Ashok Saxena Vs State Of Uttarakhand 2025 INSC 148 - S 301 IPC - Doctrine Of Transfer Of Malice Or The Transmigration Of Motive

Indian Penal Code 1860 - Section 301 - Doctrine of transfer of malice or the transmigration of motive- Culpable homicide may be committed by causing death of a person whom the offender neither intended nor knew himself to be likely to kill. If the killing takes place in the course of doing an act which a person intends or knows to be likely to cause death, it must be treated as if the real intention of the killer had been actually carried out - Under the Section, if A intends to kill B, but kills C whose death he neither intends nor knows himself to be likely to cause, the intention to kill C is by law attributed to him. If A aims his shot at B, but it misses B either because B moves out of the range of the shot or because the shot misses the mark and hits some other person C, whether within sight or out of sight, under Section 301, A is deemed to have hit C with the intention to kill him. What is to be noticed is that to invoke Section 301 of the IPC, A shall not have any intention to cause the death or the knowledge that he is likely to cause the death of C. - Referred to Gyanendra Kumar v. State of U.P., reported in AIR 1972 SC 502; Hari Shankar Sharma v. State of Mysore reported in 1979 UJ 659 (SC); Jagpal Singh v. State of Punjab reported in AIR 1991 SC 982; Abdul Ise Suleman v. State of Gujarat reported in 1995 CrLJ 464. (Para 37-42)