HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW

UNIVERSITY

JURISPRUDENCE - II PROJECT

TOPIC study various stages of crimes with

help of case laws.

PROJECT SUBMITTED TO Ms. Anukriti Mishra

PROJECT SUBMITTED BY AMIT KUMAR KAYAL

6 th
SEMESTER
ROLL NO 18
SECTION A

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 DATE OF SUBMISSION 07.03.2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments................................................3

Introduction...........................................................4

Objective.................................................................5
Research Methodology.........................................5

Meaning and definition of crime...........................6

Elements of crime....................................................7
Stages of crime.........................................................10
Distinction between preparation and
attempt.......................................................................12

Conclusion.................................................................14

Bibliography...............................................................15

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I have made this project work, and on the way of completing it, I have learned a lot of
things for which I am thankful to Ms. Anukriti Mishra, Assistant lecturer, HNLU, Raipur,
and my guide, who gave me the opportunity to do this project work and guided me all the
way. I would also like to thank my friends, and colleagues, for their opinions, suggestions
and critical analysis, which has helped me to improve this project. I also thank the HNLU
library and the people working there. Their silent work is the reason behind the completion
of this project.

I thank God, He has been very generous on me, to have kept me in good health and make
the conditions favourable for me to complete this work in time.

Lastly, I thank my parents. Without their continuous support and belief in me, I would
never have been able to make this project.

- Amit Kumar kayal

Semester-VI, B.A. LL.B. (Hons.)
Roll no-18

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 INTRODUCTION

Personal safety, particularly security of life, liberty and property, is of utmost importance to
any individual. Maintenance of peace and order is essential in any society for human beings
to live peacefully and without fear of injury to their lives, limbs, and property. This is
possible only in states where the penal law is effective and strong enough to deal with the
violators of law. Any state, whatever might be its ideology or form of government, in order
to be designated as a state, should certainly have an efficient system of penal laws in order
to discharge its primary function of keeping peace in the land by maintaining law and order.
The instrument, by which this paramount duty of the government is maintained, is
undoubtedly the penal law of the land. Penal law is an instrument of social control. Its
approach is condemnatory and it authorizes the infliction state punishment. To criminalize a
certain kind of conduct is to declare that it should not be done, to institute a threat of
punishment in order to supply a pragmatic reason for not doing it, and to censure those who
nevertheless do it. Penal law does it by prohibiting undesired and harmful human
conduct and punishing the perpetrators thereof or posing threat of punishment to the
prospective violators. It, therefore, defines and punishes acts or omissions that are
perceived as:
(1) attacks on public order, internal or external;
(2) abuses or obstructions of public authority;
(3) acts injurious to the public in general;
(4) attacks upon the persons of individuals, or upon rights annexed to their persons; or
(5) attacks upon the property of individuals or rights connected with, and similar to,
rights of property.

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 OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this project work are as

follows:

1. To study the meaning and definition of crime.

2. To discuss the elements and stages of crime.

3. To analyse the distinction between preparation and attempt.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research is based on secondary sources. Literature review has been done extensively in
order to make a comprehensive presentation. Books from the universitys library have been
used. Articles and reports from different websites have been used in order to get
comprehensive data on the subject Footnotes have been provided wherever needed, to
acknowledge the source.

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 MEANING AND DEFINITION 0F CRIME

It is very difficult to give a correct and precise definition of crime. Russell also admitted that
to define crime is a task which so far has not been satisfactorily accomplished by any wrier.
Such a difficulty, in ultimate analysis, arises due to the changing nature of crime, an
outcome of the equally dynamic criminal and penal policy of a state. A number of social and
political forces and factors, individually or cumulatively, play a pivotal role in the
formulation of criminal policy of a state. It obviously varies according to cultures, social
values and beliefs, and ideology of the ruling social-political power. Only social values and
culture in vogue and the existing power structure dictate the values and social interests that
need protection by using criminal law sanctions. In fact criminal offences, observed by
Russell, are basically the creation of the criminal policy adopted from time-to-time by those
sections of the community who are powerful or astute enough to safeguard their own security
and comfort by causing the sovereign power in the state to repress conduct which they feel
may endanger their position

Essential constituents of a crime are: an act or omission forbidden or commanded by law.

