Skip to main content

Mistake of Fact & Law Under Indian Penal Code

Section 76 of the Indian Penal Code: Nothing is an offence which is done by a person who is, 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, bound by law to do it.[i]

Mistake of fact arises when an accused misunderstood some fact that negates an element of crime. This legal weapon can be used, where accused succeeds to prove that he/she was mistaken to the existence of some facts or ignorant of the existence of such facts. It is a condition that such mistake must pertain to fact not law.

In R v. Princes (1875) LR 2 CCR 154, in this case, the accused was charged of unlawfully taking an unmarried girl of 16 years against the will of her father, it was found that the accused had bona fide and reasonable belief that the girl was older than 16 years. It was held that the defense was not valid on the ground that act of abduction is a wrongful and immoral act.[ii]

 Section 79 of the Indian Penal Code: 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.[iii]

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-defense.

 In Keso Sahu v. Saligram Shah (1977) Cri LJ 1725, in this case, the court held that the accused showed that he in good faith and believing that the offence of smuggling rice was going on in the plaintiff's house and thus he brings the cart and cart man to the police station. The said suspicion was proved to be wrong. The accused can take the defense of mistake of fact as he is doing the act in good faith and believing it to be justified by law.[iv]

 



.
.
.

Edited by @ Vasu Gupta

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Masculinity & Gender Biasness

  A woman accusing an entire family for dowry harassment has become normal. But, accusing a 2-month-old in the said case had to sound ignominy and bailing Zoya had to make stirring news for being the youngest person being bailed. [1] This said instance may be odd, peculiar, unacceptable, and irrational but still noticeable with a legal and moral remedy. But, when it comes to offering a legal remedy to men, things are far away from reality, whereas moral remedies stay out of the picture. The only noticeable point is when men and their problems are usually considered illogical and often becomes offensive to the other side, when talked about. New initiatives/programmes on how men can contribute women in work field by ending domestic workloads are daily things [2] but nobody ever presses the need for having measured to improve masculine health. MASCULINITY- o n the shorthand, it is referred to social expectations & practices of a manhood. Masculinity articles talk about de...
1 comment
Read more

Implications of Wrongful Restraint & Confinement

We often come across colorful tents to host a function blocking entry and exit of the houses and the streets. Sometimes a personal task of construction or community gatherings intervene us on the roads. But, the question is whether such obstructions are legal or reasonable? The Constitution of India guarantees the right to freedom of movement to every person freely throughout territory of India and guarantee personal liberty under Articles 19 & 21 respectively. To safeguard the rights conferred upon a person through the Constitution of India against any person other than state, the Indian Penal Code provides for the provisions of ‘Wrongful Restraint’ and ‘Wrongful Confinement’ contained in Sections 339 to 348 of the code. Section 339 : Wrongful Restraint - “Whoever voluntarily obstructs any person so as to prevent that person from proceeding the direction in which that person has a right to proceed.” In simple way, it means to obstruct a person from moving one place to anothe...
Post a Comment
Read more

Social Media or Toxic Media?

Just came across reading a post “ How Social Media Works ” Me: I prefer mangoes to oranges. Random Person: So, basically what you’re saying is you hate oranges? You also failed to mention pineapples, bananas, and grapefruits. Educate yourself. I’m literally shaking. And I felt that.  Social media can be more dangerous than a bomb in the hands of an insane person. No society was, is or will be crimeless ever. And to think of a crimeless society is a myth. We, human beings by birth are fighting animals. We must accept the fact that we all are different as persons, in thoughts and perspectives. There are billions of humans on earth and you can spend your whole day reading negative views over social media. We need to pause and think about what kind of environment are we pushing ourselves to wake up in? It is us who give priority to negative posts over reading something good. And at the end of the day all we do is blame humanity. India recorded  351.4 million ...
10 comments
Read more