Define crime and elements of crime.

An action committed or omitted, which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law is a

crime. Crime is an unlawful act that is forbidden and punished by the State or the law. In
other words, anything which is injurious to public welfare is a crime.
A Crime is an unlawful Act punished by the state or any lawful authority. A crime or an
offence is an act which is harmful not only to the person but also to the community,
society or state. Such acts are forbidden and punished by law.

Acc. To kenny “crimes/offences are wrong whose sanction (approval or penalty). Is punitive
(Intended as a punishment) and in no way unacceptable by any private person, but
permissible by the crown alone, if unacceptable at all.”

Crime means a charge or offence. When an act is done or not done in accordance with the
public law, it is said to be a crime.
Crime is not just a wrong against an individual but it is a wrong committed against the
society at large as it disturbs the peace, and some crimes may cause widespread panic and
disruption of normal activities in a community. The society therefore takes steps to prevent
it by prescribing specific punishments for each crime, some punishments being death,
imprisonment for life, fine or forfeiture of property.
Crime is a changing concept that depends upon social development of individuals which
involves interests and values dominating their common beliefs. Amongst other things,
examples of crime include acts like murder, theft and rape.
The burden of proof of a crime lies with the State and the burden of proof falls on the
prosecution. The State acts to protect the victims of the crime and to prevent the offender
from committing more crimes in order to provide justice to the victims.
Further, the State takes measures to punish the offender and encourages their participation
in reformation programs in the prison as an attempt to guide.
FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF CRIME
There are four elements which go to constitute a crime and these are:
1) Human being The basic essential element of any crime is that it must be committed
by a human being who is under the legal obligation to act in a particular manner, as
an animal cannot commit a crime. Animals used to be punished in ancient times,
now their owners are made liable. Section 11 of the Indian Penal Code states that
the word ‘person’ includes a company, an association or a body of persons, whether
incorporated or not. The word ‘person’ includes artificial or juridical persons.
 Illustration: Person A kills Person B – crime Person A kills animal Z – crime Person A
steals from Person C – crime

2) Mens Rea Maxim - "actusreus non facitreum nisi mens sit reas" meaning "an act is not
guilty unless the mind is not guilty". Mens Rea refers to the mental element of a person’s
intention. The degrees of Mens Rea are: Intention: Complete knowledge of harm and its
consequences. Knowledge: No intention, but knowledge of an apparent harm. Reason to
Believe: No particular information, but some reason to believe of the consequences of the
act. Recklessness: Higher degree of negligence, aware of consequences. Negligence: Not
aware of consequences. The Act can be voluntary or involuntary, and the guilt is determined
by the facts of the case. Mens Rea as such is not punishable.

