Home Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 The criminalisation of vehicular homicide: an insight

The criminalisation of vehicular homicide: an insight

December 25, 2024

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This article has been written by Shruti Sharma pursuing a Certificate Course in Advanced Criminal Litigation & Trial Advocacy from LawSikho.

This article has been edited and published by Shashwat Kaushik.

Introduction

Vehicular homicide is a punishable criminal offence that occurs when a person is killed by means of a vehicle or involving a vehicle. When the illegal or unlawful use of a motor vehicle or negligent use of a motor vehicle leads to the death of a person, a vehicular homicide has been committed. There are various provisions in the Indian legal system that criminalise vehicular homicide. This article provides an insight on the criminalisation of vehicular homicide.

What is criminalisation

Criminalisation is the legislation that makes an act or an omission illegal or unlawful. The act of making an act or an omission unlawful or against the law is termed criminalisation.

Criminalisation, or criminalisation, in criminology is “the process through which the behaviour is transformed into a crime and the individual is transformed into a criminal.” Criminalisation is the criminal sanction that contains both preventive and deontological features. Although criminalisation is often justified, it has its own drawbacks. It takes away important rights to which people are ordinarily entitled. It has coercive prohibitions that deprive people of their speech. A common example of the drawback of criminalisation can be the right to freedom of speech and expression granted under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India, which can become a crime if it is covered under the exceptions given under Article 19(2).

Criminal justice in India

The Indian criminal justice system consists of the police, the prosecution, the judiciary and the correctional system, which was earlier based on the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and now lays its foundation on the new criminal law.

Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which replaced the earlier act, i.e., the Indian Penal Code. The Sanhita lays down the laws and procedures that govern the criminal acts in India. The Sanhita ensures that the victims are provided with justice, simultaneously ensuring that the accused of criminal activity are provided with their respective rights while upholding the principle of “presumption of innocence,” often expressed as “presumed innocent until proven guilty,” coined by Sir William Garrow.

Components of criminal justice system

The Indian criminal justice system consists of the police, the prosecution, the judiciary and the correctional system.

Types of punishment

The act of punishing someone is the punishment. And the process of punishment for a crime is known as penology. Earlier, Section 53 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, mentioned five kinds of punishments, which included death, imprisonment for life, imprisonment (rigorous or simple), forfeiture of property and a fine; however, the new criminal code, The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita under Section 4, provides for an additional punishment, i.e., community service.

Death

The death penalty is capital punishment. It is given in the rarest of the rare cases. It can be provided for sections 65, 66, 70, 71, 103, 104, 107, etc. of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

Case laws

Jagmohan Singh vs. State of Uttar Pradesh: In this case, the court upheld the constitutional validity of capital punishment.

Rajendra Prasad Etc. etc vs. State of Uttar Pradesh: In this case, the Court ruled that the death penalty should only be imposed in extraordinary circumstances and that a special reason should be recorded for doing so.

Imprisonment for life

Imprisonment for life means being in jail for the whole of the remaining life period of the criminal’s natural life. As per Section 57 of IPC and Section 6 of BNS, life imprisonment is 20 years in calculating the fraction of terms of life.

Imprisonment for life cannot be simple; it is always rigorous.

Case law

Gopal Vinayak Godse vs. State of Maharashtra: The Supreme Court held that imprisonment for life meant imprisonment till the remainder of the life of the convict unless curtailed by any commute/remission or reprieve according to constitutional or statutory law.

Imprisonment: rigorous or simple

Rigorous: In rigorous imprisonment, the convicts work as labourers and are assigned with hard work like cutting stones, digging, etc.

Simple: In simple imprisonment, the convicts are kept under prison without any hard labour.

Forfeiture of property

Forfeiture of property means the seizure of the property or any assets of the convicted by the government. The assets or the property can be both movable and non-movable.

Fine

A fine is the most common punishment. It is the monetary punishment. The convicted person has to pay a fine as a punishment for the offence.

Community service

Community service has been introduced as a new form of punishment under Section 4(f) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Community service shall mean the work that the court may order a convict to perform as a form of punishment that benefits the community, for which he shall not be entitled to any remuneration. The punishment of community service has been given in 6 sections of BNS, which include sections 202, 209, 226, 303(2), 355, and 356(2).

Vehicular homicide

The term vehicular homicide can be broken into vehicular and homicide. Vehicular means “involving or by means of vehicle or vehicles,” and the word homicide comes from a Latin term homicidium, which is a combination of homo, meaning “man” and cide meaning “killing”. Thus the killing of a person by means of a vehicle or involving a vehicle is known as vehicular homicide.

