Format approved by the Academic Review Board, JGLS

COURSE MANUAL

LAW OF CRIMES

Fall 2024
(AY 2024-25)

Name of Faculty:

Prof Aditi
Prof Arushi Bajpai
Prof Amit Bindal
Prof Ishita Sharma
Prof Konina Mandal
Prof Kriti Sharma
Prof Malika Galib Shah
Prof Payal Mangla
Prof Ritabrata Roy
Prof Rituraj Singh Chauhan
Prof Rohini Sen
Prof Ruchika Rao
Prof Santwana Dwivedy
Prof Swati Singh

1
Format approved by the Academic Review Board, JGLS

PART IV
a. Weekly Course Outline

Week Topic BNS Sections

Week 1
CRIMINAL LAW: CONCEPTS
 What is a crime?
 Introduction to BNS and its stated
aims or aspirations of decolonization.
(Section 358 of BNS).
 Criminalization (briefly): ‘Harm’
principle and individual autonomy,
harms warranting punishment versus
harms warranting compensation;
Classification of conduct as criminal:
mala in se and mala prohibita
 Scope of criminal law: Limits of
criminalization and over
criminalization
 Nature of liability: Strict Liability in
criminal law; Public welfare and
criminal law
 Motive and its role in determination
of criminal guilt/ culpability, and
punishment
 Philosophical foundations of
punishment / Theories of punishment;
Introductory reflections on the debate
concerning abolition of Death
Penalty; Distinction between guilt and
sentencing; Types of Punishment –
Notion of ‘Jus Talionis’ as originary
basis of punishment.

CASES & READINGS

 State of Maharastra v. M. H. George AIR

1965 SC 722
 Nathulal v. State of M.P AIR 1966 SC 43

2
Format approved by the Academic Review Board, JGLS

Suggested Readings:
 GRANT LAMOND, ‘What is a crime?’ (2007)
27 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 609
 RICHARD A. WASSERSTROM, ‘Strict Liability
in Criminal Law’, Stanford Law Review Vol.
12, p. 731.
 JEROME HALL, Nulla Poena Sine Lege, The
Yale Law Journal (1937) Vol. 47 No. 2.
 J Chalmers and F Leverick, ‘Fair Labelling’
(2008) 71 MLR 217

Week 2
DEFINITIONS & FOUNDATIONAL
 S 2 – ‘Reason to believe’,
ELEMENTS OF CRIME
‘Voluntarily'
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF A CRIMINAL  ‘Causing Death by
OFFENCE UNDER COMMON LAW
 Actus Non Facit Reum Nisi Mens Sit Negligence’ - Section 106
Rea (304A previously)
 Actus Reus (physical element): -
Legal distinction between act and
omission
 Causation: and Criminal law: Novus
actus Interveniens and concerned
debates on causation
 Mens rea (mental element)
 Intention
 Foresight
 Negligence
 Recklessness

CASES & READINGS

o Public Prosecutor v. MS Moorthy

(1912) 22 MLJ 333
o R. v. Blaue [1975] 3 All ER 446
o R. v. Kennedy [2007] UK HL 38

Suggested Reading:

3
Format approved by the Academic Review Board, JGLS

 G Williams, ‘Oblique Intent’ (1988) 46

CLJ 417
 A. Norrie, Subjectivism, Objectivism and
the limits of criminal recklessness (1992)
12 OJLS 45.

Week 3 –
Week 5 OFFENCES AGAINST HUMAN BODY
 Causing death
‘intentionally’ or with the
 Homicide and killing
 A close study of sections relating to ‘knowledge’ of ensuing
Culpable Homicide (s. 299/ 304) and consequences.
Murder (s. 300/ 302) and distinction
between the two sections conceptually  A close study of homicide
 Distinction between various clauses
of sections inter se as well as provisions in BNS.
distinction between the two sections Culpable homicide (sec.
 ‘Negligence’ and ‘Rash’ as criminal
category and its juristic interpretation 100/ 105) and Murder
(s. 304-A) (101/ 103-104).
 Exceptions to Murder with detailed
study only of Exception I:  Exception 1 to Murder
‘provocation’
 Provocation under IPC and English (Provocation). A brief
Common Law comparison with English
 Kidnapping, abduction, wrongful
restraint common law and sec. 54/
55 of (UK) Coroners and
 CASES & READINGS
Justice Act 2009.
o In Re Sreerangayee (1973) 1 MLJ 231
o Virsa Singh v. State of Punjab (AIR 1958  Causing death by
SC 465) ‘negligence’ (sec. 106).
o Gudar Dusadh v. State of Bihar (AIR
1972 SC 952) Critical analysis of
o Emperor v. Mt. Dhirajia AIR 1940 All enhanced punishment and
486
o Gyarsibai v. State AIR (1953 CrLJ 558) discounted punishment
o Cherubin Gregory v. State of Bihar (AIR for ‘medical practitioners.
1964 SC 205)
o Bhagwan Singh v. State of Uttarkhand  Kidnapping (137) and
(2020) 14 SCC 184. Abduction (138) with