Violation prevented by sanction of punishment. Wrong doer punished only after following a
procedure established by law. Some definitions are given as under-

(i) Blackstone Blackstone defined crime defined crime as an act committed or

omitted in violation of a public law either forbidding or commanding it.
(ii) Austin According to Austin, crime is any act or omission which the law
punishes.
(iii) Prof. S. W. Keeton According to Prof. Keeton, A crime today would seem
to be any undesirable act, which the state finds most convenient to correct by
the institution of proceedings for the infliction of a penalty, instead of leaving
the remedy to the direction of some injured person.

(iv) Oxford Dictionary Oxford Dictionary defines crime as an act punishable by law
as for bidden by statute or injurious to the public welfare

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 ELEMENTS OF CRIME

There are four elements which go to constitute a crime, these are:-

1. Human being:

The first element requires that the wrongful act must be committed by a human being. In
ancient times, when criminal law was largely dominated by the idea of retribution,
punishments were inflicted on animals also for the injury caused by them, for example, a pig
was burnt in Paris for having devoured a child, a horse was killed for having kicked a man.
But now, if an animal causes an injury we hold not the animal liable but its owner liable for
such injury. So the first element of crime is a human being who- must be under the legal
obligation to act in a particular manner and should be a fit subject for awarding appropriate
punishment.

Section 11 of the Indian Penal Code provides that word person includes a company or
association or body of persons whether incorporated or not. The word person includes
artificial or juridical persons.

The act should have been done by a human being before it can constitute a crime punishable
at law. The human being must be under a legal obligation to act, and capable of being
punished.

In case, the crime is committed by an animal, its owner is subject to Civil/Tortious liability.

2. Mens Rea:

It is an essential element of crime, i.e., an evil intent. If the mind is innocent, the person doing
act may not be criminally liable. In Indian Penal Code, guilty intentions are set out as
knowledge, voluntarily knowing, dishonestly, fraudulently, intentionally etc. express the.
principle that there must be a guilty mind to constitute a crime. The wrong without mens rea
does not constitute a crime as criminal law does not punish a mere criminal intent.

In Reg v. Prince1, Prince Henry was tried for abducting a girl, who was under the age of 16
1 (1875) LR 2 CCR 154

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under the belief that she was 18. Under Sections 24, 55, 24 Viet C 100, it was an offence of
unlawfully to take or cause to be taken away any unmarried girl being under the age of 16
years out of possession against the will of her father or mother or any person having the
lawful care and charge of her.

It was held that the belief that the girl is of 18 years is no defense and accused was found
guilty because he committed an act which was forbidden by statute irrespective of his mens
rea.

In Queen v. Tolson2, Mrs. Tolson was charged of bigamy under Section 57 of the Offence
against Persons Act, 1861. The accused married Tolson in 1880 and deserted her in 1881.
She made duly and sufficient inquiry from all available sources and came to know that her
husband lost on voyage to America which went down with all hands on board. In January
1887, supposing herself widow, married another man. In December, 1887 Tolson returned
from America and Mrs. Tolson was convicted on charge of bigamy and sentenced with one
days imprisonment.

3. Actus Reus:

To constitute a crime third element is called Actus Reus. Russel termed it as physical
event. Actus Reus is the result of a deed prohibited by law and a physical result of a
human conduct. Such human conduct may consist of acts of commission as well as acts of
omission.

The word illegal" has been given a very wide meaning under Section 43 of I.P.C.
According to Section 43, The word illegal is applicable to everything which is an
offence or which is prohibited by law, or which furnishes a ground for a civil action and
a person is said to be 'legally' bound to do whatever it is illegal in him; to omit it."

Thus, the mental element, i.e., mens rea means the persons conduct must be done voluntarily
and actuated by guilty mind, while Actus reus denotes the physical result of the conduct,
which violates some law, statutory or otherwise, prohibiting or commanding the conduct

2 (1889) 23 QBD 168

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 4. Injury to Human being:

The injury may be caused to another human being or to the society at large. Sec. 44
defines injury as any harm whatever illegally caused to any person in body,
mind, reputation or property. A harmful conduct may sometimes causes injury to
another human being but it also may be held as crime when it causes harm to the
society at large. All the public offences against State and instances of such harms,
i.e. treason, sedition etc.
To constitute a crime and subject the offender to a liability to punishment, i.e.,
to produce legal criminal guilt, a mental as well as a physical element is
necessary.

