How criminals use insanity defense as a

loophole

A. INTRODUCTION
B. MEDICAL INSANITY V/S LEGAL INSANITY
C. INSANITY AS A DEFENCE IN INDIAN LAWS
D. POSITIVE ASPECT OF INSANITY
E. NEGATIVE ASPECT OF INSANITY DEFENCE
F. INSANITY AS LOOPHOLE FOR CRIMINALS
G. CONCLUSION
H. REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

A person who suffers from mental illness or disorder due to various psycological
factors, anxiety, depression, or suffers from mental illness since its birth is
considered to be insane. But only proving mental disorder is not sufficient to
prove insanity as a proof. The insane person has to supply the court with proper
evidence similar to that of “preponderance of the evidence” as in the civil case
which claims him to be insane. The burden of proving insanity lies on the defence.

Criminal Justice System gives fair and equal chance to both victims and the
accused to prove their point and it not only provides provisions for punishment of
accused but also allows them to take defence under certain provisions. One such
defense primarily mostly used in criminal prosecution is the Defense of Insanity.
This insanity defence is an assumption that during the commission of crime, the
defendant was suffering from severe mental illness, therefore he was not capable
for knowing the nature of crime that he had done at that time. Law holds a
person guilty of any crime if he has done that with wish and free will. Criminal
Law is based on the principle of “Actus Non Facit Ream Nisi Mens Sit Rea” which
means the physical act does not make a person guilty, the mental component in
the form of evil intent is equally important and “Furiosi nulla voluntas est” which
means a person with mental illness has no free will. Therefore, for making a
person liable one must do some guilty act and he must have a guilty mind for
doing the offence. But if a person is insane, he is incapable of forming rationale
decision as to what is good or contrary to law and when a person cannot decide
what is right and what is wrong, in law it is considered that in such situation a
person cannot have a guilty mind and hence he should be acquitted. So, this plea
of unsoundness of mind or insanity saves the person from capital punishment.

But the insanity as defence has always been in question, because many criminals
take undue advantage of insanity as a defense and plead false insanity in order to
get rescued from being punished during their trials. In criminal justice system the
insanity defence is generally taken as an excuse rather being a justification of
facts and the crime. Hence, it is used as a loophole in the judicial system in order
to escape from the punishment during the trial.

MEDICAL INSANITY V/S LEGAL INSANITY

Section 84 of Indian Penal Code,1860 lays down the legal test for mental illness
but the statute fails to define the term ‘unsoundness of mind’ or ‘insanity’ term
has nowhere been precisely defined in the code. Medical insanity is different from
legal insanity and therefore, who suffers from mental illness is not always
exempted from the punishment because the courts are concerned with legal
insanity and not the mental insanity.

Differentiation in simple term could be the disease of mind is legal insanity where
functioning i.e., quality of brain is affected and medical insanity could be disease
of brain which is the malformation of brain such as in size or weight. When a
person suffers from legal insanity, he/she losses his/her reasoning power at the
time of commission of crime. This may also be called as ’defect of reason’. For
insanity to qualify for legal insanity any one the 3 essentials of Section 84 as
mentioned earlier must be fulfilled and only then the accused can seek a defence
by way of insanity.

In Bapu @ Gajraj Singh vs State of Rajasthan6, Hon’ble Supreme Court held that
Mere abnormality of mind or partial delusion, irresistible impulse or compulsive
behaviour of a psychopath affords no protection under Section 84 IPC.

Hon’ble Supreme Court in Surendra Mishra v. State of Jharkhand7, held that

Section 84 IPC is only for legal insanity and not medical insanity and therefore a
person suffering from mental illness is not exempted from criminal liability.

INSANITY AS A DEFENCE IN INDIAN LAWS

Indian Law also gives a person the defence of insanity under section 845 of Indian
Penal Code, 1860 which is primarily based on the McNaughton’s rules. Section 84
of IPC states that nothing is an offence which is done by a person who at the time
of doing it, by the reason of unsoundness of mind, was incapable of
understanding the nature and consequence of the act he/she is doing and that
the act is prohibited by law. Hence, Section 84 of IPC affixes no culpability on
persons with mental illness because they can have no rational thinking or the
necessary guilty intent.

Therefore, section 84 of the IPC can be broadily divided into two main categories:

1. MAJOR CRITERIA: It consists of the medical and mental requirement of the ill
person which means a person should be suffering from some mental illness or
disorder at the time of the commission of the offense.

2. MINOR CRITERIA: It consists of loss of knowledge that a person at the time of

the commission of an offense is incapable of knowing nature, wrongful acts, and
that his/her actions are contrary to the law.

POSITIVE ASPECT OF INSANITY

A person who is suffering from unsoundness of mind is similar to a child who does
not know about his/her acts and the consequences that will follow thereof.
Hence, convicting that person who himself does not know what he is actually
doing would be against the morality. Therefore, this defence is life-giver for those
who are suffering from mental illness. The defence does not provide for capital
punishment. In insanity, the person accepts the act committed by him but
although confessed, is incapable of forming an understanding about the gravity of
what he has done and therefore, harsh punishment such as rigorous
imprisonment or death penalty would be unjustifiable.

