Stages of crime: intention, preparation, attempt (s. 62) and commission
LUG-106 Substantial Law of Crimes-I (The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 - I), Unit I: Stages of crime. · LLB · 60 min
A crime passes through four stages: the mental stage of intention, the stage of preparation, the attempt and the completed offence. The law does not punish the first, punishes the second only in a few listed situations, and punishes attempt as a rule (s. 62 BNS, s. 511 IPC, and the specific attempt sections such as s. 109). This lecture walks through the four stages with the Sanhita's own illustrations, explains why the line between preparation and attempt matters, and previews abetment and conspiracy as the other forms of inchoate liability examined in Unit III.
Objectives
- Explain the four stages of a crime and state which are punishable
- List the preparations the BNS punishes as substantive offences
- Explain s. 62 BNS (attempt): ingredients, punishment and illustrations
- Distinguish preparation from attempt using the proximity, locus poenitentiae and equivocality tests
- Apply the stages to a problem such as the poisoning illustrations of s. 109
Slides
- The four stages and the law's response to each
- Stage one: intention is not punishable
- Stage two: preparation, and the exceptions where it is punished
- Stage three: attempt under s. 62 BNS (s. 511 IPC)
- The specific attempt sections, and s. 109 with its illustrations
- Where does preparation end? The tests the courts use
- Stage four: commission, and when an offence is complete
- Preview: abetment and conspiracy as inchoate liability
- Worked problem: the poisoned food, stage by stage
- How the examiner asks it
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