Chapter III

(Sections 14-44)
 Exceptions
• Every offence is not absolute, they have certain
exceptions
• An individual can escape liability by taking this
as a defence
• Absence of mens rea or incapable of creating it
• Sec 3 (1) - Throughout this sanhita, every
definition of offence, every penal provision and
every illustration, shall be understood subject to
exceptions contained in the chapter titled General
Exceptions
 General Defences (Ss 14-44)
offence becomes exempted
Excusable Acts Justifible Acts
• Mistake of fact – Sec 14 & • Judicial Acts – Sec 15 & 16
17 • Necessity – Sec 19
• Accident – Sec 18 • Consent – Sec 25-30
• Infancy – Sec 20 & 21 • Communication made in good
• Insanity – Sec 22 faith – Sec 31
• Intoxication – Sec 23 & 24 • Compulsion or Duress – S. 32
• Trivial Acts – Sec 33
• Right of Private Defence – Sec
34-44
Burden of Proof

 Prosecution has to prove its case beyond

reasonable doubt against the accused
 S.108 – Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023
A person accused of an offence bears the burden
of proving the existence of circumstances to bring
the case within any of the General Exceptions
 The court shall presume the absence of such
circumstances.
 It is not the duty of the accused to prove the plea,
the circumstances and the exception to the court
beyond reasonable doubt
 Mistake
• Legal Maxim - “ignorantia facti excusat,
ignorantia juris non excusat”
• Meaning – Ignorance of fact is excusable, but
ignorance of law is not excusable
• Sec 2 (11)– Good faith – Act done with proper
care and caution
• BNS gives exception only to mistake of fact
not for mistake of law
 Bound by law – Sec 14
• Nothing is an offence which is done
by a person who is or by reason of a mistake of fact,
not by mistake of law
in good faith believes himself,
to be bound by law to do such act
• Illustration - A, a soldier, fires on a mob by the
order of his superior officer, in conformity with
the commands of the law. A has committed no
offence.
• Arrest after proper inquiry
 Justifiable by law – Sec 17
• Nothing is an offence which is done
by any person who is justified by law, or
who by reason of a mistake of fact and not by
reason of a mistake of law
in good faith believes himself to be justified by
law, in doing it.
• Illustration - A sees Z commit what appears to A to be a
murder. A, in the exercise, to the best of his judgment
exerted in good faith, of the power which the law gives to
all persons of apprehending murderers in the fact, seizes Z,
in order to bring Z before the proper authorities. A has
committed no offence, though it may turn out that Z was
acting in self-defence. (Wrongful restraint)
 Judicial Acts - Sec 15 & 16
• Sec 15 - Act of a Judge
Nothing is an offence which is done
by a Judge
when acting judicially in the exercise of any power
which is, or which
in good faith he believes, to be given to him by law
 Sec 2(16) - Judge
 Ex. A judge who sentences a prisoner to death
(even wrongly) is not himself liable to be hanged
for having caused somebody's death
Act done pursuant to the judgment or
order of Court - Sec 16
 Nothing which is done in pursuance of, or which is
warranted by the judgment or order of, a Court of
Justice, if done whilst such judgment or order remains in
force, is an offence, notwithstanding the Court may have
had no jurisdiction to pass such judgment or order,
provided the person doing the act in good faith believes
that the Court had such jurisdiction.
 Ex. If it were to be an offence the hangman who hangs the
prisoner pursuant to the order of the judge, would also have to
be hanged
 This section protects the officials who are executing the
judgment or order of a court, which may have no jurisdiction
at all
 Accident – Sec 18
• Nothing is an offence which is done
by accident or misfortune and
without any criminal intention or knowledge in the
doing of a lawful act in a lawful manner by lawful
means and
with proper care and caution
• Illustration - A is at work with a hatchet; the head
flies off and kills a man who is standing by. Here,
if there was no want of proper caution on the part
of A, his act is excusable and not an offence.
 Inevitable Accident – Sec 19
• Nothing is an offence
merely by reason of its being done with the
knowledge that it is likely to cause harm,
if it be done without any criminal intention to cause
harm, and
in good faith for the purpose of preventing or
avoiding other harm to person or property
• Illustration - A, in a great fire, pulls down houses in order
to prevent the conflagration from spreading. He does this with
the intention in good faith of saving human life or property.
• Imminent danger – justification of the risk
 Doli Incapax – Sec 20 & 21
• Sec 20 - Nothing is an offence which is done
by a child under 7 years of age
• Sec 21 - Nothing is an offence which is done
by a child above 7 years of age and under 12
who has not attained sufficient maturity of
understanding
to judge of the nature and consequences of his
conduct on that occasion
• Circumstances of a case may disclose the
degree of mens rea
 Insanity – Sec 22
• Nothing is an offence which is done
by a person who, at the time of doing it,
by reason of mental illness,
is incapable of knowing the nature of the act, or
that he is doing what is either wrong or contrary to
law
• Legal insanity is different from the medical
insanity (stress, agitation, annoyance)
 Unsoundness
Idiot or a mad man
A lunatic
A person in unconscious state (e.g. sleep
walking or somnambulism or illness, etc.,)
An intoxicated person
• Mcnaughten’s Rule
 Mcnaughten’s case (1843)
• Facts: Mcnaughten was charged with the murder of Edward
Drummond, secretary to the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel.
Defendant mistook Drummond for Peel and shot Drummond
by mistake. Drummond died five days later and M’Naghten
was charged with his murder. He pleaded not guilty by reason
of insanity.
• Defense counsel introduced expert and lay witnesses who
testified about Defendant’s obsession with delusions and that
he suffered from acute insanity.
• The jury reached a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
Following the trial, there was a meeting at the House of Lords
attended by fifteen judges in order to determine the standards
for the insanity defence.