4
Format approved by the Academic Review Board, JGLS

o KM Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra focus on relevance of

(AIR 1962 SC 605)
o B.D. Khunte v. Union of India and others mens rea in the offence.
(2015) 1 SCC 286
o Muthu v. State (2007) 12 SCALE 795
o Dr. Suresh Gupta v. State of NCT (2004)
6 SCC 422
o Varadarajan v. state of Madras, (1965)
AIR 942
o R. v. Ahluwalia (1993) 96 Cr App
Reports 133

Suggested Reading:
 Jacob Mathew v. State of Punjab (2005)
 B.B. Pande, “Limits on Objective
Liability for Murder” JILI, Vol. 16 Issue
4 (1974), pp. 469-482
 ALISON YOUNG, IMAGINING CRIME
(1992) [Chapter 3 pp. 60-67]
 Stanley Yeo, ‘Recklessness under the
Indian Penal Code’ JILS (1998)

Week 6-7
GENERAL EXCEPTIONS

 Mistake of Fact and Law

 Necessity  Mistake of fact and law:
 Insanity/ Unsoundness of mind: S. 14,17
McNaughton Rules and beyond  Necessity: S. 19
 Infancy  Insanity: S 22
 Intoxication  Infancy: S 20, 21
 Trifles (de minimis non curat lex)  Intoxication – Ss 23, 24
 Private Defence of Body (Ss. 96-101)  Trifles: S 33
 Private Defence of body:
S34-S39
 CASES & READINGS
o Vishwanath v. State of U.P. (AIR
1960 SC 67)
o Amjad Khan v. State (AIR 1952 SC
165)
o R v. Dudley and Stephen 14 Q.B.D.

5
Format approved by the Academic Review Board, JGLS

273 (1884)
o Mrs. Rupan Deol Bajaj & Anr vs
Kanwar Pal Singh Gill 1995 SCC (6)
194
o Basdev v State of Pepsu (1956 AIR
SC 488)
o The State v. Oscar Leonard Carl
Pistorious (CC113-2013) South
Africa.

Suggested Readings:

 Jacqueline Rose, ‘Bantu in the

Bathroom’, 35 Lond. Rev. of Books
(2015).
 "A Rope of Sand" by Varun Thomas
Mathew (2022)

OBSCENITY & SEXUAL OFFENCES

Week 8 – 10 · Outraging and insulting modesty
of a woman – Sections 74 and 79
· Section 63 – Definition of rape
 Offence of rape, outraging and insulting
· Section 64 – Punishment for rape
the modesty under IPC · Rape within marriage and outside
 Common law notion of ‘sexual marriage- Sections 63-64, 65-68,
intercourse’ and its transformation post 70, 71
2013 amendments · New provision – Section 69 –
 Consent: Age of consent controversy, Sexual intercourse by deceitful
Fraudulent consent, means or false promise to marry
 Exception: marital rape/ spousal Obscenity:
exception. Ø S. 294 – Sale of obscene
 Rape within marriage and outside books
marriage- - sections 375-376, Ss. 376A-D Ø S. 295 – Sale of obscene
 Critical analysis of landmark amendments objects to child
in sexual offences: 1983 & 2013 Ø S. 296 – Obscene acts and
 Notion of ‘Obscenity’ under IPC (Ss. songs

292-294) – Hicklin test, Community

Standard test – Sexuality and obscenity
 Criminal law as instrument of regulation
of sexuality? (Briefly)

6
Format approved by the Academic Review Board, JGLS

 CASES & READINGS

o Rao Harnarayan Singh v. State AIR 1958
P & H 123
o Tukaram v. State of Maharashtra (1979) 2
SCC 143
o Mahmood Farooqui v State (Govt of NCT
of Delhi) 243 (2017) DLT 310
o Anurag Soni v State of Chhattisgarh AIR
2019 SC 1857
o RIT Foundation v. Union of India (2022)
High Court of Delhi W.P.(C) 284/2015 &
CM Nos.54525-26/2018,
o Independent Thought vs Union of India
(2018)

