Indian Penal Code, 1860
Section 304
repealedPunishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder
Whoever commits culpable homicide not amounting to murder shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine, if the act by which the death is caused is done with the intention of causing death, or of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death;
Why this exists
This section punishes killings that fall short of murder, typically because a legally recognised exception applies (such as grave and sudden provocation, or exceeding the right of self-defence), but which still involved intending to cause death or a fatal-type injury. It allows for a serious but more calibrated punishment than the potential death penalty reserved for murder. Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, this offence continues under a renumbered section.
How courts read it
Courts have repeatedly used this section for cases where an accused acted under grave and sudden provocation, or in a sudden fight without premeditation, converting what might otherwise look like murder into this lesser offence, so long as the specific legal exceptions to murder are shown to apply on the facts; the key inquiry is usually whether the intention or knowledge behind the act, and the surrounding circumstances, fit an exception rather than the general rule that culpable homicide is murder.