The gem of criminal jurisprudence in India came into existence from the time of Manu, a great ancient jurist. Mann recognized assault, theft, robbery, false evidence, slander, criminal breach of trust, cheating, adultery and rape. Different laws came into existence in the reins of different rulers.
In the eighteenth century when the balance of power tilted in favour of the British, the administration of criminal justice was in a very deplorable state. There were conflicting and contradictory decisions on similar points which resulted in chaos. With intend to provide a uniformity in the administration of criminal justice, a Law Commission was appointed in 1834 with Lord Macaulay as its Chairman and Macleod, Anderson and Millet as members. The committee submitted the first draft of the Penal Code to the Governor-General-in-Council on 14th October, 1837. The revised version was presented to the Legislative Council of India in 1856 and was approved after due consideration. The Governor-General-in-Council gave its assent to it on 6th October, 1860.
The Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) is such a brilliant piece of legislation that it has not only covered nearly all sort of offences in just one Act but is still serving the needs of the society after the one and half century of its enactment with minor amendments. The Scheme of the Act shows the brilliancy of the Lord Macaulay. The Act consists of 23 Chapters and 511 sections, but moving beyond this we can say that Act can be composed into two parts i.e. one covering the general principle while the other specific offences. The Chapters and sections, in the Code being in the bound of general principle, are as follows:
(1) Introduction (Chapter I, sections 1 to 5, I.P.C.)
(2) General Explanation (Chapter II, sections 6 to 52A, I.P.C.)
(3) Punishments (Chapter III, sections 53 to 75, I.P.C.)
(4) General Exceptions (Chapter IV, sections 76 to 106, I.P.C.)
(5) Abetment (Chapter V, sections 107 to 120, I.P.C.)
(6) Criminal Conspiracy (Chapter VA, section 120A to 120B, I.P.C.)
(7) Attempt to Commit Offences (Chapter XXIII, section 511, I.P.C.)
While specific offences discussed in the Code may be classified into six major categories, viz.:--
(i) Offences Against the State and Army, Navy and Air Force (Chapter VI of the I.P.C.).
(ii) Offences Affecting the common well being (Chapters VIII to XV and XIX of the I.P.C).
(iii) Offences Affecting the Human Body (Chapter XVI of the I.P.C).
(iv) Offences Against Property (corporeal and incorporeal) (Chapters XVII & XVIII of the I.P.C.).
(v) Offences Affecting Reputation (Chapters XXI and XXII of the I.P.C).
(vi) Offences Relating to Marriage (Chapters XX & XXA of the I.P.C).
It should always be kept in mind that any legislation including the Indian Penal Code manifests the society. The Indian Penal Code can be taken as one of the best legislations of the colonial era which has been amended time to time as and when it was required to do so.
As discussed above, this Code is one of the biggest legislations and for the purpose of the general learning I have covered all those topics which are considered sine qua non in the process of learning the penal laws existing in India. Let us start with the topic called 'General Defence' discussed hereinafter.
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