Regina v. Hicklin, L.R.3 Q.B. 360

o Kherode Chandra Roy Chowdhury vs
Emperor (1912) ILR 39 Cal 377
o Ranjit D. Udeshi vs State of Maharashtra
AIR 1965 SC 881
o Rahul Mookerji vs. State (NCT) of Delhi
CRL.M.C. 283 of 2009
o Aveek Sarkar v. State of West Bengal
(2014) 4 SCC 257
o Habeus Corpus Petition.No.2182 of 2022
(Optional)

Suggested Reading:

 Mrinal Satish, ‘The Farooqui Judgment’s

Interpretation of Consent Ignores
Decades of Rape-Law Reform and
Catastrophically Affects Rape
Adjudication’, The Caravan (2017, Oct).
 Latika Vashist, ‘Disgust for the sexual:
the emotional side of obscenity law in
India’, Oxford Univ. Comm. L. J. 22
(2022) 150.
 Report of the Committee on the
Amendments to Criminal Law (Verma
Committee Report), January 23, 2013
 Howard Zehr, The Little Book of
Restorative Justice pp. 3-13.

7
Format approved by the Academic Review Board, JGLS

· S 2(1) – Definition of ‘act’;

· S 2(25) – Definition of
‘omission’;
· S 3(4) – Words referring to acts
include illegal omissions;

Common intention:
· S 3(5) – Acts done by several
persons in furtherance of
common intention.
· S 3(6) – When such act is
criminal by reason of its being
done with a criminal knowledge
COMPLICITY & JOINT LIABILITY or intention
IN CRIMINAL LAW · S 3(7)- Effect caused partly by
 Conceptual discussion on the idea of act and partly by omission.
complicity; when, why and how are we · S 3(8) – Cooperation by doing
complicit in violence around us? one of several acts constituting
 Complicity and criminal law: mass an offence.
violence and criminal liability: liability · S 3(9) – Persons concerned in
for omission in criminal law (section 32) criminal act may be guilty of
 Broader notion of complicity as opposed different offences.
to limited scope under common intention;
Mass psychology and expansion of joint Common object (Unlawful assembly):
responsibility · S 189 – Unlawful assembly
 Abetment (Conceptual understanding) · S 190 – Every member of
unlawful assembly guilty of
 CASES & READINGS offence committed in
 Priya Patel v. State of M.P. (2006 CrLJ prosecution of common object.
3627)
 Barendra Kumar Ghosh v. Emperor (AIR Abetment (briefly):
1925 PC 1) Ss. 45- 60
 Mahboob Shaw v. Emperor (AIR 1945 · S 48 (abetment outside India for
PC 118) offence in India) newly
 Mathew v. State of Travancore-Cochin introduced under BNS.
(AIR 1956 SC 241) · S 57 (abetting commission of
 Hari & Another v. State of U.P. 2021 (14) offence by public or by more than
SCALE 270 ten persons) – punishment
enhanced from up to 3 years
and/or fine under IPC to up to 7
years and fine under BNS.
Week 10 - 11

Week 12 - 13 INCHOATE OFFENCES

8
Format approved by the Academic Review Board, JGLS

 Attempt  Section 62 - Attempting to Commit

o Punishing attempt to commit a Offence Punishable with
crime- section 511 Imprisonment for Life or
o Stages of crime: distinguishing Imprisonment
attempt from preparation & mere
 Sections 61(1), 61(2) - Criminal
thoughts
Conspiracy
o Impossible attempts- a
comparative analysis

 Conspiracy- Sections 120A, 120B

 CASES & READINGS

o Emperor v. Asgar Ali Pradhania AIR 1933
Cal 893
o State of Maharashtra v Mhd. Yakub (1980)
SCR (2) 1158
o Abhayanand Mishra vs The State of Bihar
AIR 1961 SC 1698
o R. v. Robinson [1915] 2 K.B. 342
o Anderton v. Ryan [1985] AC 560
o R. v. Shivpuri [1987] AC 1

