etc. In Indian Penal Code it is referred to as
fraudulently,dishonestly,malignantly,negligently,wantonly,voluntarily ,etc.(5)

 PRINCIPLES
Indian Penal Code extends to the whole of India except to the state of Jammu & Kashmir. It
says that every person shall be liable to punishment under this code and not otherwise for every act or
omission contrary to the provision thereof, of which he shall be guilty within India.

Even a foreigner who enters Indian territory also submits himself to the operation of Indian
laws and he cannot be allowed to plead in defence that he didnot know that he was doing wrong as the
act is not an offence in his country.

The cardinal principle of Criminal Law is that all persons should be treated equally in the eyes of
law. But there are some exceptions to this cardinal principle under Indian law. According to the
Constitution of India ,vide Article 361,

5. State of Maharastra vs M.H. George (1965)- Sec 8 of FERA, 1947-Bringing of gold biscuit
without permission of RBI.

Page-4
 i) High dignitaries of the State i.e, the President of India and the Governors of the States
are not answerable to any court for the performance of the duties of his office and
exercising the powers of his office. There cannot be any criminal proceedings
whatsoever initiated in any court during his term of office and neither can any order of
arrest or imprisonment be issued from any court during his term of office;
ii) Foreign Sovereign;
iii) Diplomats i,e. Ambassadors and certain members of diplomatic staff enjoy immunity
from the jurisdiction of the courts;
iv) Alien enemy cannot be tried by the criminal courts of the country regarding their acts of
war but are dealt with under Martial law;
v) Foreign army ,if stationed on Indian soil by the consent of Indian Government is exempt
from the jurisdiction of criminal courts;
vi) Naval forces on board warships of foreign origin in Indian territorial waters are also
beyond jurisdiction of Indian criminal courts.

 STRUCTURE OF INDIAN PENAL CODE

The Indian Penal Code (IPC) consists of 23 chapters,511 sections (V-A ; IX-A ; XX-A) were
added.It was passed on 6th October,1860 but came into effect from 1st January,1862.The codified statute
is a substantive general law of crimes in India and exhaustive in nature.The table of contents of the Indian
Penal Code (IPC) is as follows:-

 Chapter I Introduction [SECTION 1-5]

 Chapter II General Explanation [SECTION 6-52(A)]
 Chapter III Punishments[SECTION 53-75]
 Chapter IV General Exceptions[SECTION 76-106]
 Chapter V Of Abetment[SECTION 107-120]
 Chapter V-A Criminal Conspiracy[SECTION 120A& B]
 Chapter VI Of offences against State[SECTION121-130]
 Chapter VII Of offences relating to Army, Navy and Airforce[SECTION131-140]

2. www.wikepedia.org

Page-5
● Chapter VIII Of offences against public tranquility[SECTION141-160]

● Chapter IX Of offences by or relating to public servants[SECTION161-171]

● Chapter IX-A Of offences relating to elections[SECTION171A-171I]

● Chapter X Of contempts of the lawful authority of public servant[SECTION172-190]

● Chapter XI Of false evidence and offences against public justice[SECTION191-229]

● Chapter XII Of offences relating to coin and government stamps [SECTION230-263A]

● Chapter XIII Of offences relating to weights and measures[SECTION264-267]

● Chapter XIV Of offences affecting the public health, safety, convinience, decency and morals
[SECTION 268-294A]
● Chapter XV Of offences relating to religion[SECTION295-298]

● Chapter XVI Of offences affecting the human body[SECTION299-377]

● Chapter XVII Of offences against property [SECTION378-462]

● Chapter XVIII Of offences relating to documents and to property marks[SECTION463-489E]

● Chapter XIX Of the criminal breach of contracts of service[SECTION490-492]

● Chapter XX Of offences relating to marriage[SECTION493-498]

● Chapter XX-A Of cruelty by husband or relatives of husband[SECTION498-A]

● Chapter XXI Of definition[SECTION499-502]

● Chapter XXII Of criminal intimidation, insult and annoyance[SECTION503-510]

● Chapter XXIII Of attempts to commit offences[SECTION511]

6. Indian Penal Code 1860

Page-6
 ● PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

One of the oldest legal system of the world is the Indian Judicial System and it still incoporates
features inherited from the British judicial system during their colonial rule in India. India's
judicial system follows a common law system along with other regulatory and statutory law. Our
legal system follows the adversarial system where story of both the sides is presented to a neutral
judge who then gives a judgement on the basis of arguments and evidence. But Indian Criminal
Law System faces some inherent problems like
i. Corruption in the judiciary
ii. Backlog of pending cases
iii. Delays in delivering justice
iv. Hardships of undertrials
v. Inefficiency of the judiciary
vi. Low conviction rate
vii. Huge cost of justice

Unless there is an expeditious judiciary ,the criminal justice system cannot function despite well
functioning police infrastructure resulting in delayed conviction and harassment of undertrials. One of
the biggest reason of millions of pending cases is due to a understaffed judiciary which derails
administering of justice as well quality of justice. Another problem of the judiciary is the functioning of
courts, particularly the trial courts where there is a habit of granting adjournments on most flimsy grounds
delaying disposal of cases. They increases the hardship, inconvenience and expenses of the parties.
The Indian Penal Code should be modified to incoporate modern day social, economic and other changes.
Also the Indian Penal Code can be divided into various codes incorporating social offences, correctional
offences economic offences etc. The cases that does not fall under the above category may be settled
through administrative procedure ,minimun police intervention , plea bargain etc.There should be proper
investigation of crimes, rationalisation of court system by inducting technology, limiting appeal
procedure to minimum.The system should be victim centric to ensure there is proper dispention of
justice.Trials needed to completed quickly so that the undertrials do not languish in jail for indefinitely
and also that the victims donot lose faith in the justice system.Fixing responsibility quickly and
transparently will maximise the sense of justice.There should be reforms in property based bail system,
free legal aid for the poor, legal support for the undertrials, improvement of the prisions,etc. All petty
offences should be tried at Lok adalats and Fast Track courts system should be strengthened.

7. www.lawteacher.net

Page-7
  CONCLUSION
In spite of all the advancements in information and communication technologies, the Indian
legal system looks like a domineering and pretentious British vestige appearing to belong to an elite class
away from the people ,the society and the country. The present system is totally out of place and out of
time&tune with the democratic procedures and norms, that pleases a certain section of the society with
vested interest. There is an immediate need for restructuring the system and make it answerable. The
Indian Criminal Justice system needs urgent reforms owing to its ineffectiveness and inefficiency. It is
evident that a change is required in our criminal justice system and there is need to adhere to alternative
methods of dispute resolution.

Page-8
●BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Introduction to Criminal Law : by Karyll Mitra

2. www.slideshare.net
3. www.wikipedia.org
4. Indian Legal System : An introduction by Talwant Singh DHJS (Addl. District and
Sessions Judge, Delhi )
5. Indian Penal Code : A presentation by Rishabh Vakharia, D.E.S Law College Pune.
6. State of Maharastra Vs M.H. George (1965) – section 8 of FERA, 1947 (Bringing of
gold biscuit without permission of RBI )
7. www.lawteacher.net

Page-9