 Intoxication – Sec 23 & 24
• Ss. 23 & 24 protect an intoxicated person provided he got
intoxicated by mistake (e.g. took a wrong medicine) or by
fraud or force
• Sec 23 - Nothing is an offence which is done
 by a person who, at the time of doing it, is,
 by reason of intoxication,
 incapable of knowing the nature of the act, or that he is doing
what is either wrong, or contrary to law:
 Unless that the thing which intoxicated him was administered to
him without his knowledge or against his will
 Sec 24
• In cases where an act done is not an offence unless
done with a particular knowledge or intent, a person
who does the act in a state of intoxication shall be liable
to be dealt with as if he had the same knowledge as he
would have had if he had not been intoxicated, unless
the thing which intoxicated him was administered to
him without his knowledge or against his will.
• The test is whether by reason of drunkenness, the
accused was incapable of forming an intention of
committing the offence
 Not a Consent – Sec 28
If the consent is given
– by a person under fear of injury or under a
misconception of fact
– if the person doing the act knows, or has reason to
believe, that it was in consequence of such fear or
misconception or
– by a person of mental illness or intoxication and he
is unable to understand the nature and
consequences or
– by a person who is under 12 years of age
 Consent – Sec 25
 Nothing is an offence, which is
not intended to cause death, or grievous hurt
no knowledge about the act is likely to cause death or
grievous hurt
above 18 years of age, who has given consent to suffer
the harm, whether express or implied
 Illustration
– A and Z agree to fence with each other for amusement.
This agreement implies the consent of each to suffer
any harm which, in the course of such fencing, may be
caused without foul play; and if A, while playing
fairly, hurts Z, A commits no offence.
Act not intended to cause death –
Sec 26
• Nothing is an offence, which is
not intended to cause death
to any person for whose benefit it is done in good faith, and
who has given a consent, whether express or implied
to suffer that harm or to take the risk of that harm.
• Illustration
– A, a surgeon, knowing that a particular operation is likely
to cause the death of Z, who suffers under the painful
complaint, but not intending to cause Z’s death, and
intending, in good faith, Z’s benefit, performs that
operation on Z, with Z’s consent. A has committed no
offence.
 Benefit of child or person with
mental illness– Sec 27
• Nothing which is done
 in good faith for the benefit of a person under 12 years of age, or
person with mental illness,
 by consent, either express or implied, of the guardian or other
person having lawful charge of that person
• Provisos - That this exception shall not extend to
– the intentional causing of death, or to the attempting to cause death;
– the doing of anything which the person doing it knows to be likely to
cause death, for any purpose other than the preventing of death or
grievous hurt, or the curing of any grievous disease or infirmity;
– the voluntary causing of grievous hurt, or to the attempting to cause
grievous hurt, unless it be for the purpose of preventing death or
grievous hurt, or the curing of any grievous disease or infirmity;
– the abetment of any offence, to the committing of which offence it
would not extend
• Illustration : Operation for a child
 Independent harm – Sec 29
• The exceptions in sections 25, 26 and 27 do not extend to
acts which are offences independently of any harm which
they may cause, or be intended to cause, or be known to be
likely to cause, to the person giving the consent, or on
whose behalf the consent is given.
• Illustration
– Causing miscarriage (unless caused in good faith for the
purpose of saving the life of the woman) is offence
inexpediently of any harm which it may cause or be
intended to cause to the woman. The consent of the woman
or of her guardian is immaterial
 Without Consent – Sec 30
• Nothing is an offence
 by reason of any harm which it may causes to a person for
whose benefit it is done
 in good faith, even without that person’s consent,
 if the circumstances are such that it is impossible for that person
to signify consent, or if that person is incapable of giving
consent, and has no guardian or other person in lawful charge of
him from whom it is possible to obtain consent in time for the
thing to be done with benefit: Provided
• Provisos – same as sec 27
• Illustration
• A is in a house which is on fire, with Z, a child. People below hold
out a blanket. A drops the child, from the house-top, knowing it to
be likely that the fall may kill the child, but not intending to kill the
child, and intending, in good faith, the child’s benefit. Here, even if
the child is killed by the fall, A has committed no offence.
 Communication in good faith -
Sec 31
• No communication
made in good faith is an offence by reason of any
harm to the person to whom it is made
 if it is made for the benefit of that person.
• Illustration
– A, a surgeon, in good faith, communicates to a
patient his opinion that he cannot live. The patient
dies in consequence of the shock. A has committed
no offence, though he knew it to be likely that the
communication might cause the patient’s death.
 Compulsion or Duress - Sec 32
• Except murder and offences against the State
punishable with death
• Nothing is an offence which is done
– by a person who is compelled to do it by threats,
– Which at the time of doing it, reasonably cause the
apprehension that instant death to that person will
otherwise be the consequence
• Provided the person doing the act did not of his own
accord, or from a reasonable apprehension of harm to
himself short of instant death, place himself in the
situation by which he became subject to such constraint
• Explanations – joining gang of dacoits
 Trivial Act or slight harm - Sec 33
• Nothing is an offence by reason that it causes,
or that it is intended to cause, or that it is
known to be likely to cause, any harm
• if that harm is so slight that no person of
ordinary sense and temper would complain
of such harm.
• ‘de minimus not curat lex’ – Law does not care
about trifles
• Ex . Theft of cheque of no value