OP JINDAL GLOBAL UNIVERSITY

Jindal Global Law School

BBA & BA. LL.B. 2018
LLB 2019

LAW OF CRIMES

COURSE INSTRUCTORS
Aditi, Ajey Sangai, Amit Bindal, Ishita Sharma, John Sebastian, Kriti
Sharma, Rohini Sen & Sayan Mukherjee.

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PART I: INFORMATION RELATED TO THE COURSE

Course Title LAW OF CRIMES

Course Number LW1603

Course Duration One Semester

No. of Credit Units FOUR

Level LL.B. 2019, BALLB 2018 & BBALLB 2018

Medium of Instruction ENGLISH

Pre-requisites Nil

Pre-cursors Nil

Equivalent Courses Nil

Exclusive Courses __________Nil_________________________________

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PART II:

A. Course Description: This course is a mandatory course for 5yr BA.LLB, BBA LLB and
LLB- students and will serve as an introduction to law of crimes. It will seek to provide a
basic overview of the Indian Penal Code and the basic concepts in understanding law of
crimes so as to equip the students with an understanding of the fundamental problems of
Indian and comparative criminal law.

B. Aims

This course is
 An introductory course on criminal law.
 An elementary course aiming at developing the capabilities to understand and apply the
general principles of criminal law to factual life situations.
 It will cover certain selected principles and relevant sections primarily of the Indian Penal
Code, 1860 (IPC) in order to provide an insight of the criminal legal system.
 Focus on substantive criminal law. Procedural law will be dealt with in the Cr.P.C course
and Law of Evidence in the subsequent semesters.
 An endeavor to make you realize that how the skill of interpreting, what is known as, the
black letter law as a lawyer can lead to various different outcomes in a real life criminal
cases.
 Structured in a fashion so as to encourage the students to take up criminal law later in
their higher studies. The course serves a dual purpose- One, to technically equip students
to be able to read the legal text and apply the same in actual cases. Second, the course
aims to scrutinize certain areas of crimes critically so as to infuse the spirit of questioning
and law reforms.
 By no means exhaustive in its scope and reach of crimes. It only covers certain selected
principles and relevant sections primarily, but not only, of the Indian Penal Code, 1860
(IPC) so as to provide a taste of criminal law to strengthen your basics for your future
legal career.
 Only dealing with substantive criminal law. Dealing with the issue of what and how one
becomes liable in criminal law. The other issues of what is the quantum of punishment to
be given or what are the procedures that trigger the criminal justice process is beyond the
scope of this course and will be offered to you later.
 Due to the limitation of time certain topics are added to be discussed only elementarily in
the class. The purpose for this is an attempt to at least cover maximum possible areas that
may accost the students in their professional career.

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C. Objectives and Intended Learning Outcomes

On completion of this course, students should be able to:

 Demonstrate a basic understanding of general principles and concepts of criminal law.

 Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of the key elements in the area of law of crimes.
 Understand the dynamic nature of this subject and keep abreast with emerging
developments.
 Exhibit the ability to read the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and appreciate the nuances of
textual interpretation of the code.
 Critically evaluate judgments, norms, principles, disputes and conflicts.
 Synthesize materials from a variety of sources and develop a better understanding of the
subject link to other branches of law.
 Demonstrate an understanding of the relevant legislations and conventions.
 Make written presentations which are original, coherent, logically structured and give an
insight into the topics at hand.
 Develop and demonstrate appropriate research skills (including referencing).
 Equip the students with working knowledge and technical-know-how of law of crimes
 Aspires to create soldiers of justice who can critique, reform and further study criminal
law in their legal career.

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 D. Grading of Student Achievement

To pass this course, students must obtain at least of 50% of the marks assigned for the
coursework. Coursework for this purpose will include class assignment, case presentation,
participation and examinations. In the event of submission of a dissertation/research paper, the
student shall be ordinarily given the freedom to choose the topic, or he/she will be assigned the
topic. The details of the grades as well as the criteria for awarding such grades are provided
below.