Suggested Reading:
o Glanville Williams, ‘The Lords and
Impossible Attempts’ 33-83
Cambridge Law Journal, Vol. 45, No.
1 (March 1986).
o Lary Alexander, ‘Mens Rea and
Inchoate Crimes’, Journal of
Criminal Law and Criminology
(1997) Volume 87, Issue 4 (pp. 1138-
1193)
o B.B. Pande, ‘An Attempt on
"Attempt"- The case of State v.
Mohd. Yakub’ (1984) 2 SCC (Jour)
42
o CMV Clarkson, ‘Attempt: The Conduct
Element’ (2009) 29 OJLS 25

Week 13 –14 OFFENCES AGAINST PROPERTY

 Theft - Section 303 / 303(2)

9
Format approved by the Academic Review Board, JGLS

 Theft- sections 378/ 379 of IPC Snatching 304

 Extortion- sections 383/ 384 of IPC  Extortion - Section 308 / 308(2-8)
 Robbery as aggravated form of theft or  Robbery as aggravated form of theft
extortion- sections 390, 391, 392 & 395 or extortion – Section 309/ 309(4-6)
 Misappropriation of property- section  Dacoity – Section 310/ 310(2-6)
403  Misappropriation of property –
 Criminal breach of trust- sections 405/ Section 314
406  Criminal breach of trust - Section
316/316(2-5)
 Cheating- Sections 415, 416 & 420
 Cheating – Section 318 / 318(2-4)
319.
 CASES & READINGS
o K.N. Mehra v. State (AIR 1957 SC 369)
o Pyare Lal Bhargava vs State of Rajasthan
AIR 1963 SC 1094

Suggested Reading:

o G. Fletcher, ‘The Metamorphosis of

Larceny (1976) 89 Harvard Law Review
469.

Week 15 REVISION

b. Readings

WEEK 1

CASES & READINGS

o State of Maharastra v. M. H. George AIR 1965 SC 722

o Nathulal v. State of M.P AIR 1966 SC 43

Suggested Readings:
 GRANT LAMOND, ‘What is a crime?’ (2007) 27 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 609
 RICHARD A. WASSERSTROM, ‘Strict Liability in Criminal Law’, Stanford Law Review
Vol. 12, p. 731.
10
Format approved by the Academic Review Board, JGLS

 JEROME HALL, Nulla Poena Sine Lege, The Yale Law Journal (1937) Vol. 47 No. 2.
 J Chalmers and F Leverick, ‘Fair Labelling’ (2008) 71 MLR 217
 Patrick Olivelle, Penance and Punishment: Marking the Body in Criminal Law and
Social Ideology of Ancient India 4 (2011) The Journal of Hindu Studies, 23.
 Henrique Carvalho & Anastasia Chamberlen, ‘Why punishment pleases: Punitive
feelings in a world of hostile solidarity’ 20 Punishment and Society (2017).

WEEK 2
CASES & READINGS

o Public Prosecutor v. MS Moorthy (1912) 22 MLJ 333

o R. v. Blaue [1975] 3 All ER 446
o R. v. Kennedy [2007] UK HL 38

Suggested Reading:
 G Williams, ‘Oblique Intent’ (1988) 46 CLJ 417
 A. Norrie, Subjectivism, Objectivism and the limits of criminal recklessness (1992) 12
OJLS 45.

WEEK 3 – WEEK 5

 CASES & READINGS

o In Re Sreerangayee (1973) 1 MLJ 231

o Virsa Singh v. State of Punjab (AIR 1958 SC 465)
o Gudar Dusadh v. State of Bihar (AIR 1972 SC 952)
o Emperor v. Mt. Dhirajia AIR 1940 All 486
o Gyarsibai v. State AIR (1953 CrLJ 558)
o Cherubin Gregory v. State of Bihar (AIR 1964 SC 205)
o KM Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra (AIR 1962 SC 605)
o B.D. Khunte v. Union of India and others (2015) 1 SCC 286
o Muthu v. State (2007) 12 SCALE 795
o Dr. Suresh Gupta v. State of NCT (2004) 6 SCC 422
o Varadarajan v. state of Madras, (1965) AIR 942
o R. v. Ahluwalia (1993) 96 Cr App Reports 133

Essential Reading:
 B.B. Pande, “Limits on Objective Liability for Murder” JILI, Vol. 16 Issue 4 (1974), pp.
469-482
 ALISON YOUNG, IMAGINING CRIME (1992) [Chapter 3 pp. 60-67]
Suggested Reading:

11
Format approved by the Academic Review Board, JGLS

 Stanley Yeo, ‘Lessons on Provocation from the Indian Penal Code’ 615-631 The
International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Jul., 1992)

WEEK 6 - 7

 CASES & READINGS

o Vishwanath v. State of U.P. (AIR 1960 SC 67)
o Amjad Khan v. State (AIR 1952 SC 165)
o R v. Dudley and Stephen 14 Q.B.D. 273 (1884)
o Mrs. Rupan Deol Bajaj & Anr vs Kanwar Pal Singh Gill 1995 SCC (6) 194
o Basdev v State of Pepsu (1956 AIR SC 488)
o The State v. Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorious (CC113-2013) South Africa (Optional)

Suggested Readings:

 Jacqueline Rose, ‘Bantu in the Bathroom’, 35 Lond. Rev. of Books (2015).

