PROJECT

REPORT
ON
INDIAN PENAL
CODE

HURT AND
GREVIOUS HURT
UILS
SEMESTER :-6th

Submitted to :Submitted by :DR.PUSHPINDER

Abhilash chagti
133/10

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am equally grateful to my teacher DR.PUSHPINDER. She gave me moral support and
guided me in different matters regarding the topic. She had been very kind and patient while
suggesting me the outlines of this project and correcting my doubts. I thank her for all
support. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my parents and my partner who helped
me a lot in gathering different information, collecting data and guiding me from time to time
in making this project .Despite of my parent's busy schedules, they gave me different ideas in
making this project unique. I and my friend put a team effort to complete this project.
Thanking you

TABLE OF CASES

Section 319. Hurt

Whoever causes bodily pain, disease or infirmity to any person is said to cause hurt. To be
caused by direct physical contact between the accused and the victim . Hurt must have been
caused by some voluntarily act of the accused, causing of nervous shock or mental
derangement by some voluntarily act of the offender is covered by this section. The duration
of the state of mental infirmity is immaterial. Acts which or neither neither intended nor
likely to cause death amount to hurt or grievous hurt according to the nature of the injury
caused even though death has resulted therefore. 1
Bodily pains, except so slight a harm of which no person of ordinarily sense or temper would
complain off is covered by the definition of hurt. Pulling a women by hairs is hurt .
Infirmity, infirmity means inability of an organ to perform its normal function which may be
temporary or permanent. It states unsound or unhealthy state of mind.
Act neither nor likely to cause death, where there is no intention to cause death or bodily
injury as is likely to cause death or there is no knowledge that death is likely to be caused
from harm inflicted.
Case: Jashamna Jhamkilal vs Brahmanand2
(It was held that person causing shock to person with weak heart is said to have cause heart .
Case; Daniram vs emperor 3
(When injury is not serious and no intension to cause death , although death caused.)

Case: Bysago mashyo case

In this man was kicked and his spleen was enlarged. Person to be held guilty under section
219.
Case : beshor bawa case:
Section 320. Grievous hurt
S. 320 defines grievous hurt and lists eight kinds of hurt which it lables as
grievous. These clauses are not mutually exclusive, for there can be injuries
which may fall in more than one clause. However, the list is exhaustive in the
1 Prof. S. N Mishra , Indian penal code
2 AIR 1944
3 AIR 1913 Page 104

sense that, the framers of the Code have used the term only, while listing the
type of hurts which they designated as grievous.
To make out the offence of voluntarily causing grievous hurt, there must
be a specific hurt, voluntarily inflicted, and coming within any of the eight kinds
enumerated in this section. A simple hurt cannot be designated as grievous
simply because it was on a vital part of the body, unless the dimensions or the
nature of the injury or its effects are such that it actually endangers life. In the
backdrop of the verdicts by the Honble courts wherein it was held that the
extent of the hurt and the intention of offender should be considered to
determine whether a given hurt is grievous, an attempt is made in this article to
review the Section with a view to put forward certain fallacies.
Introduction:
Section 320 of the Indian Penal Code is derived from the French Penal
Code (Article 309), unlike most of the IPC, which has been derived from the
English Law (Offences against the person Act of 1861). The authors of the Code
observed We have found it very difficult to draw a line between those bodily
hurts which are serious and those which are slight. To draw such a line with
perfect accuracy is, indeed absolutely impossible; but it is far better that such a
line should be drawn, though rudely, than that offences some of which approach
in enormity to murder, while others are little more than frolics which a goodnatured man would hardly resent, would be classed together. S 320 IPC defines
grievous hurt and lists eight kinds of hurt which it lables as grievous. These
clauses are not mutually exclusive for there can be injuries which may fall in
more than one clause. However, the list is exhaustive in the sense that, the
framers of the Code have used the term only, while listing the type of hurts
which they designated as grievous. This positively shows that the list is
exhaustive and no hurt outside the list given in S. 320 can be termed as
grievous hurt.

The following kinds of hurt only are designated as "grievous":First

Emasculation.

SecondlyThirdlyFourthlyFifthlySixthly-

Permanent privation of the sight of either eye

Permanent privation of the hearing of either ear,
Privation of any member or joint.
Destruction or permanent impairing of the powers of any member or joint.
Permanent disfiguration of the head or face.

Seventhly
-

Fracture or dislocation of a bone or tooth.

Eighthly-

Any hurt which endangers life or which causes the sufferer to be during the
space of twenty days in severe bodily pain, or unable to follow his ordinary
pursuits.

