Section 299

This section lays the foundation for all homicide offences in the Code by defining the broad category of culpable homicide, which is then divided into murder (a more aggravated form) and culpable homicide not amounting to murder (a less aggravated form), based on the degree of intention or knowledge involved. Getting this definition right is essential because every homicide case starts by asking whether the facts fit within this definition at all. Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, this offence continues under a renumbered section, with the murder/culpable-homicide distinction preserved in substance.

Courts have long used a classic illustration to explain this section: a person who strikes another with a stick on a non-vital part of the body, not intending or knowing that death is a likely result, may cause culpable homicide only if death actually follows and some knowledge or intention regarding likely death can be shown; where death is entirely unlikely to result from the act, there may be no culpable homicide at all, only a lesser offence like causing hurt. This distinction between merely causing death and culpable homicide, based on intention or knowledge, has been central to how courts separate accidents from crimes.

• Myth: Only an actual intention to kill someone can make their death a crime.
  Fact: This section also covers cases where a person intended serious injury likely to cause death, or simply knew their act was likely to cause death, even without wanting to kill.