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Criminal Law I
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B.B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 4
2013 Dec Examination
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Mumbai
B.B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 4 Criminal Law I 2013 Dec Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 2 November 2026.
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Model answers written and edited by the munotes.in editorial desk.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2013 Dec examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2013 Dec examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2013 Dec examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 100 · 20 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B. (1) Answer all 5 Questions. (2) One essay type and one short note question or problem from each Unit have to be attempted, which is referred as part (a) and part (b) in all Units. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answers should be written either in English or Kannada completely.
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1
Unit I
(a)Explain the Extra-territorial application of Indian penal code.[15]
Answer
For full marks, cover: what extra-territorial application means and why a penal code needs it; the four gateways the Indian Penal Code opens, each with its key question: another Indian law (section 3), citizens (section 4(1)) and the time of citizenship (Central Bank of India v. Ram Narain), Indian ships and aircraft (section 4(2)), and attacks on Indian computers (section 4(3)); the Explanation and why the law of the foreign place does not matter; abetment across the border (section 108A); an offence only partly abroad (Ajay Agarwal), contrasted with one wholly in India (Mobarik Ali Ahmed); the checklist a court follows, with sanction before trial (Thota Venkateswarlu); the sea and foreign States (Massimilano Latorre); a table of situations; the Sanhita (section 1(4) and (5)); a conclusion.
The meaning
The Code's starting point is territory. Under section 2, every person is punished for offences committed "within India". That covers India's land, its territorial waters and the air above them.
Extra-territorial application is the exception. It means the Code reaches an act done outside those limits. The marginal heading of section 4 names it: "Extension of Code to extra-territorial offences". Sections 3 and 4 together set out when this happens. They are now section 1(4) and (5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
Why a penal code must reach abroad
- Allegiance travels. A citizen remains bound by his country's law when he goes abroad.
- The flag carries the law. A ship or aircraft registered in India is treated as carrying Indian law with it.
- Harm can be sent across borders. A server in Mumbai can be attacked from a laptop in another continent.
- Escape must not be easy. Without these rules, a person could commit a crime abroad, come home, and live untouched.
Gateway 1: another Indian law (section 3)
Section 3 deals with a person who is "liable, by any Indian law" to be tried for an offence committed beyond India. Such a person is to be dealt with under the Code "as if such act had been committed within India".
Key question: does some other Indian law make this act abroad triable here?
Section 3 does not itself create the power. It borrows the power from the other law and then applies the Code's provisions. The Army Act, 1950 is an example. Under its section 69, a person subject to that Act who commits a civil offence "at any place in or beyond India" is guilty of an offence against that Act. Its section 70 even allows a court-martial for murder when committed outside India.
Gateway 2: citizens anywhere (section 4(1))
The Code applies to any offence by "any citizen of India in any place without and beyond India".
Key question: was the accused an Indian citizen when he did the act?
The time of citizenship is decisive.
Facts. In Central Bank of India v. Ram Narain, AIR 1955 SC 36, decided on 12 October 1954, the accused had a cash credit with the bank at Mailsi, in Multan District. Cotton bales pledged to the bank were booked to Karachi in November 1947. He then settled in India, and a prosecution was sanctioned here in 1950.
Held. The High Court's quashing was upheld. Neither section 4 nor section 188 of the procedure code applies to a person who was not an Indian citizen when he acted. A later change of citizenship cannot confer jurisdiction backwards.
Example. An Indian nurse working in Kuwait poisons a patient there. She may be tried for murder wherever she is found in India.
Gateway 3: Indian ships and aircraft (section 4(2))
The Code applies to "any person on any ship or aircraft registered in India wherever it may be".
Key question: where is the vessel registered?
Here the offender's nationality is irrelevant, and so is the vessel's position. An American deckhand who stabs a shipmate on an Indian-registered cargo ship in the Pacific is within the Code.
Gateway 4: computers in India (section 4(3))
From 27 October 2009, the Code also reaches "any person in any place without and beyond India committing offence targeting a computer resource located in India".
Key question: was a computer resource in India the target?
This is the only gateway that reaches a foreigner acting wholly abroad. It reflects the protective principle, under which a State guards its own vital interests. A group abroad that plants malware in an Indian railway booking system falls within it.
The Explanation: the foreign law does not matter
For section 4, "offence" includes "every act committed outside India which, if committed in India, would be punishable under this Code". So the test is Indian law, not the law of the place. A citizen cannot plead that his conduct was lawful, or not prosecuted, in the country where he did it.
