Punishment for Violations of the Body: Exploring Offences Affecting Human Body

Constructive Homicide (304B. Dowry death)

Where the death of a woman is caused by any burns or bodily injury or occurs otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of her marriage and it is shown that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry, such death shall be called "dowry death" and such husband or relative shall be deemed to have caused her death.

» Wrongful restraint:

Whoever voluntarily obstructs any person so as to prevent that person from proceeding in any direction in which that person has a right to proceed, is said to wrongfully restrain that person.

» Wrongful confinement:

Whoever wrongfully restrains any person in such a manner as to prevent that person from proceedings beyond certain circumscribing limits, is said "wrongfully to confine" that person.

» Criminal Force:

Whoever intentionally uses force to any person, without that person’s consent, in order to the committing of any offence, or to cause injury, fear or annoyance is said to use criminal force to that other.

» Assualt:

Whoever makes any gesture, or any preparation to any person intending or knowing it to be likely that such gesture or preparation will cause apprehension of use of criminal force to that person, is said to commit an assault.

» Kidnapping from Lawful Guardianship:

Whoever takes or entices any minor under sixteen years of age if a male, or under eighteen years of age if a female, or any person of unsound mind, out of the keeping of the lawful guardian of such minor or person of unsound mind, without the consent of such guardian, is said to kidnap such minor or person from lawful guardianship.

» Abduction:

Whoever by force compels, or by any deceitful means induces, any person to go from any place, is said to abduct that person.

OFFENCES AGAINST PROPERTY

» Theft:

Whoever, intending to take dishonestly any moveable property out of the possession of any person without that person’s consent, moves that property in order to such taking, is said to commit theft.

» Extortion:

Whoever intentionally puts any person in fear of any injury to that person, or to any other, and thereby dishonestly induces the person so put in fear to deliver to any person any property or valuable security, or anything signed or sealed which may be converted into a valuable security, commits "extortion".

» Robbery:

In all robbery there is either theft or extortion

When theft is robbery : Theft is "robbery" if, in order to the committing of the theft, the offender, voluntarily causes or attempts to cause to any person death or hurt or wrongful restraint, or fear of instant death / hurt / wrongful restraint.

When extortion is robbery : Extortion is "robbery" if the offender, commits the extortion by putting that person in fear of instant death, of instant hurt, or of instant wrongful restraint to that person or to some other person, and induces the person so put in fear to deliver up the thing extorted.

» Dacoity:

When five or more persons conjointly commit or attempt to commit a robbery is called dacoity.

»Dishonest misappropriation of Property:

Whoever dishonestly misappropriates or converts to his own use any movable property, shall be punished with imprisonmentof either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

»Criminal breach of trust:

Whoever, being in any manner entrusted with property, or with any dominion over property, dishonestly misappropriates or converts to his own use that property, or dishonestly uses or disposes of that property in violation of any direction of law or of any legal contract commits "criminal breach of trust".

»Cheating:

Whoever, by deceiving any person, fraudulently or dishonestly induces the person so deceived to deliver any property to any person, or to consent that any person shall retain any property, or intentionally induces the person so deceived to do or omit to do anything which he would not do or omit if he were not so deceived, and which act or omission causes or is likely to cause damage or harm to that person in body, mind, reputation or property, is said to "cheat".

» Mischief:

Whoever with intent to cause, or knowingly, causes the destruction of any property, or destroys or diminishes its value or utility, or affects it injuriously, commits "mischief".

» Criminal Trespass:

Whoever enters into or upon property in the possession of another with intent to commit an offence or to intimidate, insult or annoy any person in possession of such property, is said to commit "criminal trespass

» Forgery:

Whoever makes any false documents or part of a document with intent to cause damage or injury, to the public or to any person, or to support any claim or title, or to cause any person to part with property, or to enter into any express or implied contract, or with intent to commit fraud or that fraud may be committed, commits forgery.

OFFENCES AGAINST MENTAL HARASSMENT

» Criminal Intimidation:

Whoever threatens another with any injury to his person, reputation or property, or to the person or reputation of any one in whom that person is interested, with intent to cause alarm to that person commits criminal intimidation

» Criminal Intimidation:

OFFENCES AGAINST REPUTATOIN

» Defamation:

Whoever, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person, intending to harm the reputation of such person, by words (spoken or written) or by signs or by visible representations, is said, except in the cases hereinafter expected, to defame that person.

