Course Manual

WEEK I
CRIMINAL LAW: CONCEPTS
 Criminalization and criminal law: ‘Harm’ as a category in

criminal law; harms warranting punishment versus harms
warranting compensation; Criminal and commercial law:
relationship and distinction. Classification of conduct as
criminal: mala in sea and malum prohibita
 Brief reference to punishments in classical Hindu law or
medieval era
 Scope of criminal law: public order, state security, market; Limits
of criminalization and over criminalization
 Jus Talionis and the idea of proportionality or just equivalence in
punishment
 Codification: Why is law codified especially in the Indian context
in the late 19th century; How to read a codified law and how such
reading differs in principle from law which is uncodified
 Role of ‘motive’ at the stage of determination of culpability and
at the stage of determination of quantum of punishment.
 Standard of Proof; Beyond reasonable doubt and preponderance
of probabilities
 Nature of liability: Strict Liability in criminal law; Public welfare
and criminal law
 Punishment: Section 53 of IPC and relevant conceptions like
meaning of imprisonment for life, descriptions of punishment etc.
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
WEEK II
DEFINITIONS & FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS OF CRIME
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF A CRIMINAL OFFENCE UNDER

COMMON LAW
 Actus Non Facit Reum Nisi Mens Sit Rea
 Actus reus (physical element): - Legal distinction between act and
omission
 Mens rea (mental element)
 Role of common law ideas like actus reus & mens rea in a
codified statute
 Causation and Criminal law: Novus actus interveniens and
concerned debates on causation
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
WEEK III, IV
OFFENCES AGAINST HUMAN BODY
 Homicide and killing

 A close study of sections relating to Culpable Homicide (s. 299/
304) and Murder (s. 300/ 302) and distinction between the two
sections conceptually
 Distinction between various clauses of sections inter se as well
as distinction between the two sections
 ‘Negligence’ as criminal category and its juristic interpretation
(s. 304-A)
 Exceptions to Murder with detailed study only of Exception I:
‘provocation’
 Provocation under IPC and English Common Law
 Kidnapping and abduction
 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
WEEK V
GENERAL EXCEPTIONS
 Mistake of Fact and Law

 Insanity/ Unsoundness of mind: McNaughton Rules and beyond
 Infancy
 Trifles (de minimis non curat lex)
 Necessity
 Private Defence of Body (Ss. 96-101)
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
WEEK VI & VII

OBSCENITY & SEXUAL OFFENCES
 Criminal law as instrument of regulation of sexuality?
 Offence of rape, outraging and insulting the modesty under IPC
 Common law notion of ‘sexual intercourse’ and its transformation
post 2013 amendments
 Consent: Age of consent controversy, Fraudulent consent, False
promise to marry as fraudulent consent
 Exception: marital rape/ spousal exception;
 Rape within marriage and outside marriage- - sections 375-376, Ss.
376A-D
 Critical analysis of landmark amendments in sexual offences: 1983
& 2013
 Section 377 (without going into the aspect of constitutionality of
the section)
 Notion of ‘Obscenity’ under IPC (Ss. 292-294) – Hicklin test,
Community Standard test – Sexuality and obscenity

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 Suresh Kumar Koushal & Anr vs Naz Foundation (2014) 1 SCC 1
o Deelip Singh @ Dilip Kumar vs State of Bihar AIR 2005 SC 203
o Independent Thought vs Union of India (2018)
o Satish Kumar Jayanti Lal Dabgar v. State of Gujarat (2015) 7 SCC
359
o Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (2018) 1 SCC 791
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
WEEK VIII
OFFENCES AGAINST MARRIAGE: ADULTERY
 Adultery in criminal law as opposed to civil law
 Section 497 and its semantics
 Judicial Discourse on Adultery

o Yusuf Abdul Aziz v. State (AIR 1951 SC 321)
o Sowmithri Vishnu v. Union of India (AIR 1985 SC 1618)
o Joseph Shine v. Union of India AIR 2018 SC 48
WEEK IX
COMPLITY & JOINT LIABILITY IN CRIMINAL LAW
 Conceptual discussion on the idea of complicity; when, why and
how are we complicit in violence around us?
 Complicity and criminal law: mass violence and criminal
liability: liability for omission in criminal law (section 32)
 Broader notion of complicity under section 149 as opposed to
limited scope under section 34; Mass psychology and expansion
of joint responsibility
CASES & READINGS
o Priya Patel v. State of M.P. (2006 CrLJ 3627)
o Barendra Kumar Ghosh v. Emperor (AIR 1925 PC 1)
o Mahboob Shaw v. Emperor (AIR 1945 PC 118)
o Mathew v. State of Travancore-Cochin (AIR 1956 SC 241)
WEEK X
INCHOATE OFFENCES
 Concept of Inchoate Offences: attempt & conspiracy
 Punishing attempt to commit a crime- section 511
 Stages of crime: distinguishing attempt from preparation & mere
thoughts
 Impossible attempts- a comparative analysis
 ‘Conspiracy’ and colonial semantics (elementary discussion)

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 R. v. Shivpuri (1987 AC 1) House of Lords
WEEK XI
OFFENCES AGAINST PROPERTY
 Theft- sections 378/ 379 of IPC -Extortion- section 383/ 384 of IPC
 Robbery as aggravated form of theft or extortion sections 390, 391,
392 & 395
 Misappropriation of property- section 403 - Criminal breach of trust:
sections 405/ 406
 Cheating: Sections 415 & 420
o K.N. Mehra v. State (AIR 1957 SC 369)
o Pyare Lal Bhargava vs State of Rajasthan AIR 1963 SC 1094

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WEEK I

CRIMINAL LAW: CONCEPTS

 Criminalization and criminal law: ‘Harm’ as a category in

CASES & READINGS

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

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF A CRIMINAL OFFENCE UNDER

CASES & READINGS

 Homicide and killing

 CASES & READINGS

o In Re Sreerangayee (1973) 1 MLJ 231

 Mistake of Fact and Law

WEEK VI & VII

 CASES & READINGS

 CASES & READINGS

 CASES & READINGS

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