Section 301 IPC states the doctrine of transferred malice for culpable homicide. If a person intends, or knows it is likely, to cause the death of one person but causes the death of another, the offence is treated as if the intended victim had died. The corresponding provision in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 is Section 102 BNS.
What Section 301 says
Where a person, by doing anything which they intend or know to be likely to cause death, commits culpable homicide by causing the death of a person whose death they neither intended nor knew themselves to be likely to cause, the culpable homicide is of the same description as if they had caused the death of the person they intended, or knew they were likely, to kill.
In practice: if A shoots at B intending to kill B, misses, and kills C, A's liability for C's death is assessed as if A had killed B with the same intention.
Why it matters
- Intention follows the act. The accused cannot escape liability because the person who died was not the target.
- Description of the offence carries over. Whether the act amounts to murder or culpable homicide not amounting to murder is decided by reference to the intended victim, including any exception that would have applied.
- The mental element still has to be proved. Section 301 transfers the intention or knowledge; it does not create it. The prosecution must still establish what the accused intended or knew.
Punishment and BNS Section 102
Section 301 is a rule of attribution, not a separate punishment section. Punishment follows the offence it establishes, for example under the murder or culpable homicide provisions. BNS 102 continues the same rule, and IPC 299 and 300 correspond to BNS 100 and 101.
Section 301 IPC or Section 102 BNS applies according to when the fatal act occurred: before 1 July 2024 the IPC continues to govern through the BNS repeal and savings provision, and on or after that date the BNS applies. Use the date of the act from the inquest and post-mortem records, not the FIR registration date.
धारा 301 IPC क्या है?
धारा 301 IPC स्थानांतरित दुराशय (transferred malice) का सिद्धांत है। यदि कोई व्यक्ति किसी एक व्यक्ति की मृत्यु का इरादा रखते हुए या यह जानते हुए कि उसकी मृत्यु होने की संभावना है, कोई कार्य करता है और उससे किसी दूसरे व्यक्ति की मृत्यु हो जाती है, तो अपराध वैसा ही माना जाएगा जैसे उसने इच्छित व्यक्ति की हत्या की हो। BNS में संबंधित प्रावधान धारा 102 है।
Records to examine
Focus on evidence of the accused's intention or knowledge towards the intended target: prior enmity, threats, the weapon and manner of attack, and the sequence of events. Witness accounts of where each person stood and the post-mortem findings help establish how the death of the actual victim occurred.
Juniorlawyer can organise witness statements and medical records into a chronology with the legal chronology builder. Compare Section 307 IPC on attempt to murder, or use the BNS vs IPC converter.