NDLI: Prakash Nayi @ Sen Vs. State of Goa

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	ss. 302 and s.84 Penal Code 1860 Plea of Insanity “Schizophrenia”
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Act(s) Referred	Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860)
Case(s) Referred	Referred Case 0 Referred Case 1 Referred Case 2 Referred Case 3 Referred Case 4
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Allowed
Headnote	Penal Code, 1860 – ss. 302 and s. 84 – Plea of Insanity – “Schizophrenia” – Accused-appellant was convicted and sentenced u/s. 302 IPC for having caused the death of the victim-deceased by attacking him at a store in which the deceased was working, with an iron locking plate without any provocation and premeditation – In the course of trial, the defence pleaded insanity – At one of the hospitals where the accused was undergoing the treatment before the date of incident, it was recorded that the accused was suffering from anxiety neurosis with reactive depression and has symptoms of acid peptic disease and mild hypertension and the treatment was akin to one meant for schizophrenia – Two doctors were examined before the Sessions Court wherein they deposed positively pointing towards schizophrenia – On trial, the Trial Court convicted the accused of the said offence, and the Conviction was upheld by the High Court – Aggrieved by the decision, the accused approached Supreme Court – Held: The courts below erred in not accepting the reports of the doctors, more so when one of them withstood cross-examination and hence the conviction could not be said to be well founded – Further, the mere fact that the accused subsequently became fit to face the trial is sufficient enough to render an order of acquittal as it is indicative of his prior insanity – Also that both the Trial Court and the High Court were influenced by the nature of the act while ignoring the condition of the appellant and the fact that the burden on the accused is one of preponderance of probability.Penal Code, 1860 – s. 84 – Plea of Insanity – S. 84 of the Code recognized only the ‘acts’ which could not be termed as an offence – For the said section to apply such an act must emanate from an unsound mind – Existence of an unsound mind is a sine qua non to the applicability of the provision – A mere medical insanity cannot be said to mean unsoundness of mind – There may be a case where a person suffering from medical insanity would have committed an act, however, the test is one of legal insanity to attract the mandate of Section 84 of the IPC – There must be an inability of a person in knowing the nature of the act or to understand it to be either wrong or contrary to the law.Maxims – Actus non reum facit nisi mens sit rea – Unsound mind – A person of an unsound mind, who is incapable of knowing the consequence of an act, does not know that such an act is right or wrong. He may not even know that he has committed that act – When such is the position, he cannot be made to suffer punishment.Evidence Act, 1872 – ss. 8, 105 – Section 105 of the Indian Evidence Act, which places the burden of proving, has its exceptions – Though, as a general principle, the onus is upon the person accused to bring his case under the exception, dealing with the case u/s. 84 of the IPC, one has to apply the concept of preponderance of probabilities – The aforesaid provision has to be read along with Section 8 of the Indian Evidence Act.Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – Chapter XXV – ss. 329-339 – Object and Purpose – The idea under the provisions to facilitate a person of unsound mind to stand trial, not only because of his reasoning capacity, but also to treat him as the one who is having a disability – The role of the Court is to find the remedial measures and do complete justice.
Judge	Hon'ble Mr. Justice M.M. Sundresh
Neutral Citation	2023 INSC 24
Petitioner	Prakash Nayi @ Sen
Respondent	State Of Goa
SCR	[2023] 1 S.C.R. 823
Judgement Date	2023-01-12
Case Number	2010

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