General exceptions II, ss. 25-44: consent, communication in good faith, compulsion, trifles and the right of private defence
LUG-106 Substantial Law of Crimes-I (The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 - I), Unit II: General exceptions (ss. 14-44). · LLB · 60 min
The second half of Chapter III contains the exceptions that justify an act: consent (ss. 25-30), a communication made in good faith (s. 31), compulsion by threats (s. 32), trifles (s. 33) and, most important for the examination, the right of private defence of body and property (ss. 34-44). Both recent papers asked about private defence and the 2025-26 paper asked exactly when the right extends to causing death. This lecture reads the sections with the Sanhita's illustrations, Poonai Fattemah, Dasrath Paswan, Bishambhar, Veeda Menezes, and the private defence trilogy of Jai Dev, Deo Narain and Darshan Singh.
Objectives
- Explain consent as a general exception under ss. 25-30, what is not consent under s. 28, and the limits in s. 29.
- Explain communication in good faith (s. 31), compulsion by threats (s. 32) and trifles (s. 33) with the cases.
- State the nature of the right of private defence (ss. 34-36) and its limits under s. 37.
- State when the defence of body (s. 38) and of property (s. 41) extends to causing death, and when the right begins and ends (ss. 40, 43).
- Apply Jai Dev, Deo Narain and Darshan Singh to a problem on private defence.
Slides
- Consent as a general exception: ss. 25 and 26 (ss. 87-88 IPC)
- Consent by a guardian (s. 27), emergencies without consent (s. 30) and the exclusion in s. 29
- What is not consent: s. 28 (s. 90 IPC), with Poonai Fattemah, Dasrath Paswan and Bishambhar
- Communication in good faith (s. 31), compulsion by threats (s. 32) and trifles (s. 33)
- Private defence: nature and scope, ss. 34-36 (ss. 96-98 IPC), and Darshan Singh's ten principles
- The limits: s. 37 (s. 99 IPC)
- Defence of the body: when it extends to death (s. 38), to lesser harm (s. 39), and when it begins and ends (s. 40)
- Defence of property: ss. 41-43 (ss. 103-105 IPC), and the innocent bystander, s. 44 (s. 106)
- Jai Dev, Deo Narain, Darshan Singh and exceeding the right
- How the examiner asks it
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