Adv. Nilesh Gupta

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...

Section 84 of the Indian Penal Code :   “Act of a person of unsound mind.—Nothing is an offence which is done by a person who, at the time of doing it, by reason of unsoundness of mind, is incapable of knowing the nature of the act, or that he is doing what is either wrong or contrary to law.” This is a general defense  under Indian Penal Code on pretext that one, who is insane and has no mind, cannot have the necessary mens rea to commit a crime. Hence, unsoundness of mind is often termed as Insanity. In layman words, Insanity is mental abnormality. Generally or medically, Insanity means a disorder of the mind which eradicates the reasoning capacity of a man, to such an extent as to render him incapable of understanding the nature and consequences of his acts. But to avail the defense of insanity legally, the tests of insanity need to be passed. Ø   Test of Insanity From time to time many tests have been done for this purpose but the most acceptable of all time...

Blackstone had once thoughtfully said,          “Infancy is a defect of understanding and infants under the age of discretion ought not to be punished by any criminal prosecution whatsoever.” To adopt the above statement legally, the law makers made various provisions. Section 82 and 83 of the Indian Penal Code gives immunity from criminal liability to children up to the age of 12 years. However, the age discretion differs from country to country. For illustration: In Argentina a minor under the age of 16 years   is exempted from criminal responsibility and in France a child under the age of 13 is not punishable, while in Denmark and Sweden the age bar is set at 15 years. [i] Indian Penal Code’s- Ø   Section 82:  Act of a child under seven years of age. — Nothing is an offence which is done by a child under seven years of age. Children below 7 years under this section are termed as Doli Incapax and get complete immunit...