.
First Emasculation:
This clause is restricted only to the males, they being the victims of the
said offence. Emasculation means depriving a man of his masculine vigour or

the unsexing of a male or depriving him of his virility. This Section is meant
usually to counteract the common practice of squeezing a persons testicles on
slightest provocation.What is required by law is that the impotency caused must
be permanent and not merely temporary and curable. An injury to the scrotum
and the underlying testicles may not only lead to emasculation but even death. It
is a form of assault which is extremely liable to prove fatal. In that case, the
accused would be guilty of not only grievous hurt but of culpable homicide.
Interestingly, there is no female counterpart to emasculation. A woman is
considered to be a passive agent in sexual intercourse, as per law, and hence,
the question of potency/ impotency of a woman does not arise.
Secondly Permanent privation of the sight of either eye:
The injury must be such that the person is permanently deprived of the
use of one or both of his eyes. The test of gravity is the permanency of injury.
Examples given: gouging out an eye or poking it with a stick.
This makes the injury grievous because
a) It causes permanent privation of sight of the affected eye Cl.2
b) It leads to permanent privation of any member or joint Cl. 4
c) It leads to destruction (or permanent impairment) of the powers of any
member Cl. 5 and
It leads to permanent disfigurement of the head or face
Case: Vasappa Vallappa Bhanj vs State of karnatka :

Case: Gangaram case:

Thirdly: Similar views are expressed for the privation of hearing.
Fourthly Permanent privation of any member or joint:
The term member used in this section means an organ or a limb, being
part of a man capable of performing a distinct function or any part of the body
which has a separate morphological and functional identity. As such, it includes
the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet and, in fact, all distinct parts of the
human body designed to perform a distinct function.
Sixthly Permanent disfiguration of head or face
Disfiguration means a change of configuration and personal appearance
of the individual by some external injury which does not weaken him/ her, e.g.
cutting of nostrils or ears, gauzing of the eyes, deep scars on the face, etc.
However, the gravity of the disfigurement or the grievousness of the injury may
not be the same in all persons.
Seventhly Fracture or dislocation of a bone or tooth:
The fracture or dislocation of a bone does not cause permanent disability.
It will rejoin or be set without leaving any trace of the injury. However, the injury
has been graded as grievous because of the intense suffering it gives rise to or
the severe (temporary) disability it causes to the sufferer.
A fracture is not defined in the IPC. If there is a break by cutting or splintering of
the bone or there is a rupture or fissure in it, it would amount to a fracture within
the meaning of Cl. (7) of S. 320. What the court has to see is whether the cuts in
the bones noticed in the injury report are superficial or do they effect a break in

them. A scratch or a cut which does not go across the bone cannot be said to be
a fracture within the meaning of S. 320; the principle is that when the evidence
is merely that a bone had been cut and there was nothing whatever to indicate
the extent of the cut, whether deep or a mere scratch on the surface, it is
impossible to infer from the evidence alone that grievous hurt had been caused.
Eighthly endangers life
The IPC distinguishes three kinds of injuries, based on the gravity of the
danger posed to the life of the victim:
1. Any hurt which endangers life Eigthly, S. 320
2. Bodily injury as is likely to cause death S.290/ 2ndly. S 300.
3. Bodily injury sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death 3rdly
S. 300
Hence distinction between these three types of injuries must be made.
Any bodily injury which is likely to cause death would certainly be one which
would endanger life. The injury, the possible result of which may be death, would
be an injury which endangers life. But an injury cannot be said to be likely to
cause death merely because death is possible.

Case: Abdul wahab case

Case: pritam singh case:
In this the accused hurt women for 17 days.

SECTION :321. Voluntarily causing hurt

Whoever does any act with the intention of thereby causing hurt to any person, or with the
knowledge that he is likely thereby to cause hurt to any person, and does thereby cause hurt
to any person, is said "voluntarily to cause hurt".
SECTION 322. Voluntarily causing grievous hurt
Whoever voluntarily causes hurt, if the hurt which he intends to cause or knows himself to be
likely to cause is grievous hurt, and if the hurt which he causes grievous hurt, is said
"voluntarily to cause grievous hurt."
Explanation- A person is not said voluntarily to cause grievous hurt except when he both
causes grievous hurt and intends or knows himself to be likely to cause grievous hurt. But he
is said voluntarily to cause grievous hurt, if intending or knowing himself to be likely to
cause grievous hurt of one kind, he actually causes grievous hurt of another kind.
Illustration
A, intending or knowing. himself to be likely permanently to disfigure Z's face, gives Z a
blow which does not permanently disfigure Z's face, but which cause Z to suffer severe
bodily pain for the space of twenty days. A has voluntarily caused grievous hurt.
323. Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt

