Death by Negligence, Hurt and Grievous Hurt | Legal Reasoning for CLAT PDF Download

Section 304-A

"Whosoever causes the death of any person by doing rash or negligent act not amounting to murder, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 2 years, or fine, or both."

This section does not apply:
a. Death is caused with intention or knowledge; or
b. Death was not the immediate or proximate result of rash or negligent act; or
c. Death has arisen from any other supervening or intervening act which could not have been anticipated.

Example:
A pregnant woman, on seeing an accident, had a nervous breakdown and her pregnancy was terminated automatically. It was held as a case of unanticipated act and beyond foreseeability.

Case 1: Bala Chandra vs. State of Maharashtra

The court held:
"Criminal Negligence is the gross and culpable neglect or failure to exercise reasonable and proper care and caution to guard against injury to the public in general or to a particular individual."

Case 2: Cherubin Gregory vs. State of Bihar (AIR 1964 SC 205)

• The accused fixed up a naked live wire in the passage to a latrine so that no trespasser may come and use the latrine.
• There was no warning that the wire was live.
• A trespasser, who managed to enter the latrine without touching the wire, happened to receive a shock while coming out and died soon after.

Court Decision:
It was held that the act of the accused was an actionable wrong under Section 304-A.

• The mere fact that the person entering a land is a trespasser does not entitle the owner or occupier to inflict on him personal injury by direct violence or indirectly by doing something on the land, the effect of which he must know was likely to cause serious injury to the trespasser.

Case 3: S.N. Hussain vs. State of A.P. (AIR 1972 SC 685)

• The accused, a bus driver, found a level crossing gate open at a time when no train was scheduled to pass.
• He tried to cross the railway line, and the bus collided with an on-coming goods train, resulting in the death of four passengers and injuries to others.

Court Findings:

• The court held that there was no rashness on the part of the driver:
  "It is very clear from the evidence that the driver received no warning either from the approaching train or from passengers in the bus in sufficient time to prevent the collision. The train, while approaching the level crossing, did not give any whistle. The railway track was at a higher level, and the road was lined by babool trees, and therefore, a passing train coming from a distance was not visible from the bus."
• The court also held that there was no negligenceon the part of the driver:
  • "Where a level crossing is unmanned, it may be right to insist that the driver of a vehicle should stop and look both ways to see if a train is approaching. But where a level crossing is protected by a gateman and a gateman opened out the gate allowing vehicles to pass, it will be too much to expect of any reasonable and prudent driver to stop his vehicle and look out for any approaching train."
• The court concluded that the accident was due to the negligence of the gateman.

HURT — Section 319

"Whosoever causes bodily pain, disease or infirmity to any person is said to commit hurt."

Section 320: Grievous Hurt

The following kinds of hurts have been defined as grievous under Section 320:

1. First: Emasculation
2. Second: Permanent privation of sight of either eye
3. Third: Permanent privation of hearing of either ear
4. Fourth: Privation of any member or joint
5. Fifth: Destruction or permanent impairing of the powers of any member or joint
6. Sixth: Permanent disfiguration of head or face
7. Seventh: Fracture or dislocation of a bone or tooth
8. Eighth: Any hurt which endangers life or which causes the sufferer to be for a period of 20 days in severe bodily pain or unable to pursue ordinary pursuits of life.

Note:
Just hospitalization for 20 days does not lead to the conclusion that the person was unable to pursue ordinary pursuits of life.

Conclusion

1. An injury may be called grievous if it endangers life.
2. The nature and dimensions of the injury and its effects are such that, in the opinion of a doctor, they were sufficient to endanger the life of the victim.
3. To make it punishable, hurt and grievous hurt must have been caused voluntarily.