NEGATIVE ASPECT OF INSANITY DEFENCE

This defense has become the easiest way to escape from punishment and now-a-
days it is used by the sane accused as well. Insanity is used as a false ground by
the accused as it is very difficult to examine whether the person was of sound
mind or unsound mind at the time when the crime was committed. This way the
case depends upon the prudence of the judge and in one way or the other the law
losses its essential purpose. The plea can be abused by sane persons. Though
guaranteed as a privileged defense for the insane by the judicial system many
sane people take undue advantage and abuse this privileged defense. It is
therefore because of this misuse several countries like as Germany, Argentina,
Thailand and many counties in England have abolished this defence.

Also, one of the major drawbacks of this defence is that the burden of proving the
insanity lies on the accused and is very difficult to prove this defence. Medical
insanity is easier to prove as compared to legal insanity which is a very big
challenge because the party has to provide concrete evidence to prove the
insanity. It is extremely difficult to fulfil the essentials of Section 84 IPC to show
legal insanity and it is so because of this difficulty many legitimate cases is
charged and punished.

INSANITY AS LOOPHOLE FOR CRIMINALS

The insanity defence is guaranteed by the Indian Legal Statute to protect the
insane person who by the reason of unsoundness of mind and unable to figure
out the difference between right and wrong. Insane persons by using this defense
would get very lesser punishment or even may get completely absolved from
punishment. But for that purpose, the insane man has to prove that they are
insane and mentally unsound in the eyes of law by producing fair evidences which
declares them unsound or incapable of having knowledge about their actions and
its consequences.

But this defense is misused by the criminals of sane mind who have absolute
knowledge about their actions and the consequences and who can differentiate
between the right and contrary to law to get acquittal by the law for the crime
they commit. The criminals misuse this defense when they commit heinous
crimes like rape, murder, abduction etc., which has strict and rigorous
punishments such as capital punishments.

The offenders who are of sound mind in their full capacity of knowledge commits
offence and they plead insane in-front of the court because they think they can
easily get away with the punishment after committing some heinous crime if they
will take insanity defense. And the most shocking part is that, at times these
people even manage to get this defense by proving themselves insane. They
manipulate the reports, threaten the doctors and prove their mind unsound. One
major reason for this could be the corruption and poverty which are root evil of
this nation. The powerful man sitting in their AC chambers mishandle their
powers and abuse the judicial system at ground level. Sometimes even the
evidences and witnesses are manipulated by the offenders and false evidences
are produced before the court with help of political hands and financial aid in this
country.

Insanity has become a loophole for criminals. Proving insanity is not an easy task
and it takes lots of time to satisfy the mind of judges that the person is suffering
from unsoundness of mind, which causes delay in justice delivery system. This
delay leads to abuse of judiciary by the hand of accused. Criminals who willingly
abuse the justice delivery system by manipulating the statute are well acquainted
with the actions and consequences their actions follow, they have full knowledge
and motive in doing what they have done such as injury, grevious hurt, or murder
or rape and hence perform the act having intention to do so. The defense of
insanity gets them easy acquittal and possibly no punishment is charged on them,
because the condition of mind of a person can be changed on piece of paper but
predicting whether the person is sane or not is very difficult. After proving all the
evidences in the court, it is upon the discretion of judge whether to pass
judgement in the favour of the accused person or against him and whether he
should be punished or not?

The criminals in most of the cases are so powerful due to their political linkups
and financial strength that they threaten judges and even bribe them in order to
escape from the punishment. Some criminals are so eminently dangerous threat
they take away the lives of people who serve to the legal system with proper and
lean motive. It is also seen that these people and their family members in some
cases end up loosing their goodwill and reputation in the society. The offenders
use this defense without and fear and think that now they are free and no one
can do anything to them. They think justice lies below their feet and legal system
is sleeping. Even after having so many amendments and strict laws due to some
loopholes in the judicial mechanism, the criminals manage to escape from crimes
by using this insanity defense which is the biggest loophole in the court of law.

CONCLUSION

As it can be seen that insanity defense has become a loophole for the criminals
and a popular defense to abscond from the crime. It is next to impossible to prove
the mental stage of a person at the time of commission of a crime hence it
becomes easier for the criminals to manipulate the papers and the evidences. Law
tells that medical insanity and legal insanity is different but how and what should
be th exact parameter of judging a person whether he is legally insane or not, the
law does not tell us about this. Insanity has not been clearly defined under section
84 so that a clear distinction should be made to decide the stage of person at the
time of commission of crime. This lacuna added fuel to the fire which makes this
defense loos its stark, and all that matters are word-games. What makes the
situation more complicated at times is that in this defense the accused clearly
accepts the commission of crime but evades from accepting the knowledge of
consequences and this raises brow of any right-minded rationale person in the
society. Now the remedies available to cope up with these lacunas are the
formation of more straightforward laws and tests.

If we talk about the cases which are happening underground of insanity subjects
are more disasters in comparison to others to some extent crime reached to the
peak legal discussion or agenda in order to sustain precise judgment. Thus, there
is a need to expand the scope and ambit of Section 84 of IPC, 1860 in order to
avoid future occurrence of such crimes and criminals using the same as a loophole
in order to be set free and avoiding any punishment for the same under the trials.

REFERENCES

1 R. v. Arnold. 1724, 16 St.Tr.695

2 Hadfield Case. 1800, 27 St.Tr.128

3 Bowler’s case. 1812, 1 Collinson Lunacy 673

4 R v. McNaughton, (1843) 8 Eng. Rep. 718, 722