In Latin, mens rea means a guilty mind, but in legal sense it denotes the
mental state required for the particular crime in question. Normally the
required mental element is either

(1) An intention to do the forbidden act or otherwise to bring about the external
elements of the offence.

(2) Recklessness as to such element.

The physical element that constitutes a crime is obvious, because it is eternally

manifested by the wrongful act committed by the accused. But the wrongful
act done by the accused in all cases is not punished.

For example, A shoots at a jackal, X is behind the bush and is hurted by

accident. X will not think of retribution as it is a case of accident. But it will be
different if A shoots at X deliberately.

In sweat v. parsley, (1970) Lord Diplock said an act does not make a man
guilty of a crime unless his mind is also guilty. The principle owns its origin to
the Latin maxim, actus non facit raum nisi mens sit rea and it was held in R, v.
Short, (1950 SR 280), that in the two stages of the crime, in the first mens rea
was present hut the actus reus was not, and in the second, the actus reus was
present but the mens rea was absent, and thus they (the accused) could not be
held guilty of murder. Hence, to constitute crime, mens rea and actus Reus
both must be present.

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 STAGES OF COMMISSION OF CRIME

1. Intention (Mens Rea) - This stage is a significant progress from mere deliberation towards
actual commission of the crime. At this stage, the person has made up his mind to actually
implement or execute his devious plans. There is an intention to cause harm but he hasn't yet
taken any action that manifests his intention. Further, there is no way to prove an intention
because even devil can't read a human mind. Thus, this is not considered a crime. For
example, intention to kill anyone is not a crime in itself. However, it is an essential ingredient
of crime because without intention to cause harm, there can be no crime. On the other hand,
even a thoughtless act, without any deliberation, can be a crime if there is an intention to
causeharm.
Illustration: A sets fire to an inhabited house for the purpose of facilitating a robbery and thus
causes death of a person. A may not have intended to cause death but if he knew that he was
likely to cause death, he has caused death voluntarily.

2. Preparation - As this stage, the intention to cause harms starts manifesting itself in the
form of physical actions. Preparation consists of arranging or building things that are needed
to commit the crime. For example purchasing poison. However, it is possible for the person
to abandon his course of action at this stage without causing any harm to anyone. In general,
preparation is not considered a crime because it cannot be proved beyond doubt the goal of
the preparation. For example, purchasing knife with an intention to kill someone is not a
crime because it cannot be determined whether the knife was bought to kill someone or to
chop vegetables.

However, there are certain exceptions where even preparation for committing an offence is
crime. These are -

Sec 122 - Collecting arms with an intention of waging war against the Govt. of India.

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Sec 126 - Preparing to commit depredation on territories of any power in alliance or at peace
with the Govt. of India.

Sec 235 - Counterfeiting operations for currency.

Sec 399 - Preparation to commit dacoity

3. Attempt - This stage is attained by performing physical actions that, if left unstopped,
cause or are bound to cause injury to someone. The actions clearly show that the person has
absolutely no intention to abandon his plan and if the person is left unrestricted, he will
complete the commission of the crime. Since the intention of the person can be determined
without doubt from his actions, an attempt to commit a crime is considered a crime because if
left unpunished, crime is bound to happen and prevention of crime is equally important for a
healthy society.

4. Accomplishment If the offender becomes successful in his attempt and desired results
are obtained, this is accomplishment of crime and crime is complete. This is the final stage of
crime in which the crime is successfully done. Example A steals Bs watch, as soon as he
picks up the watch the theft is committed.

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DISTICTION BETWEEN PREPARATION AND ATTEMPT

There is a very fine line between preparation and attempt. While, IPC does not define either
of them, it is very important to distinguish between them because attempt is a crime but
preparation is not. Both, Preparation and Attempt are physical manifestations of the criminal
intention. But attempt goes a lot farther than preparation towards the actual happening of
crime. While in Preparation, there is a possibility that the person may abandon his plan, but
attempt leaves no room for that. For example, keeping a pistol in pocket and looking for the
enemy to kill is a preparation because one can abandon the plan anytime, but taking out the
piston and pulling the trigger is attempt because it leaves no room for turning back.. Thus, in
general, Preparation involves collecting material, resources, and planning for committing an
act while attempt signifies a direct movement towards commission after the preparations are
made.