Letter Grade Value Total Course Marks

Grade

(50 for exam and 50 for internal

assessment)

O 8 80 and above

A+ 7.5 75 – 79

A 7 70 – 74

A- 6 65 – 69

B+ 5 60 – 64

B 4 55 – 59

B- 3 50 – 54

F 0 Below 50

Word of Caution on Online Reading & Plagiarism

Plagiarism will be penalized severely as per the anti-plagiarism policy of the University. The
students are required to properly provide reference to the source of information. A brief note on
plagiarism may be provided in the respective classrooms by the course instructors.

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PART III: MODULE CONTENT

A. Keyword Syllabus
IPC, codification, offence – mental and physical element, causation, omissions and acts
Homicide, murder, provocation, death penalty, rape-General & special exceptions, private
defence, insanity -Penology and punishment, negligence, culpable, exculpate
Inchoate offence, sedition, conspiracy

Prescribed Textbook

The Course Instructor will discuss about the book to be used for the course in the first lecture.

Note: The course is structured to encourage study of criminal through case law and selected
readings. It is attempted that students can develop lawyerly skills of understanding the law
through close reading of text and cases and use textbooks (if at all) for minor aid. It would be
sufficient to read all the cases and supplementary reading(s) provided by the respective course
instructors for not just doing well in exams but hopefully doing well as a criminal layer or
academic. Readings and cases prescribed are therefore essential to be closely read by students.

B. Select References

ASHWORTH, ANDREW & JEREMY HORDER, PRINCIPLES OF CRIMINAL LAW (2013: Oxford,
OUP)
BAKER, DENNIS, GLANVILLE WILLIAMS: TEXTBOOK OF CRIMINAL
LAW, (2012: New York, Sweet & Maxwell)
DERRIDA, JACQUES DEATH PENALTY VOLUME I, 2014 (Chicago, Univ.
of Chicago Press)
FARMER LINDSAY MAKING OF THE MODERN CRIMINAL LAW:
CRIMINALIZATION AND CIVIL ORDER (2016: UK,
Oxford University Press)
GARLAND, DAVID, A Peculiar Institution: America’s Death Penalty in
the Age of Abolition (2010: Cambridge, Belknap
Press)
NORRIE, ALAN CRIME, REASON AND HISTORY: A CRITICAL
INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL LAW ((2014:
CAMBRIDGE, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS)
YOUNG, ALISON IMAGINING CRIME, (1992: London, Sage
Publications)

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PART IV: LECTURE PROGRAMME & WEEKLY SCHEDULE

The following lecture schedule is tentative and may be revised by the instructor(s). Every instructor
would cover the weekly modules in the way that suits their pedagogic style.

Teaching Week Lecture Title

1 CRIMINAL LAW: CONCEPTS

2 DEFINITIONS & FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS OF CRIME

3 OFFENCES AGAINST HUMAN BODY

4 OFFENCES AGAINST HUMAN BODY

5 GENERAL EXCEPTIONS

6 OBSCENITY & SEXUAL OFFENCES

7 OBSCENITY & SEXUAL OFFENCES

8 OFFENCES AGAINST MARRIAGE

9 COMPLITY & JOINT LIABILITY IN CRIMINAL LAW

10 INCHOATE OFFENCES

11 OFFENCES AGAINST PROPERTY

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 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 19 th
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

Suggested Readings:
 RICHARD A. WASSERSTROM, ‘Strict Liability in Criminal Law’, Stanford Law Review
Vol. 12, p. 731.
 JEROME HALL, Nulla Poena Sine Lege, The Yale Law Journal (1937) Vol. 47 No. 2.

