Medical insanity no ground for acquittal: Parl panel

A parliamentary panel has observed that mere medical insanity cannot be a ground for the acquittal of an accused and legal insanity is required to be proved for claiming a valid defence.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Brijlal, also recommended that the word 'mental illness' in the proposed new criminal law may be changed to 'unsound mind' as mental illness is too wide in its import in comparison to unsound mind and it appears to include even mood swings or voluntary intoxication within its ambit.

The observations have been made by the panel in its report prepared after examining the proposed three new criminal laws.

The proposed laws are Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS-2023), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS-2023) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA-2023.

The three bills, which were introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 11, will replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Criminal Procedure Act, 1898, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.

The panel's reports were submitted to the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

The committee observed that in the Indian Penal Code, the term, a person of unsound mind, carried a restricted interpretation according to judicial precedents and was available as a defence for the accused.

'The committee is of the view that mere medical insanity cannot be a ground for acquittal of the accused and legal insanity is required to be proved for claiming a valid defence,' it noted.

However, the panel said, the term mental illness is too wide in its import in comparison to unsound mind, as it appears to include even mood swings or voluntary intoxication within its ambit.

The committee is also of the view that such a frivolous claim, if recognised as a valid defence, will spell doom for the prosecution as all defences will be claimed under this provision, thereby defeating the very purpose of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

'The committee accordingly recommends that the word 'mental illness' in this Sanhita may be changed to 'unsound mind' wherever it occurs, as the present one can create problems during the trial stage as an accused person can simply show that he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs during the time of the commission of a crime and he cannot be prosecuted even if he has committed the crime without intoxication,' it said.