Whoever, except in the case provided for by section 334, voluntarily causes hurt, shall be
punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year,
or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.
Case: public prosecutor vs N.S murthi 4
Case: Picha Pillai vs State
Case: Badruddin v. State of U.P, 5
Facts : Nizamudin was armed with knife and the appellant Badruddin , Hafiz and siddiqui
were armed with lathis .It is alleged taht nizzamudin dealt blows and siddiqui dealt blows
with lathi upon the deceased . When mohd. Usman , mohd. Hanif and ali hazme tried ton
intervene they were attacked with lathis by appellant and hafiz.the allegation was against the
appellant that he with three others had caused death of deceased. The appellant dealt blows
with lathi not to deceased but to other witness.
Held ; It was held that no over act in regard to assaulting deceased is attributed to appleant .
there is no direct evidence of common intension . there is no evidence of exhortation by him
or of the fact that with view to keep the said witness away from interfering and to facilitate
nizamudin to kill the deceased the appellant assaulted the said witness therefore having
regard to facys and circumstances of the caseot is not possible to arrive at the conclusions that
the appleant and others shared common intension to kill the deceased. Thus appellant under
302/34 is not sunstanable. Thus under section 323/34 indian penal code awarded by courts
below was confirmed.
Case: Bhima vs State of Maharashtra,

It is alleged that about 22 formed an unlawfully assembly with common object of murdering
Vithal and causing injury to Bimrao brother of Vithal and also to cause damage to the wada
at Dambaldar . These persons who attached were armed with sticks or pelted stones which
they could find anywhere either near the fields or on their way. It was not established as to
who specifically attacked whom. It was not intension to cause death but was to give hard
beatings. The court said even if we pursue that the Vithal was pursued right up to the Wada
the object was to teach him a stern lesson that is said to be bully in the village. the Court held
that reasonable interference was to commit offence under 323 and section 325 read with
section 147/149 of IPC and not under section 302 read with section 149 of IPC. Thus the
accused Appellant. Thus the accused appellant persons were held to be acquitted of the
charges under 302 read with 149 of IPC.

4 1973 cri. L.J . 1237

5 A.I.R 1998 S.C. 3293
6 2002, Cri. L.J.4293 (S.C)

SECTION 325. Punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt

Whoever, except in the case provided for by section 335, voluntarily causes grievous hurt,
shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to
seven years, and shall also be liable to fine. .

Case ; State of Harayana vs Mange Ram7 , the respondent mange ram attacked the deceased
by giving a lathi blow on his left calf , his son Krishna gave a pharsa blow on his right foot
and the other son joginder singh hit him with ballam on the right calf and kaptan singh
brother in law of mange ram gave him a lathi blow on left wrist.joginder gave blow on left
elbow of deceased felling him on the ground whereafter all the four accused inglicted more
injuries on the deceased while he was flying on the ground. After inflicting these injuries
they ran away from the place of occurrence which was witnessed by PW -5 , bhim singh and
one sant ram in front of whose the deceased was smoking. The doctor was not cleared that
death was due to the reaction or due to any injury being caused
Held: session judge concluded that cause of death cannot be regarded as by reaction as doctor
of post martem haSs regognised that death was due to injury being caused in the liver. Thus
supreme court held that being evidence on medical examination being true the court must
regard the punishmentunder section 325 and 326 read with section 34 of Indian penal code.
326. Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means Whoever, except in the case provided for by section 335, voluntarily causes grievous hurt by
means of any instrument for shooting, stabbing or cutting, or any instrument which, used as a
weapon of offence, is likely to cause death, or by means of fire or any heated substance, or by
means of any poison or any corrosive substance, or by means of any explosive substance, or
by means of any substance which it is deleterious to the human body to inhale, to swallow, or
to receive into the blood, or by means of any animal, shall be punished with
152[imprisonment for life], or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may
extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Case: Atmaram Zingaraji vs. State of Maharashtra 8
Facts: Nine person were tried for murder of prahlad under 302 read with section 149 and for
some other reason as well. Eight out of nine were acquitted by lower court that that they were
not involved in any of offence., while appellant alone was convicted.as per reprt no one
formed lawfully assembly .
Held: it was held that evidence also disclosed that death was not caused by injuries inflicted
by accused alone , on contrary the evidence of eye witness and doctors who conducted post7 2003 cri.L.J 830 (S.C)
8 1997 cri. L. J. 4406 (S.C)

mortem indicated that death was due to multiple injuries by various weapons. In view of such
, court put aside charges of 302/149 and under section 326 for grevious hurt.
CASE :Mayandi v. State , represented by inspector of police9
Facts :The appellant was an employee working in the kitchen of palmgrove hotel,chennnai.
At about evening on 8th feb 2005 when the accused was retuning after the chcking ofb hotel,
appellant attacked with a sickle and caused several injuries.some person who were around
came to rescue the accused.but accused ran away from the spot. An FIR therefore was
recored for offence under section 307 IPC . later deceased died and appellant was charge
under section 302 ipc.
Held: it was held that as per doctors report that death is not caused by heart attack but by
injuries made thus the appellant was held responsible under section 326 and not under section
302 as ther was no intension on part of appealnt to cause death of the person.

