Stages of Crime

A man in Kurla decides to rob a jeweller. He thinks about it for a week, buys a crowbar, walks to the shop, and is arrested at the door with the crowbar in his hand. Has he committed a crime? Nobody has lost anything, and no shop has been touched. Yet it would be absurd for the law to wait until the shutter is broken before it acts. On the other hand, it cannot punish a man for what he is merely thinking. Somewhere between thought and theft the line is crossed. Where? That is the subject of this topic.

In two minutes

A crime normally passes through four stages: intention, preparation, attempt and commission; intention and (usually) preparation are not punished, attempt is punished by BNS s.62 or by a specific section such as s.109, and the completed offence is punished as defined.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Law of Crimes on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.