The following factors are examined to establish Mens Rea: Previous relation between the
accused and the victim, any object of hostility between them. Existence of instigation i.e.
whether accused was hired and what prompted him to commit crime. Whether the accused
had something to gain out of the whole affair. Illustration: A person drives under influence
and causes an accident which harms others. He will be held responsible for his actions as he
voluntarily made a choice to drink and drive, even if the crime itself was unintentional. Case
laws:
o Nathulal vs. State of M.P (AIR 1966 SC 43) In this case, the accused was a food grain dealer
who applied for a licence and deposited the requisite licence fee. Without knowledge of
rejection of his application, he purchased food grains and sent returns to the Licencing
Authority, who on checking, found that it was in excess of the quantity permitted by Section
7 of MP Food Grains Dealers Licensing Order, 1958. The accused was prosecuted. However,
he was acquitted on the ground that he had no guilty mind.
o State of Maharashtra v. MH George (AIR 1965 SC 722) In this case, Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) placed some restrictions on the entry of gold into India, thus superseding an earlier
notification. The accused reached Mumbai from Manila, where gold bars were recovered
from his jacket. The accused pleaded that he had no Mens Rea and that he had no
knowledge of the RBI notification. After considering the object and subject matter of
statute, the Court held that there was no scope for the invocation of the doctrine of Mens
Rea in this particular case.
o R.S. Joshi vs. Ajit Mills Ltd. (1977 AIR 2279) In this case, the court held that, "Even here we
may reject the notion that a penalty or a punishment cannot be cast in the form of an
absolute or no-fault liability but must be preceded by Mens Rea. The classical view that `no
Mens Rea, no crime’ has long ago been eroded and several laws in India and abroad,
especially regarding economic crimes and departmental penalties, have created severe
punishments even where the offences have been defined to exclude Mens Rea."
3) Actus Reus Maxim - “actusreus non facitreum nisi mens sit reas” meaning “an act is not
guilty unless the mind is not guilty”. Actus Reus is a wrongful act committed or omission of
an action.Mens Rea is not necessary in every Actus Reus. The following factors are examined
to establish ifMens Rea was present in an act: The physical doing or not doing, The
circumstances, and The consequences i.e. if the Mens Rea does not extend to any part of
the act, there will be no guilty mind behind the act. Illustration: Person A thinks of killing
Person B - not a crime Person A hits Person B using a rod with the intent to kill him - crime
(commission) Person A sees his child B drowning in water but does not do anything - crime
(omission)
4) Injury The fourth element of crime is injury occurred to another person or society at
large, in the absence of which crime is not considered committed. However, there are some
exceptions. Illustration: Driving without a driving license is a crime even if it may not harm
anybody. According to Section 44 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 the injury denotes any harm
whatever illegally caused to any person in body, mind, reputation or property.
-------------------------
Mens rea (evil intent):
Mens rea is an essential ingredient of a criminal offence. “Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit
rea” is well known maxim of criminal law.it means the act does not make a man guilty
unless his intention were so”.
From this maxim follows another preposition “Actus me invito actus non est mens
actus” means an act done by me against my will is not my act at all. This means an act in
order to be punishable at law must be voluntary act and at the same time must have done
with a criminal intent.
The various offences defined in the indian penal code have a guilty intention or knowledge
as an essential ingredient. The words like voluntary (under sec.39 of I.P.C), reason to believe
(sec.26 of I.P.C), dishonestly (sec.24 of I.P.C), fraudulently (sec.25 of I.P.C) used in the
various provisions of the code incorporate the principle of mens rea.
As stated above, in the absence of guilt mind, a person is not guilty, yet there are many
offences which do not require guilty mind as a necessary ingredient.

Actus reus:
The actus rea represent the physical aspect of the crime. According to kenng “Actus reus” is
such result of human conduct as the law seeks to prevent.
A human being and an evil intent are not enough to constitute a crime unless it is visible
though some voluntary act or omission. Actus reus is such result of human conduct as the
law seeks to intent. In other words- actus reus is the physical result of human conduct. The
act done or omitted must be an act forbidden or commanded by some law.

Injury
Under Indian penal code of section 44 “Injury” is defined: According to sec.44 of IPC, the
word injury denotes any harm whatsoever illegally caused to any person in body, mind,
reputation or property.
Thus, we have seen that there are four elements which constitute a crime. However, there
are few exception (someone or something that is not included) to this rule. Sometimes what
constitutes an offence, even if the act is not accompanied by a guilty mind.

These are the cases of strict liability, for example, the offence of ‘bigamy’ under section
494 (Bigamy) is a crime even though the act is not accompanied with guilty mind. Section
399 of the Indian penal code (Making Preparation to Dacoity), sec. 402 of I.P.C.
(Assembling for the Purpose of Committing Dacoity), attempt of abetment or conspiracy
are crimes, but still no injury has been caused to any person.

Fundamental elements of a crime

To establish criminal liability, crime can be broken down into elements which a prosecution
must prove beyond a reasonable doubt. There are basically four elements of a crime are as
follows:
1) Human being: Section 11
Human being must commit wrongful Act to fulfill first element of a crime that means any
non living thing or animals are not considered in the category of a person or a human being
whereas in ancient times when criminal law was closely dominated by the idea of ritter bit
theory punishment was also inflicted on animals for the injury caused by them. For Example,
if a dog bites anyone he is punished a horse was killed for kicking a man but in Indian Penal
Code if animal cause injury we do not make animal liable but the owner is held liable for
such injury so the first element of crime is human beings who must be given appropriate
punishment and should be under legal obligation to held criminally liable. ‘Person’ is defined
in Section 11 of Indian Penal Code which includes company, association or body of persons
whether incorporated or not. The word person includes artificial or juridical persons. He is a
legal entity created by law which is not a natural person such as corporation created under
state statute. It is a legal entity having a distinguished identity and legal rights and obligation
under the law.
2) Mens rea or Guilty intention
The second element is derived from the famous maxim Actus Non-Facit Reum Nisi Mens Sit
Rea. This maxim is divided into two parts. The first part-
1. a) mens rea (guilty mind);
2. Actus reus ( guilty act ).
It means the guilty intention and guilty Act together constitute a crime. It comes from a
maxim that no person can be punished in a proceeding of criminal nature unless it can be
shown he has a guilty mind. The second element is Mens rea which can be explained in
various forms a guilty mind; a guilty or wrongful purpose; a criminal intent, guilty knowledge
and willfulness all constitute the same thing that mens rea.
Motive and Intention are both aspects in the field of law and justice both are very
important. They are also associated with the purpose of proving or disproving a particular
case or crime Wrong motive with guilty intention is necessary to prove criminal liability.