SECTION 327. Voluntarily causing hurt to extort property, or to constrain to an illegal

act -Whoever voluntarily causes hurt, for the purpose of extorting from the sufferer, or from
any person interested in the sufferer, any property or valuable security, or of constraining the
sufferer or any person interested in such sufferer to do anything which is illegal or which may
facilitate the commission of an offence, shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
SECTION 328. Causing hurt by means of poison, etc. with intent to commit an offence
-Whoever administers to or causes to be taken by any person any poison or any stupefying,
intoxicating or unwholesome drug, or other thing with intent to cause hurt to such person, or
with intent to commit or to facilitate the commission of an offence or knowing it to be likely
that he will thereby cause hurt, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for
a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
SECTION 329. Voluntarily causing grievous hurt to extort property, or to constrain to
an illegal act -Whoever voluntarily causes grievous hurt for the purpose of extorting from the
sufferer or from any person interested in the sufferer any property or valuable security, or of
constraining the sufferer or any person interested in such sufferer to do anything that is illegal
or which may facilitate the commission of an offence, shall be punished with
152[imprisonment for life], or imprisonment of either description for a term which may
extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
SECTION 330. Voluntarily causing hurt to extort confession, or to compel restoration of
property -Whoever voluntarily causes hurt for the purpose of extorting from the sufferer or
from any person interested in the sufferer, any confession or any information which may lead
to the detection of an offence or misconduct, or for the purpose of constraining the sufferer or
any person interested in the sufferer to restore or to cause the restoration of any property or
9 2010 cri. L.J 4704 (S.C)

valuable security or to satisfy any claim or demand, or to give information which may lead to
the restoration of any property or valuable security, shall be punished with imprisonment of
either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Illustrations
(a) A, a police-officer, tortures Z in order to induce Z to confess that he committed a crime. A
is guilty of an offence under this section.
(b) A, a police-officer, tortures B to induce him to point out where certain stolen property is
deposited. A is guilty of an offence under this section.
(c) A, a revenue officer, tortures Z in order to compel him to pay certain arrears of revenue
due from Z. A is guilty of an offence under this section.
(d) A, a zamindar, tortures a raiyat in order to compel him to pay his rent. A is guilty of an
offence under this section.
SECTION 331. Voluntarily causing grievous hurt to extort confession, or to compel
restoration of property -Whoever voluntarily causes grievous hurt for the purpose of
extorting from the sufferer or from any person interested in the sufferer any confession or any
information which may lead to the detection of an offence or misconduct, or for the purpose
of constraining the sufferer or any person interested in the sufferer to restore or to cause the
restoration of any property or valuable security, or to satisfy any claim or demand or to give
information which may lead to the restoration of any property or valuable security, shall be
punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years,
and shall also be liable to fine.
SECTION332. Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty Whoever voluntarily causes hurt to any person being a public servant in the discharge of his
duty as such public servant, or with intent to prevent or deter that person or any other public
servant from discharging his duty as such public servant, or in consequence of anything done
or attempted to be done by that person in the lawful discharge of his duty as such public
servant, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may
extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.
SECTION 333. Voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty
-Whoever voluntarily causes grievous hurt to any person being a public servant in the
discharge of his duty as such public servant, or with intent to prevent or deter that person or
any other public servant from discharging his duty as such public servant, or in consequence
of anything done or attempted to be done by that person in the lawful discharge of his duty as
such public servant, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term
which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
334. Voluntarily causing hurt on provocation

Whoever voluntarily causes hurt on grave and sudden provocation, if he neither intends nor
knows himself to be likely to cause hurt to any person other than the person who gave the
provocation, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may
extend to one month, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both.
335. Voluntarily causing grievous hurt on provocation
Whoever 153[voluntarily] causes grievous hurt on grave and sudden provocation, if he
neither intends nor knows himself to be likely to cause grievous hurt to any person other than
the person who gave the provocation, shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to four years, or with fine which may extend to two
thousand rupees, or with both.
Explanation- The last two sections are subject to the same provisos as Explanation 1, section
300.
336. Act endangering life or personal safety of others
Whoever does any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life or the personal
safety of others, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which
may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to two hundred and fifty rupees,
or with both.
337. Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others
Whoever causes hurt to any person by doing any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger
human life, or the personal safety of others, shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to five
hundred rupees, or with both.
338. Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others
Whoever causes grievous hurt to any person to doing any act so rashly or negligently as to
endanger human life, or the personal safety of others, shall be punished with imprisonment of
either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend
to one thousand rupees, or with both.