Criminal Law in India : "Attempt to Murder" and S.307 of IPC

Criminal Law in India : "Attempt to Murder" and S.307 of IPC

Maniklal Sahu v. State of Chhattisgarh [2025] GCtR 1503 (SC) has held that "the most important ingredient to constitute the offence of attempt to commit murder punishable under Section 307 of the IPC is the intention or knowledge."

"An offence under Section 307 IPC has the following essential ingredients:- (i) The death of a human was attempted; (ii) That the death was attempted to be caused, or caused in the consequence of the act of the accused; and (iii) That the act was done with the intention of causing death; or that it was done with the intention of causing such bodily injury as: a.the accused knew to be likely to cause death; or b.was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death, or that the accused attempted to cause death by doing an act known to him to be so dangerous that it must in all probability cause: i. death, or ii. such bodily injury as is likely to cause death."

"To bring home guilt against an accused under this provision, it is necessary for the prosecution to establish that the intention of the accused was one of the three kinds mentioned in Section 300 of the IPC. A person commits an offence under Section 307 of the IPC when he has the intention to commit murder and in pursuance of that intention, does an act towards its commission irrespective of the fact whether that act is the penultimate act or not. The provision requires that the act must be done with such intention, or knowledge, or in such circumstances that if death be caused by that act, the offence of murder will emerge."

"It is clear as noonday that causing an injury that would endanger life is not an essential condition for the applicability of Section 307 of the IPC. Even if the injuries inflicted are simple in nature, that by itself cannot be a ground for acquittal, if the offence otherwise falls under Section 307 of the IPC."