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
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  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

Suggested Reading:
ALAN NORRIE, CRIME, REASON & HISTORY (2014) [Chapter 6]

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

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Essential Reading:
 B.B. Pande, “Limits on Objective Liability for Murder” JILI, Vol. 16 Issue 4 (1974), pp.
469-482
 ALISON YOUNG, IMAGINING CRIME (1992) [Chapter 3 pp. 60-67]

Suggested Reading:
 Stanley Yeo, ‘Lessons on Provocation from the Indian Penal Code’ 615-631 The
International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Jul., 1992)

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)

 CASES & READINGS

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)

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)
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  Notion of ‘Obscenity’ under IPC (Ss. 292-294) – Hicklin test, Community Standard test –
Sexuality and obscenity

 CASES & READINGS

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

Suggested Reading:

 JOHN SEBASTIAN, “The opposite of unnatural intercourse: understanding Section 377

through Section 375” (2017) Indian Law Review Volume 1, Issue 3 232-249
 RONALD DWORKIN, TAKING RIGHTS SERIOUSLY (1977) Chapter 10
 Report of the Committee on the Amendments to Criminal Law (Verma Committee
Report), January 23, 2013
 Janet Halley, Prabha Kotiswaran et al. GOVERNANCE FEMINISM: AN INTRODUCTION
(2018: London, University of Minnesota Press) [Chapter 4]

WEEK VIII
OFFENCES AGAINST MARRIAGE: ADULTERY
 Adultery in criminal law as opposed to civil law
 Section 497 and its semantics
 Judicial Discourse on Adultery

 CASES & READINGS

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 4898

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Suggested Reading:
 Radhika Singha, A Despotism of Law: Crime and Justice in early Colonial India (1998)

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)

 CASES & READINGS

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

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Suggested Reading:
o Glanville Williams, ‘The Lords and Impossible Attempts’ 33-83 Cambridge Law
Journal, Vol. 45, No. 1 (March 1986).
o Lary Alexander, ‘Mens Rea and Inchoate Crimes’, Journal of Criminal Law and
Criminology (1997) Volume 87, Issue 4 (pp. 1138-1193)
o B.B. Pande, ‘An Attempt on "Attempt"- The case of State v. Mohd. Yakub’ (1984) 2
SCC (Jour) 42.

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

 CASES & READINGS

o K.N. Mehra v. State (AIR 1957 SC 369)
o Pyare Lal Bhargava vs State of Rajasthan AIR 1963 SC 1094

Suggested Reading:

o G. Fletcher, ‘The Metamorphosis of Larceny (1976) 89 Harvard Law Review 469.

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 PART V: DETAILS OF ASSESSMENT AND DEADLINES
Assessment: The assessment will be divided into 50 percent of internal grades and 50 percent for
final written examination which will be held at the end of the semester.
Deadlines: It is mandatory to adhere to the deadlines provided by the course instructor for
submission of any assignment, reaction paper, research paper etc. Failure to follow the
prescribed deadline will invite severe sanction or may even result in non-acceptance of the
submission by the course instructor.

Non-appearance in Internal Assessments

Any student who is unable to appear in the internal assessments, written or otherwise, must
inform the course instructor well in advance and obtain the requisite permission. The relevant
documents in support of the absence must be submitted both to the course instructor as well as
the course coordinator. Absence from internal assessment will be taken severely and an average
score of other assessments will not be considered under ordinary circumstances.
In case of non-appearance without prior intimation as suggested above the student will be liable
for a penalty of 25 percent of her/his grade. Please note that there no written assignment will be
allowed in lieu of written examination for internal assessment.

PART VI: DISABILITY SUPPORT AND ACCOMMODATION REQUIREMENTS:

JGU endeavors to make all its courses accessible to students. All students with a known
disability needing academic accommodations are required to register with the Disability Support
Committee dsc@jgu.edu.in. The Committee has so far identified the following conditions that
could possibly hinder student’s overall well-being. These include: physical and mobility related
difficulties; visual impairment; hearing impairment; medical conditions; specific learning
difficulties e.g. dyslexia; mental health.
The Disability Support Committee maintains strict confidentiality in its discussions. The students
should preferably register with the Committee in the month of June/January as disability
accommodation requires early planning. DSC will approve and coordinate all the disability
related services such as appointment of academic mentors, specialized interventions and course
related requirements such as accessible classrooms for lectures, tutorials and examinations.
All faculty members are required to refer students with any of the above-mentioned conditions to
the Disability Support Committee for addressing disability-related accommodation requirements.

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