The victim in vehicular homicide can be either in the vehicle, such as a passenger, or not a person in the vehicle, such as a pedestrian. Vehicular homicide is an offence in the majority of countries in the world.

Criminalisation of vehicular homicide

Is a car accident an offence in India

Yes. Depending on the circumstances, such as the nature of the accident, criminal elements such as negligent driving, excessive speed, driving under the influence of alcohol, hit-and-run cases, or vehicular homicide (when a person is killed due to the negligent or reckless driving of the vehicle), an accident may incur criminal liability.

Sections related to vehicular homicide in India

There are various provisions that relate to vehicular homicide in India. Various provisions of IPC and BNS relate to vehicular homicide. A few of the provisions are provided below:

Section 279 IPC or Section 281 BNS provides for the provision on rash driving or riding in public. The section reads, “Whoever drives any vehicle or rides on any public way in a manner so rash or negligent as to endanger human life or to be likely to cause hurt or injury to any other person shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with a fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.” Under this section, ‘endangering human life’ is given wide meaning and thus includes fatal accidents also.

Section 304 IPC or Section 105 BNS provides for punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The section reads as, “Whoever commits culpable homicide not amounting to murder shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to a fine, if the act by which the death is caused is done with the intention of causing death or of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death; or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, or with a fine, or with both, if the act is done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death, but without any intention to cause death, or to cause such bodily injury as is likely to cause death.”

Section 304A IPC or Section 106 BNS provides for causing death by negligence. The section reads, “Whoever causes the death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term that may extend to two years, or with a fine, or with both. In the case of George vs. State of Kerala (2024), the Supreme Court said that no minimum sentence is prescribed for conviction under Section 304A IPC or Section 106 BNS and Section 338 IPC or Section 116 BNS: The Supreme Court alters the sentence in a negligent driving case.

Hit and run law

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, introduced a new hit-and-run law under Section 106(2). The section reads, “Whoever causes death of any person by rash and negligent driving of vehicle not amounting to culpable homicide and escapes without reporting it to a police officer or a magistrate soon after the incident, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description of a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to a fine.” This section faced backlash. The protesters had several concerns, which included fear of mob violence, unintentional accidents, lack of differentiation between rash driving and negligent driving, excessive penalties, etc. And wanted reconsideration of the law. Keeping in view the concerns of the protestors, the Central Government didn’t bring into force Section 106(2), although the Sanhita came into force on 1st July, 2024.

Recent cases

Pune Porsche car crash

The recent Pune Porsche car crash case is an unrivalled example of vehicular homicide. The accused was charged with Section 304 and 304A of the Indian Penal Code and various other sections of the Motor Vehicles Act. The car crash occurred when a minor boy driving his Porsche car under the influence of alcohol crashed into two IT professionals, resulting in casualties.

This was a high-profile case that involved a minor under the influence of alcohol who drove his Porsche car into a motorcycle, resulting in two fatalities. However, the driver was granted bail on conditions that included writing an essay, working with traffic police, and attending psychiatric treatment. The father of the accused was also granted bail.

The case outraged calls for stricter laws for holding parents/guardians and minors themselves accountable for their acts. The case also highlights the systematic corruption and casual approach of serving alcohol to minors and road safety.

Nagpur ram jhula hit-and-run case

The incident occurred when a woman under the influence of alcohol brushed the wall of a bridge and later hit an Activa at high speed on Nagpur’s Ram Jhula bridge, resulting in fatalities. The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court rejected the anticipatory bail of the woman, observing that any case of drunk driving resulting in death amounts to culpable homicide. Later, the case was transferred from the local police station to the state crime investigation department owing to the lapse of the initial investigation.

Mumbai BMW car accident case

In this case, a luxury car collided with a stationary vehicle in Mumbai, resulting in the deaths of two individuals. The driver was accused of speeding and being under the influence of alcohol. Like the Pune Porsche car crash case, it sparked discussions about road safety, reckless driving, and the need for stricter enforcement of traffic laws in India.

Conclusion

The killing of a person by means of a vehicle or involving a vehicle is known as vehicular homicide. The victim in vehicular homicide can be either in the vehicle, such as a passenger or not a person in the vehicle, such as a pedestrian. Vehicular homicide is an offence in the majority of countries in the world. Vehicular homicide is a punishable criminal offence that occurs when a person is killed by means of a vehicle or involving a vehicle. Although there are various provisions in the Indian legal system that criminalise the offence of vehicular homicide, there’s still a need for more laws that are rigid and flexible at the same time so that no victim is denied justice and no innocent is convicted.

References

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The criminalisation of vehicular homicide: an insight

Introduction

What is criminalisation

Criminal justice in India

Components of criminal justice system