3) Actus reus or illegal Act or omission

It is the Latin term used to describe a criminal Activity. It is commonly defined as a criminal
activity that was the result of voluntarily bodily movement. This describes a physical Activity
that harms another person or damages property. In other words, due to guilty or wrongful
intention, some overAct or illegal omission must take place. There are two types of Actus
reus first is commission and the second one is an omission. The commission is as a criminal
activity that was the result of voluntarily body movement. This describes a physical Activity
that harms a person or property. Against human body includes physical assault, murder,
hurt, grievance, hurt etc & property includes theft, decoity, extortion etc.
The omission is another form of Actus reus as an Act of criminal negligence. An omission
could be falling to warn others that you have created a dangerous situation, for eg. not
feeling an infant who has been left in your care or not completing a work-related task which
resulted in an accident.
4) Injury under Section 44
The fourth requirement of a crime is injury should be caused to another person or to society
at large. According to Section 44 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 the injury is defined as any
harm illegally caused to any person in body, mind, reputation or property by another
person. Elements of crime are a set of facts that must be proven to convict a defendant of a
crime. Criminal elements are sets forth in criminal statutes or cases in jurisdictions that
allow for common law crimes.
Actus Reus
Meaning
It is a Latin term for the guilty Act. The Act you need to commit an offence. It must be a
voluntary Act Actually doing something eg taking a bracelet in a theft. It is not an
involuntary Act. An example of an involuntary Act given in the case of Hill vs Baxter was
someone losing control of a car because they are attacked by a swarm of bees or because
they have a heart attack.
Actus reus is such a result of human conduct as law seeks to prevent. It should be prohibited
by law. It is a physical aspect of the crime. There are basically two main components of
criminal law is Actus Reus and Mens Rea.
Actus Reus is the wrongful Act or task committed by a person and Mens Rea is the state of
mental aptitude behind such Acts. Mens rea is a term from which a famous Latin maxim
Actus Non-Facit Reum Nisi Mens Sit Rea had been derived. Actus Non-Facit Reum Nisi Mens
Sit Rea further explains as to how Mens Rea is applicable in committing an offence or a
crime. It states that if a guilty mind or intent is accompanied by a wrongful Act then only the
person will be held liable. This maxim is used to determine whether an Act committed by a
person is an offence or crime or not. Severe penal Actions are required for crimes
committed with specific intentions and not for unanticipated or unintentional Acts.
However, no breach of law cannot be unpunished. To differentiate between intentional and
unintentional criminal Act this legal maxim is established so that the type of punishment can
be decided accordingly. There can be no crime and no suit for damages can arise without a
guilty Act.
General Principles Of Actus Reus
The general rule of Actus Reus is no liability for failing to Act unless at the time of failure to
Act the defendant was under a legal duty to take positive action.
The duty arises from statute- Children and young persons Act,1933 (UK), omission culpable
by people over the age of 16 falling to look after a child under 16.
The duty arises from a contract- Failure to perform the contrActual duty in question can
perform the basis of criminal liability.
The duty owed to family members-
R VS Gibbons and proctor 14 Crapp-man and his wife were guilty of murder by failing to feed
the man daughter.
A Mere omission to Act cannot be lead to criminal liability unless a statute specifically
provides or a common-law imposes a duty on it. Moral duty should be distinguished from
the legal duty of an Act.