» OFFENCES WITHOUT INJURY:

» Criminal Conspiracy:

two or more persons agree to do

an illegal act,

an act which is not illegal by illegal means, such an agreement is designated a criminal conspiracy

» Attempt to commit an offence:

Whoever attempts any act towards the commission of the offence shall be punished with one-half of the imprisonment provided for that offence.

Abetment: A person abets the doing of a thing, who—
First — Instigates any person to do that thing;
Secondly — Engages in any conspiracy for the doing of that thing, if an act or illegal omission takes place in pursuance of that conspiracy
Thirdly — Intentionally aids, by any act or illegal omission, the doing of that thing.

CONSTRUCTIVE LIABILITY

S. 34. Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention
When a criminal act is done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all, each of such persons is liable for that act in the same manner as if it were done by him alone

» OFFENCES BY UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY

S. 141. Unlawful assembly:
An assembly of five or more persons is designated an "unlawful assembly", if the common object of that assembly is to commit an offence.

S. 146. Rioting:
Whenever force or violence is used by an unlawful assembly, or by any member thereof, in prosecution of the common object of such assembly, every member of such assembly is guilty of the offence of rioting.

S. 149.
Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object: If an offence is committed by any member of an unlawful assembly in prosecution of the common object of that assembly, or such as the members of that assembly knew to be likely to be committed in prosecution of that object, every person who, at the time of the committing of that offence, is a member of the same assembly, is guilty of that offence.

» OFFENCES AGAINST PUBLIC

Public nuisance: A person is guilty of a public nuisance who does any act or illegal omission which causes any common injury, danger or annoyance to the public or to the people in general.

Affray: When two or more persons, by fighting in a public place, disturb the public peace, they are said to "commit an affray".

OFFENCES RELATED TO MARRIAGE

» S. 494 Bigamy (Marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife):
Whoever, having a husband or wife living, marries in any case in which such marriage is void by reason of its taking place during the life of such husband or wife, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.

» S. 498A. Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty
Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine.
Explanation —For the purpose of this section, "cruelty" means:

any wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman

harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand.

CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN

» S. 294. Obscene acts and songs

Whoever, to the annoyance of others

does any obscene act in any public place,
sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine, or with both

» S. 354. Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty

Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than one year and may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine. Outraging the modesty of a woman is one which is capable of shocking the sense of decency of a woman. In Mrs. Rupen Deol Bajaj v. KPS Gill, 1995 SC judgment, Supreme Court held that alleged act of Mr. Gill in slapping Mrs. Bajaj on her posterior amounted to outraging her modesty for it was an affront to the normal sense of feminine decency.

» 319. Hurt:

Whoever causes bodily pain, disease or infirmity to any person is said to cause hurt.

The following kinds of hurt only are designated as "grievous": —
First — Emasculation.
Secondly — Permanent privation of the sight of either eye.
Thirdly — Permanent privation of the hearing of either ear,
Fourthly — Privation of any member or joint.
Fifthly.— Destruction or permanent impairing of the powers of any member or joint.
Sixthly — Permanent disfiguration of the head or face.
Seventhly — Fracture or dislocation of a bone or tooth.
Eighthly — Any hurt which endangers life or which causes the sufferer to be during the space of twenty days in severe bodily pain, or unable to follow his ordinary pursuits.

The Criminal Law (Amendments) Act, 2013:

The following laws have been amended or inserted in IPC:-

» S. 326 A- Acid Attack:

Whoever causes grievous hurt by throwing or administering Acid shall be punished with imprisonment with not less than 10 years to life imprisonment. Such offenders shall have to pay just and reasonable fine to the victim to meet his medical expenses of the treatment.

» S. 326 B – Attempt to cause Acid Attack:

Whoever throws or attempts to throw acid on any person or attempts to administer acid to any person, shall be punished with imprisonment of not less than five years but which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.

» S. 354 A - Sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment.

A man committing any of the following acts—

physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures

a demand or request for sexual favours

showing pornography against the will of a woman;-Punishment may extend to 3 years

or making sexually coloured remarks and punishment may extend to 1 year, shall be guilty of the offence of sexual harassment.

» S. 354B - Assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe

Any man who assaults or uses criminal force to any woman or abets such act with the intention of disrobing or compelling her to be naked, shall be punished with imprisonment of not less than three years upto seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.

» S. 354C – Voyeurism:

Any man who watches, or captures the image of a woman engaging in a private act shall be punished on first conviction with imprisonment not be less than 1 year, but which may extend to 3 years, and shall also be liable to fine, and on a subsequent conviction, not be less than 3 years upto 7 years with fine. Where the victim consents to the capture of the images or any act, but not to their dissemination to third persons and where such image or act is disseminated, such dissemination shall be considered an offence under this section.

» S. 354D – Stalking:

Any man who follows a woman and contacts, or attempts. to contact such woman to foster personal interaction repeatedly despite a clear indication of disinterest by such woman; or monitors the use by a woman of the internet, email or any other form of electronic communication, commits the offence of stalking. Punishment on 1st conviction upto 3 yrs & subsequently upto 5 yrs, with fine.

» S. 370 - Trafficking of person.

Whoever, for the purpose of exploitation (physical / sexual)
(a) recruits, (b) transports, (c) harbours (hide from police), (d) transfers, or (e) receives, a person or persons,
First - using threats, or
Secondly - using force, or any other form of coercion, or
Thirdly - by abduction, or
Fourthly - by practicing fraud, or deception, or
Fifthly - by abuse of power, or
Sixthly - by inducement
commits the offence of trafficking. The consent of the victim is immaterial in determination of the offence of trafficking. Punishment ranges from 7 years to life imprisonment.

» S. 370A - Exploitation of a trafficked person:

Whoever, knowingly or having reason to believe that a minor has been trafficked, engages such minor for sexual exploitation in any manner, shall be punished with 3–5 yrs and in case of minor 5–7 years imprisonment, with fine.

» S. 375 - Rape:

A man is said to commit rape if he -

penetrates his penis, to any extent, into the vagina, mouth, urethra or anus of a woman or makes her to do so with him or any other person

inserts, any object or a part of the body, into the vagina, the urethra or anus of a woman

manipulates any part of the body of a woman so as to cause penetration into any part of body of such woman (i.e. caressing of a woman)

applies his mouth to private parts of a woman

under the circumstances falling under any of the following seven descriptions:

First - Against her will
Secondly - Without her consent
Thirdly - With her consent, when her consent has been obtained by putting her or any person, in fear of death or of hurt.
Fourthly - With her consent, when the man knows that he is not her husband and that her consent is given because she believes that he is another man to whom she is or believes herself to be lawfully married.
Fifthly - With her consent when, at the time of giving such consent, by reason of unsoundness of mind or intoxication or the administration by him personally or through another of any stupefying or unwholesome Substance, she is unable to understand the nature and consequences of that to which she gives consent.
Sixthly - With or without her consent, when she is under 18 years of age.
Seventhly - When she is unable to communicate consent.
Sexual intercourse by a man with his wife of age 15 years or above is not rape.

» S. 376(1) - Punishment for Rape:

Punishment for rape is minimum 7 years to life imprisonment.

S. 376(2): If rape is committed by a person in position of dominance or control such police officers, army personnel, public official, employer, management staff of jail, hospital staff, relative, repeated rapist of same woman and rape of a woman who is pregnant, under 16, mentally / physically disabled or during communal violence, then minimum punishment is 10 years and may extend to life imprisonment.

376A: Punishment for causing death or resulting in persistent vegetative state of victim, shall not be less than 20 but which may extend to imprisonment for life, means imprisonment till person’s natural life, or with death.

376D: Minimum punishment for Gang rape shall be 20 yrs upto life imprisonment

376E: Minimum punishment for Repeat offenders shall be imprisonment for life (till person’s natural life), or with death.

» S. 509. Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman:

Whoever, intending to insult the modesty of any woman, utters any word, intentionally makes any sound or gesture, or exhibits any object, or intrudes upon the privacy of such woman, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to three year and also with fine. The punishment under S. 509 has been extended to 3 yrs instead of 1 yr after 2013 amendment act.