Part II
Criminal Responsibility
Basis of criminal responsibility
8.(1) There shall be no responsibility except upon a mature person of free will .
(2) There shall be no responsibility unless an unlawful act is done with intent or by negligence.
Act of a child
9. A child who has not attained puberty shall not be deemed to have committed an offence; provided that care and reform measures set out in this Act may be applied to a child who has completed seven years of age, as the court may deem fix.
Act of a person incapable of judgment by reason of insanity or intoxication etc.
10. A person shall not be deemed to have committed an offence who at the time of committing the act does not appreciate the nature or consequences of his acts, or is unable to control them by reason of :-
(a) Permanent, or temporary insanity, or mental infirmity; or
(b) Sleep, or unconsciousness, or
(c) taking intoxicant substances or drugs as a result of coercion, or necessity, or without knowing it to be so, but where the intoxicant substance, or drug is taken voluntarily , knowingly, and without necessity he shall be responsible for the offence as if he had committed it without being intoxicated or drugged.
Performance of duty and exercise of right
11. No act shall be deemed an offence if done by a person who is bound, or authorized to do it by law, or by a legal order issued from a competent authority, or who believes in good faith that he is bound, or authorized so to do.
Right of private defence
12.(1) No act shall be deemed an offence if done in the lawful exercise of the right of private defence.
(2) The right of private defence arises when a person is confronted with the danger of an immediate or imminent assault upon his person, property or honour the person, property, or honour of any other person, and when it is not possible to evade the danger by having recourse to the public authorities, or in any other manner and the said person may combat the danger by what is necessary to combat it and by the appropriate means.
(3) No right of private defence arises against a public servant, acting within the limits of the powers of his post, unless there is apprehension of causing death, or grievous hurt.
(4) The right of private defence shall not extend to willfully causing death, unless the danger to be repelled is apprehended to cause death, grievous hurt, rape, abduction, kidnapping, robbery, armed robbery (hiraba), criminal mischief or damage to public property or establishment or criminal mischief by sinking or by setting fire or by using poisonous, or explosive materials.
Compulsion
13.(1) There shall not be deemed to commit an offence every person who is compelled to do an act by coercion or by threat of death, or imminent grievous hurt to his person, or family, or serious injury to his property, where the said person apprehends that the execution of the threat is most probably to occur and it is not in his power to avoid it by any other means.
(2) Coercion shall not justify causing death, or grievous hurt or the commission of any of the offences against the state which are punishable with death.
Non-voluntary acts
14. No act, at the time of its commission, shall be deemed an offence if done by a person non-voluntarily and without the ability of controlling his acts, by reason of an act of God, or sudden illness, which makes him incapable of avoiding that act.
Necessity
15. No act shall be deemed an offence if done by a person compelled to do it by necessity to protect his person, honour or property or the person, honour or property of another from imminent grave danger which he has not willfully caused and which he has no ability to avoid; provided that no injury similar to the injury to be avoided or greater injury results; and provided that necessity does not justify causing death except in the performance of duty.
Accident
16. There shall not be deemed an offence anything which occurs accidentally in the exercise in good faith of a legal act which results in unexpected injury.
Consent
17.(1) No act is deemed an offence by reason of injury it causes to the body, or property of any person, who has given his consent expressly, or impliedly to that act.
(2) The provisions of sub-section (1) shall not apply to acts which are likely to cause death, or grievous hurt.
Misconception of facts
18. No act is deemed an offence where the doer believes in good faith, by reason of mistake of facts, that he is permitted to do the said act.
Part III
Attempt and Criminal Joint Acts
Chapter I
Attempt
Definition of attempt
19. Attempt is the commission of an act which apparently indicates the intention to commit an offence, where the offence has not been consummated, due to a cause beyond the offender's will .
Penalty for attempt
20.(1) Whoever attempts to commit an offence shall be punished with imprisonment, for a term, which may not exceed one-half of the maximum term prescribed for that offence, and where attempt constitutes an independent offence, the offender shall be punished with the penalty prescribed therefor.
(2) Where the penalty of any one offence is death or amputation, punishment for attempt thereof shall be imprisonment, for a term, not exceeding seven years.
Chapter II
Criminal Joint Acts
Joint acts in execution of criminal conspiracy
21. When an offence is committed by two or more persons in execution of criminal conspiracy between them, each of such persons shall be responsible for that offence in the same manner as if it is committed by him alone, and shall be punished with the penalty prescribed therefor.
Joint acts without criminal conspiracy
22. When an offence is committed by two or more persons without criminal conspiracy between them, every one of them shall be responsible for his act and shall be punished with the penalty prescribed for the offence constituted by such act.
Order to commit an offence and compulsion thereof
23. Whoever orders an immature person or a person of good faith to commit an offence, or whoever compels a person to commit such an offence, shall be responsible for it as if he has committed it alone, and shall be punished with the penalty prescribed for that offence.
Criminal conspiracy
24.(1) A Criminal conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit an offence.
(2) With the exception of murder, armed robbery (hiraba) and offences against the state punishable with death, criminal conspiracy shall not be deemed a punishable offence unless an attempt is made to commit the offence; and in all cases, a retracted criminal conspiracy shall not be deemed an offence.
(3) Whoever, commits the offence of criminal conspiracy shall be punished with imprisonment, for a term, not exceeding five years, and if an attempt is made to commit the offence, or the offence has been committed, he shall be punished with the penalty prescribed for the attempt or for the commission of the offence, as the case may be.
Abetment
25.(1) Abetment is the inducement of one person by another to commit an offence, or the ordering of any mature person under his control to commit it.
(2) Subject to observing the limit of the penalty prescribed for the offence, whoever abets the commission of an offence shall be punished in accordance with the following :
(a) in case of the non-commission of the offence, or the attempt thereof, with imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years;
(b) in case of the commission of the offence, or the attempt thereof, with imprisonment, for a term, not exceeding ten years, or with fine, or with both, and where the penalty prescribed for the offence is whipping, he shall be punished with whipping not exceeding half the penalty.
(3) Whoever abets the commission of an offence and is present at the time of the commission thereof, shall be deemed to have committed that offence .
(4) Whoever abets a by person to commit a certain act shall be responsible for any other act which constitutes an offence, committed by the abetted person if that other act is a probable consequence of the abetment .
Assisting
26. Whoever assists the commission of any act, which constitutes an offence, intending thereby to facilitate the commission thereof, shall be subject to the provisions of section 25, and shall be punished with the penalty prescribed for the abettor, as the case may be.
Individual criminal responsibility
EDIT.