Different Stage of Crime:

STAGES OF CRIME:
INTRODUCTION:
Generally, the term criminal law refers to substantive criminal laws. Substantive criminal
laws state crimes and decide punishments. In contrast, Criminal Procedure describes the
process by which the courts enforce criminal laws. E.g., the law which prohibits murder is a
substantive criminal law.
Criminal law is body of rules and statutes that defines conduct prohibited by the state
because it threatens and harms safety and welfare and that establishes punishment to be
imposed for the commission of such acts. Criminal law differs from civil law, whose
emphasis is more on dispute resolution than in punishment.
There are four stages in commission of a crime.
1. Intention
2. Preparation
3. Attempt
4. Accomplishment
1. INTENTION: Intention is the first stage in the commission of an offence and known as
mental stage. Intention is the direction of conduct towards the object chosen upon
considering the motives which suggest the choice. But the law does not take notice of an
intention, mere intention to commit an offence not followed by any act, cannot constitute
an offence. The oblivious reason for not prosecuting the accused at this stage is that it is
very difficult for the prosecution to prove the guilty mind of person.
2. PREPARATION: Preparation is the second stage amongst the stages of crime. It means to
arrange the necessary resources for the execution of the intentional criminal act. Intention
and preparation alone are not enough to constitute a crime. Preparation is not punishable
because in many cases the prosecution fails to prove that the preparations in the question
are for the execution of the particular crime.
3. ATTEMPT: An attempt is a direct movement towards the execution of a crime after the
preparation of the plan. According to law, a person is guilty of an attempt to commit an
offence if he does an act which is more than simply preparatory to the commission of the
offense. Moreover, a person is guilty of attempting to commit an offense even though the
facts are such that the execution of the offense seems to be impossible.
4. ACCOMPLISHMENT: The last stage in the commission of an offense is its accomplishment
or completion. If the accused succeeds in his attempt to commit the crime, he will be guilty
of the complete offence and if his attempt is unsuccessful he will be guilty of an attempt
only.

What is common intention? Is it necessary that common intention should have a anterior
to commission of crime?

Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code lays down the principle of joint criminal liability. This
section does not create any offence but establishes a rule of evidence. Common means
something which is shared by all, and intention is something which is seen from the overt
act of a person.
It does not create any substantial or proper crime. No particular offence has been stated
therein. Two or more people can be jointly liable for an offence stated in IPC if a crime has
been committed by them in furtherance of common intention. Thus, two or more people
can be held liable for any crime stated under Section 34 IPC if the essentials of that section
are fulfilled. Thus, whether the offence is cognizable, non-cognizable, bailable or non-
bailable, depends upon the nature of the offence committed and the nature mentioned in
the Sections under which the accused is charged
Essentials of common intention
1. There must be some act which is criminal in nature.
2. The act must be done by two or more persons.
3. The act done by persons must be with the common intention of all.
4. Every person who is involved in that act is liable for such act.
5. Every person shall be liable as if he has done that act alone
Common intention
Common intention implies a pre-arranged plan or prior meeting of minds. Mere presence
together is not sufficient to hold that both the accused shared common intention. The
criminal act must be done for the purpose of executing common intention. If the act done
actually is not joint then the common intention cannot be implied.
Common intention is a question of fact. It can be inferred from the facts and circumstances
from the whole conduct of all the persons. It should not be inferred from an individual act of
one of them.
Common intention means the mens rea necessary to constitute the offence that has been
committed

To prove the charge of common intention, the prosecution has to establish by evidence,
whether direct or circumstantial, that there was plan or meeting of minds of all the accused
persons to commit the offence for which they are charged with the aid of Section 34, be its
pre-arranged or on the spur of the moment; but it must necessarily be before the
commission of the crime.
A criminal act committed by multiple people
The most significant need is that criminal conduct be committed and that it be done by
numerous people. It is necessary to commit or refrain from criminal conduct. The deeds
undertaken by various confederates in criminal activity may differ, but all must collaborate
or engage in the illegal business in some way. The core of Section 34 is the simultaneous
agreement of the minds of those involved in the illegal activity to achieve a specific or
intended goal.
The shared intent of all individuals to perform the unlawful act
As previously noted, the core of joint culpability under Section 34 of the IPC is the existence
of a common purpose to commit a criminal act in pursuit of a common goal shared by all
members of that group. The phrase “common intention” indicates a prior concert or
meeting of minds, as well as the participation of all members of that group. The activities
performed by various members of that group may range in degree and type, but they must
all be motivated by the same common objective.
All people engaged in the commission of the act (in furtherance of that shared intention)
A criminal act committed by the entire group is required to establish joint culpability. It is
critical that the court determine some illegal conduct was committed with the group’s
cooperation in pursuit of the common intention. The individual who initiates or assists in the
conduct of the crime must physically do an act to facilitate the commission of the real
(planned) crime.

Write a short note on Public servant: