Indian Penal Code

Introduction

Sections 76 to 106 contained in chapter IV of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) deals with General Exceptions which are exempted from the category of offences under IPC. Section 80 of IPC considers accident as one of the general exceptions. Where a crime is done by mistake while performing a legal act, Section 80 of IPC offers an exception to criminal responsibility.

Section 80 of IPC

• This Section deals with accidents in doing a lawful act.
• It states that nothing is an offence which is done by accident or misfortune, and without any criminal intention or knowledge in the doing of a lawful act in a lawful manner by lawful means and with proper care and caution.
• Illustration:
  • A is at work with a hatchet; the head flies off and kills a man who is standing by. Here, if there was no want of proper caution on the part of A, his act is excusable and not an offence.
• The protection under this section will apply only if the act is a result of accident or misfortune.
• An accident is something that happens out of the ordinary course of things.
• The idea of something fortuitous and unexpected is involved in the word accident.
• An injury is said to be accidentally caused whenever it is neither wilfully nor negligently caused.

Essential Elements of Section 80 of IPC

• The act should have been done by accident.
• The act should have been done without any criminal intention or knowledge.
• The act should be done while doing a lawful act in a lawful manner by lawful means.
• The act should be done with proper care & caution.

Case Laws

• In Jogeshwar v. Emperor (1924) the accused was giving the first blow to the victim but accidently hit his wife who was holding her 2 month old child, the blow hit the head of the child which resulted in his death. It was held that even though the child was hit by accident, the act was not lawful, not done by lawful means or in a lawful manner. The Court held that the accused will not be entitled to the benefits of Section 80 of IPC.
• In State of Government v. Rangaswamy (1952), it was held that when an act is done by an accident, it will come under the provisions of Section 80 of IPC.
• In Bhupendra Sinha Choudasama v. State of Gujarat (2018), the Supreme Court held that when an act was done deliberately and without proper care and caution, it will not come under Section 80 of IPC.