Section 100 defines culpable homicide: causing death by an act done with the intention of causing death, or with the intention of causing bodily injury likely to cause death, or with the knowledge that the act is likely to cause death. The section carries three statutory illustrations and three Explanations addressing accelerated death, death preventable by treatment, and the death of a child in the womb versus a partially born child. Opens Chapter VI, "Of Offences Affecting the Human Body," within the sub-topic "Of Offences Affecting Life."
Verified against the National Crime Records Bureau's official BNS–IPC concordance (Sankalan Portal), which maps Section 100 to old IPC Section 299, and cross-checked directly against the bare text of both Acts.
| BNS section | IPC, 1860 equivalent | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 299 | Exact |
Comparing the two texts word for word, Section 100, including its three statutory illustrations and three Explanations, is reproduced without any substantive change from old IPC Section 299.
Whoever causes death by doing an act with the intention of causing death, or with the intention of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, or with the knowledge that he is likely by such act to cause death, commits the offence of culpable homicide.
Illustrations.
(a) A lays sticks and turf over a pit, with the intention of thereby causing death, or with the knowledge that death is likely to be thereby caused. Z, believing the ground to be firm, treads on it, falls in and is killed. A has committed the offence of culpable homicide.
(b) A knows Z to be behind a bush. B does not know it. A, intending to cause, or knowing it to be likely to cause Z's death, induces B to fire at the bush. B fires and kills Z. Here B may be guilty of no offence; but A has committed the offence of culpable homicide.
(c) A, by shooting at a fowl with intent to kill and steal it, kills B, who is behind a bush; A not knowing that he was there. Here, although A was doing an unlawful act, he was not guilty of culpable homicide, as he did not intend to kill B, or to cause death by doing an act that he knew was likely to cause death.
Explanation 1.—A person who causes bodily injury to another who is labouring under a disorder, disease or bodily infirmity, and thereby accelerates the death of that other, shall be deemed to have caused his death.
Explanation 2.—Where death is caused by bodily injury, the person who causes such bodily injury shall be deemed to have caused the death, although by resorting to proper remedies and skilful treatment the death might have been prevented.
Explanation 3.—The causing of the death of a child in the mother's womb is not homicide. But it may amount to culpable homicide to cause the death of a living child, if any part of that child has been brought forth, though the child may not have breathed or been completely born.
Source: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Act No. 45 of 2023), as published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary.
Section 100 defines culpable homicide through three alternative mental states: intention to cause death, intention to cause bodily injury likely to cause death, or knowledge that the act is likely to cause death. Any one of the three is sufficient. The three statutory illustrations distinguish between direct causation (illustration a), causation through an innocent intermediary (illustration b), and the absence of the offence where death was caused without the requisite intent or knowledge (illustration c). The three Explanations broaden how "causing death" is understood: causing bodily injury to a person already suffering from a disorder, disease or infirmity, and thereby hastening death, counts (Explanation 1); the availability of medical treatment that could have prevented death does not excuse the accused (Explanation 2); and while killing an unborn child in the womb is not homicide, killing a child that has been partly brought forth can still amount to culpable homicide, even if the child never fully breathed (Explanation 3).
These judgment(s) relate to Section 100 as a whole rather than to one specific sub-section, and so are presented together here rather than alongside a particular clause above.
Explains culpable homicide as genus and its degrees (s.299/300/304 IPC), the distinction turning on intention/knowledge.
No. Culpable homicide is the broader category defined here. Murder, defined separately, is a narrower and more serious form of culpable homicide meeting additional conditions. Culpable homicide not amounting to murder is punished under a separate section.
No. Explanation 2 states that the person who causes the bodily injury is deemed to have caused the death, even if the death might have been prevented by resorting to proper remedies and skilful treatment.
Not exactly. Explanation 3 states that causing the death of a child in the mother's womb is not homicide. However, it can amount to culpable homicide to cause the death of a child that has been partly brought forth, even if the child never fully breathed or was completely born.