 "A Rope of Sand" by Varun Thomas Mathew (2022)

WEEK 8 – WEEK 10

 CASES & READINGS

o Rao Harnarayan Singh v. State AIR 1958 P & H 123
o Tukaram v. State of Maharashtra (1979) 2 SCC 143
o Mahmood Farooqui v State (Govt of NCT of Delhi) 243 (2017) DLT 310
o Anurag Soni v State of Chhattisgarh AIR 2019 SC 1857
o RIT Foundation v. Union of India (2022) High Court of Delhi W.P.(C) 284/2015 & CM
Nos.54525-26/2018,
o Independent Thought vs Union of India (2018)
o Regina v. Hicklin, L.R.3 Q.B. 360
o Kherode Chandra Roy Chowdhury vs Emperor (1912) ILR 39 Cal 377
o Ranjit D. Udeshi vs State of Maharashtra AIR 1965 SC 881
o Rahul Mookerji vs. State (NCT) of Delhi CRL.M.C. 283 of 2009
o Aveek Sarkar v. State of West Bengal (2014) 4 SCC 257
o Habeus Corpus Petition.No.2182 of 2022 (Optional)

Suggested Reading:

 Elizabeth Kolsky, ‘The Body Evidencing the Crime’: Rape on Trial in Colonial India,
1860–1947, 22 Gender and History (2010) 109.
 Mrinal Satish, ‘The Farooqui Judgment’s Interpretation of Consent Ignores Decades of
Rape-Law Reform and Catastrophically Affects Rape Adjudication’, The Caravan (2017,
Oct).

12
Format approved by the Academic Review Board, JGLS

 Latika Vashist, ‘Disgust for the sexual: the emotional side of obscenity law in India’,
Oxford Univ. Comm. L. J. 22 (2022) 150.
 Report of the Committee on the Amendments to Criminal Law (Verma Committee
Report), January 23, 2013
 Howard Zehr, The Little Book of Restorative Justice pp. 3-13.

WEEK 10 - 11

 CASES & READINGS

 Priya Patel v. State of M.P. (2006 CrLJ 3627)
 Barendra Kumar Ghosh v. Emperor (AIR 1925 PC 1)
 Mahboob Shaw v. Emperor (AIR 1945 PC 118)
 Mathew v. State of Travancore-Cochin (AIR 1956 SC 241)
 Hari & Another v. State of U.P. 2021 (14) SCALE 270

WEEK 12-13

 CASES & READINGS

o Emperor v. Asgar Ali Pradhania AIR 1933 Cal 893
o State of Maharashtra v Mhd. Yakub (1980) SCR (2) 1158
o Abhayanand Mishra vs The State of Bihar AIR 1961 SC 1698
o R. v. Robinson [1915] 2 K.B. 342
o Anderton v. Ryan [1985] AC 560
o R. v. Shivpuri [1987] AC 1

Suggested Reading:
o Glanville Williams, ‘The Lords and Impossible Attempts’ 33-83 Cambridge Law
Journal, Vol. 45, No. 1 (March 1986).
o Lary Alexander, ‘Mens Rea and Inchoate Crimes’, Journal of Criminal Law and
Criminology (1997) Volume 87, Issue 4 (pp. 1138-1193)
o B.B. Pande, ‘An Attempt on "Attempt"- The case of State v. Mohd. Yakub’ (1984) 2
SCC (Jour) 42
o CMV Clarkson, ‘Attempt: The Conduct Element’ (2009) 29 OJLS 25

WEEK 13 - 14

 CASES & READINGS

o K.N. Mehra v. State (AIR 1957 SC 369)
o Pyare Lal Bhargava vs State of Rajasthan AIR 1963 SC 1094

Suggested Reading:

13
Format approved by the Academic Review Board, JGLS

o G. Fletcher, ‘The Metamorphosis of Larceny (1976) 89 Harvard Law Review 469.

14