Essential Elements of A Crime

CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, PATNA
Criminal Law – I
Indian Penal Code, 1860, The Sexual Harassment of
Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and
Redressal) Act, 2013 & The Prevention of
Corruption Act, 1988
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Course Teacher:
Ms. Preety Anand
Assistant Professor (Law)
Chanakya National Law University, Patna.
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF A CRIME
1. A PERSON
2. MENS REA
3. ACTUS REUS
4. INJURY
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1. The crime must be committed by a person
2. Mental Element of crime: Mens Rea means ‘guilty
mind.’ There must be intention to commit the crime.
This requirement is subject to certain exceptions.
3. Physical Element of crime: Actus Reus means
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‘guilty act.’ There must exist an Actus Reus. (subject
to certain exceptions)
4. There must be injury caused to another.
Who is a Person?
• a Human Being.
• an association of
human beings?
Can my dog • Corporations, etc?
commit an
offence of Section 11 of the
causing hurt? IPC: “Person”.—
The word
“person”
includes any
Company or
Association or
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body of persons,
whether
incorporated or
not.
Mens Rea: The Mental Element of Crime
• Importance of Mens Rea: It is the sine qua non of a

criminal act.
• ‘Intention’ is not defined under IPC.
• Very difficult to define.
• Conscious exercise of mental faculties of a person to do
an act, for the purpose of accomplishing or satisfying a
purpose.
• Intention is usually used in relation to the consequences
of an act and not in relation to the act itself.
– Dolly intended to hit Ana with a rod.
– Dolly intended to cause injury to Ana by hitting her with a rod.
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• Mens Rea under the Indian Penal Code, 1860: Intention,
Knowledge, Dishonestly, Fraudulently, negligently, etc.
Negligence as Mens Rea
• Criminal Negligence is a gross Boundary fell off!!
neglect to exercise reasonable What do I do to
and proper caution necessary restrict the villagers
to use my loo??
to avoid injury to others.
IDEA!!! Naked
• Negligence is measured on electric Fencing!
the scale of reasonableness or
prudence.
• Who is a reasonable or prudent
person?
• A negligent mind can not be
equated with a blameworthy
mind.
• IPC imposes criminal liability
on this ground particularly
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when there is threat to life/
personal safety of others.
• It is made punishable hoping [Cherubin Gregory v State of Bihar
to improve people’s standard 1964 AIR 205]
of behaviour.
Knowledge as Mens Rea
• Knowledge is awareness on the part of a person of the
consequence of the act.
• There is very thin line difference between intention and
knowledge.
• Knowledge is substituted for intention in many cases because
ascertainment of intention is a difficult task.
 Emperor v Dhirajia AIR 1940 All. 486.

X, a lady, was ill-treated by her husband and his family. One morning after a
fight, she left home with her child without letting anyone know. When her
husband discovers that she has left, he went looking for her. He was furious
and angry. After walking miles, X felt someone’s running footsteps behind her.
When she turned back, she saw her husband running towards her furiously.
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She panicked and start running away and on seeing a well on her way
deliberately jumped into it with 6-months old child on being chased by her
husband closely. She survived but the child died.
Did X have MENS REA??
Did she commit MURDER??
Intention and Motive: Are they the same thing?
 Intention and motive are used interchangeably by us in general
parlance.
 However, in Criminal Law they are distinct and should not be
used interchangeably at all.
 Motive can be referred to as the ‘ULTERIOR INTENTION’ behind
an act.
 When X is criminally liable for the murder of Y, we can say that
X had the intentions to kill Y. But at the core of the intention lies
the Motive. (Eg: Jealously, Envy, Love)
• X intended to kill Y. --- INTENTION
• Why did X intend to kill why?--- MOTIVE
 Good or bad motive does not affect Criminal Liability.
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 However, it can play role of an aggravating or a mitigating factor
in deciding the sentence.
 Motive, at times, helps ascertain intention.
 Ediga Anamma v State of Andhra Pradesh 1974 AIR 799.
Anamma was a young and beautiful married lady. She was married to a man
belonging to a rich and well-to-do family. She was not much attached with her
husband. She fell in love with a man who was a carpenter(C). There
relationship grew and she wanted to marry him. She had gifted him a ring,
given to her by her in laws, as a token of love which somehow came to the
notice of her husband. She was forced to leave her husband’s house. She then
lived with her parents. After waiting for the love of her life for many days, she
went out looking for him. She met him and told him about the entire episode of
how she was caught and thrown out of her husband’s place. She expressed her
desire of getting married to him but C refused and said he never had such
intentions and asked her to return back to her husband.
She was devastated. She was madly in love with C and she left everything
behind for him. She came to know that C was married and had affairs with other
women too. She lost her temper and planned a gross murder of C’s Wife and
children to have C back all to herself. She successfully executed the plan.
Did Anamma possess MENS REA??
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Did she commit MURDER??
What was her Motive?
“Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea”
This means that an act is not a criminal act

unless it is accompanied by a guilty mind.
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THANK YOU.
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CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, PATNA

• Importance of Mens Rea: It is the sine qua non of a

 Emperor v Dhirajia AIR 1940 All. 486.

Did Anamma possess MENS REA??

This means that an act is not a criminal act

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