Course Description

This concentration course on “Criminal Law” aims to give an overview of the Indian Criminal Law – both substantive as well as procedural laws through which crimes are regulated as well as criminal justice system is administered in India. Its emphasis will be upon understanding this legal framework by focusing on the legal principles and provisions related to crime. The course will begin with the understanding of fundamental principles which forms to be the jurisprudential basis for the criminal law framework of the country. The course will thus make a student revisit into these core issues related to criminal law starting with conceptual understanding of the term ‘crime’, forms of crimes, factors of criminalisation. The principles of criminal law including the ones related to the elements of crime and their concurrence, principles of causation, joint liability, etc will be discussed in detail in order to understand their jurisprudential basis along with the related law framework. Thereafter procedural rules related to regulation of crimes, most importantly in relation to investigation procedure will be discussed in detail. Wherever necessary a comparative analysis of selected provisions from the previous Codes [Indian Penal Code and Criminal Procedural Code] with the current Sanhitas [the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita] will be made in order to understand the changing landscape of Indian Criminal Law Framework.