The following are four tests that come in handy in distinguishing between the
two -

1. Last Step Test or Proximity Rule

As per this test, anything short of last step is preparation and not attempt. This is because as
long as there is a step remaining for completion of the crime, the person can abandon it. For
example, A obtains poison to kill B and mixes it with food that B is supposed to eat. But he
has not yet given the food to B. Thus, it is still preparation. As soon as he keeps the food on
the table from where B eats every day, the last step is done and it becomes an attempt.

In the case of R vs. Riyasat Ali 1881, the accused gave orders to print forms that looked like
they were from Bengal Coal Company. He proofread the samples two times and gave orders
for correction as well so that they would appear exactly as forms of the said company. At this
time he was arrested for attempt to make false document under section 464. However, it was
held that it was not an attempt because the name of the company and the seal were not put on
the forms and until that was done, the forgery would not be complete.

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In the case of Abhayanand Mishra vs. State of Bihar AIR 1961, A applied to the Patna
University for MA exam and he supplied documents proving that he was a graduate and was
working as a headmaster of a school. Later on it was found that the documents were fake. It
was held that it was an attempt to cheat because he had done everything towards achieving
his goal.

2. Indispensable Element Test or Theory of Impossibility

As per this test, all of indispensable elements must be present to equal attempt. For example,
a person has the gun to kill but he forgot the bullets. In this case, it would not be an attempt.
Further, he goes to place where victim should be but is not then he is not guilty of attempt
under this test. In other words, if there is something a person needs to commit the crime but
it is not present, then there is not an attempt. This test has generated a lot of controversy ever
since it was laid in the case of Queen vs. Collins, where it was held that a pickpocket was not
guilty of attempt even when he put his hand into the pocket of someone with an intention to
steal but did not find anything. Similarly, in the case of R vs. Mc Pherson 1857, the accused
was held not guilty of attempting to break into a building and steal goods because the goods
were not there.

However, these cases were overruled in R vs. King 1892, where the accused was convicted
for attempting to steal from the hand bag of a woman although there was nothing in the bag.
Illustration (b) of section 511 of Indian penal code is based on this decision

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 CONCLUSIONS

There are four essential elements that go to constitute a crime. First, the wrongdoer who must
be a human being and must have the capacity to commit a crime, so that he may be a fit
subject for the infliction of an appropriate punishment. Secondly, there should be an evil
intent or mens rea on the part of such human being. This is also known as the subjective
element of a crime. Thirdly, there should be an Actus Reus, i.e. an act committed or omitted
in furtherance of such evil intent or mens rea. This may be called the objective element of a
crime. Lastly, as a result of the conduct of the human being acting with an evil mind, an
injury should have been caused to another human being or to the society at large. Such an
injury should have been caused to any other person in body, mind, reputation or property. If
all these elements are present, generally, we would say that a crime has been constituted.
However, in some cases we find that a crime is constituted, although there is no mens rea at
all. These are known as cases of strict liability. Then again, in some cases a crime is
constituted, although the Actus Reus has not consummated and no injury has resulted to any
person. Such cases are known as inchoate crimes, like attempt, abetment or conspiracy. So
also, a crime may be constituted where only the first two elements are present. In other
words, when there is intention alone or even in some cases there may be an assembly alone of
the persons without any intention at all. These are exceptional cases of very serious crimes
which are taken notice of by the state in the larger interests of the peace and tranquillity of the
society.

These four elements of crime are necessary to be fulfilled to constitute a crime. It may not be
wrong if the credit to form such effective and precise laws is given to the law-makers, for
devising a system and proper framework to serve the people of the State and ensure peace
and tranquillity in the state. The most important function of a state is to take up the
responsibility of maintaining peace and order in the society so that the members of the state
feel safe regarding their lives and property.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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WEBSITES:-

1) https://www.academia.edu/

2)http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/article/the-elements-and-stages-of-a-
crime-1228-1.html

BOOKS:-

1) P.S.A Pillais CRIMINAL LAW, 11thEdn, K.I. Vibhute, Lexis Nexis, 2012

2) Textbook on THE INDIAN PENAL CODE, K.D. Gaur, 4th Edition, 2013

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