Keywords – Mens rea, actus reus, IPC, Murder, Suicide, offense, crime.
Abstract –
“Crime is not only a random act but a drafted plan.” In the case of aggression, it could be a random act, but in that too, there is always a possibility that the defendant could control his/her mental state and back out of the malafide thoughts, thus, not committing a crime. Crime does have elements and stages involved in it. Not every thought or act is a crime.
Introduction and explanation –
For ages, crime has been a huge problem for society and humanity as a whole. The Holy Hindu Scriptures also define crime, i.e, when a person acts either under greed, lust, or anger, or all of them, the seed to commit a crime is planted. So, the basic tendency of human beings is to grab more and more to fulfil their hunger, which is in turn not to be fulfilled till we attain Nirvana.
The good thing is that to counter the situation and to provide a check & balance, the Holy Scriptures provide an adaption of them in the form of modern-day laws in order to punish the culprit. The law related to the punishment of crimes is known as the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The punishment is given in a prescribed manner by the orders of the honourable court depending upon the degree and magnitude of the crime committed by the person/suspect.
What is a crime?
An action or omission which constitutes an offence is punishable under law. The law here refers to the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the procedure for it is in The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
The crime also has four elements, which are as follows:-
1. Mens Rea – criminal intent (guilty mind), an act that evokes a desire to harm someone directly or indirectly. physically done but is planned in the mind and is intangible now.
2. Actus Reus – the criminal act (guilty action), any act which invokes a person (defendant) to either omit or to take action to commit an unlawful or illegal act prescribed under the Indian Penal Code, 1860. Under this, the plan is to harm a person physically and this is tangible now. Also, if you help or aid any other person to commit an unlawful act, then that is also a crime (section – 108, IPC, 1860, which deals with abetment).
3. Concurrence – the simultaneous or sequential performance of criminal intent and criminal act.
4. Causation – when it is proven beyond a reasonable doubt that either for doing or not stopping anyone from doing or assisting anyone in doing any act that is prohibited under the golden provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The defendant is directly or indirectly involved in preparing to implement the plan to commit a crime. The meeting of the end -result is the key here.
There are four stages of the commission of a crime –
1. Mens rea – is the state of mind in which the defendant plans or imagines the criminal act.
2. Preparation – to supply or aid, or collect required items to accomplish the crime plan.
3. Attempt – first try to hit the target, but it is not necessary that the plan be successful. plan to do as expected. Section-307 of the IPC, 1860, for example, deals with attempted murder, and Section-309 of the IPC, 1860, with attempted suicide, and so on.
4. Actual commission of the offence – the crime is fully successful as expected or estimated to be when implemented. Section 300 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, for example, deals with murder, etc..
Conclusion –
A crime is sometimes an act of random aggression and other times a well-drafted plan. The end physical at of crime (actus reus) is not always seen solely to determine the culprit, as section 108, IPC, 1860 deals with abetment (aid and instigate, etc. for a crime), which plays an important role. Section – 82, IPC, 1860 – an act of a child under seven years of age. Nothing is an offence which is done by a child under 7 years of age. Section – 83, IPC, 1860 – an act of a child above 7 and under 12 of immature understanding. Nothing is an offence which is done by a child over seven years of age and under twelve, who has not attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequences of their conduct on that occasion.
Section – 96-106, IPC, 1860 deals with the private defence relating to a private body and property is stated, which, again, depending upon the circumstances, could be seen with reasonable care. Mens rea is very important and actus reus is the thing which proves mens rea in cases, directly or indirectly.
References :-