Abetment across the border
Section 108A, added in 1898, covers one who, in India, abets an act "without and beyond India" which would be an offence if done in India. Its illustration was written when Goa was foreign territory. A person in India who instigates a foreigner in Goa to commit murder there is guilty of abetting murder. The Sanhita keeps this in section 47. Its new section 48 covers the reverse, abetment from abroad of an act in India.
When only part of the offence is abroad
Facts. In Ajay Agarwal v. Union of India, AIR 1993 SC 1637, decided on 5 May 1993, the accused lived in Dubai. He was said to have conspired with a foreign exchange manager of a Chandigarh bank. Letters of credit were obtained on forged shipping papers for a ship that did not exist. The trial court discharged all the accused for want of sanction.
Held. The Supreme Court let the prosecution proceed. Conspiracy continues until it is achieved, abandoned or frustrated. It is committed wherever any party acts in pursuance of it. As some acts were done in India, no sanction was needed. The conspirators need not all be present in India.
The contrast. Where every part of an offence occurs in India, the case is territorial, not extra-territorial. In Mobarik Ali Ahmed v. The State of Bombay, AIR 1957 SC 857, a Pakistani national at Karachi cheated a Bombay firm by letters and telephone calls. His conviction for cheating was upheld under section 2, though he never entered India.
The court's checklist
Before trying an act done abroad, an Indian court asks five questions.
- Which gateway applies? If none does, there is no jurisdiction.
- Was the accused a citizen at the time? This matters only under section 4(1), as Ram Narain holds.
- Did any part happen in India? If so, that part is tried as an ordinary case (Ajay Agarwal).
- Has the Central Government sanctioned the trial? The proviso to section 188 of the procedure code required its previous sanction for the part done abroad.
- Where is the accused? Section 188 allowed trial at any place in India where he was found.
When sanction is needed.
Facts. In Thota Venkateswarlu v. State of A.P., AIR 2011 SC 2900, decided on 2 September 2011, the accused married at Ongole on 27 November 2005 and went to Botswana. His wife joined him there. She alleged cruelty and dowry demands, and a charge-sheet under sections 498A and 506 was filed at Addanki.
Held. Sanction is not needed before a court takes cognizance. It is needed before the trial begins. The acts alleged in India could be tried without it. The acts alleged in Botswana could not.
At sea, a foreign State may object
The reach of the Code can collide with another State's claim. In Massimilano Latorre v. Union of India, decided on 15 June 2021, two Italian marines were accused of killing two Indian fishermen off Kerala in 2012. The matter went to a tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Italy undertook to resume its own criminal inquiry and paid compensation. The Supreme Court then closed the Indian criminal case. The case shows that the Code's reach on paper may give way to a dispute between States.
Situations at a glance
| Situation | Does the Code reach it? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| an Indian citizen commits theft in Singapore | yes | section 4(1), with sanction for trial |
| a Kenyan passenger assaults a steward on an Air India flight over Europe | yes | section 4(2) |
| a hacker in another country locks a Delhi hospital's records | yes | section 4(3) |
| Situation | Does the Code reach it? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| a man in Chennai instigates a friend to commit murder in Sri Lanka | yes | section 108A |
| a foreigner robs an Indian student in Berlin | no | no gateway applies |
| a foreigner abroad commits an offence and later becomes an Indian citizen | no | not a citizen at the time (Ram Narain) |
Under the Sanhita
Section 1(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 repeats section 3. Section 1(5)(a), (b) and (c) repeat the three clauses of section 4, with the same Explanation. The illustration now speaks of a murder "in any place without and beyond India". Sections 47 and 48 deal with abetment across the border. Section 208 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 replaces section 188. It also allows trial where the offence is registered in India, and keeps the need for sanction.
Conclusion. The Code is territorial by default, but sections 3 and 4, now section 1(4) and (5) of the Sanhita, carry it abroad through four gateways. These are another Indian law, citizenship, an Indian flag and a computer target in India. The Explanation makes Indian law the only test. Ram Narain ties the citizenship gateway to the date of the act. Ajay Agarwal treats an offence partly done in India as an ordinary case. Thota Venkateswarlu requires sanction before trial for acts wholly abroad. Abetment from India of acts abroad is covered too. The reach still stops at a foreigner who harms an Indian abroad by ordinary means.
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