VidhiSangh

Indian Penal Code, 1860

Section 98: Right of private defence against the act of a person of unsound mind, etc

Repealed. Repealed from 1 July 2024. Use it for offences committed before repeal and other liabilities, investigations or proceedings preserved by BNS section 358; do not use it as the current general penal code.

Chapter IV — General Exceptions

98. When an act which would otherwise be a certain offence, is not that offence, by reason of the youth, the want of maturity of understanding, the unsoundness of mind or the intoxication of the person doing that act, or by reason of any misconception on the part of that person, every person has the same right of private defence against that act which he would have if the act were that offence.

Illustrations

(a) Z, under the influence of madness, attempts to kill A; Z is guilty of no offence. But A has the same right of private defence which he would have if Z were sane.

(b) A enters by night a house which he is legally entitled to enter. Z, in good faith, taking A for a house-breaker, attacks A. Here Z, by attacking A under this misconception, commits no offence. But A has the same right of private defence against Z, which he would have if Z were not acting under that misconception.

Source: official text of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.