TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1987 (4) TMI 503
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....he defence plea of mistake of fact under Section 79 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The evidence on record shows that the respondent and the deceased had strained relations over grazing of catties. On the date of incident the deceased had gone to the house of PW 2 for recital of Bhagbat. Some other villagers including the respondent was also present there. At about 10 p.m. recital of Bhagbat was over and the deceased returned to the house. Some time thereafter, a hue and cry was raised from near the house of the respondent. Several villagers including PWs 2, 3, 4 and 5 ran to the place. They saw the deceased lying on the ground in a pool of blood with a head injury. The respondent along with his mother and wife were tending the deceased and....
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....ensil. Admittedly, it was a dark night. The defence plea was that the respondent had been apprehensive of further theft of his bell-metal utensils. When he found someone near the pond, he asked who the person was. As there was no response, believing that person to be a thief, he assaulted him but thereafter discovered that it was the deceased. The High Court held that in the circumstances, the respondent had not committed any offence and was protected under Section 79 of the Indian Penal Code. It accepted that the onus to establish the facts to sustain the plea of mistake of fact under Section 79 lay on the respondent and he had to establish his plea of reasonable probability or, in other words, on preponderance of probability either by add....
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.... of the accused and the circumstances under which he acted. 'Good faith' requires not logical infallibility but due care and attention. The question of good faith is always a question of fact to be determined in accordance with the proved facts and circumstances of each case. 'Mistake of fact' as put succinctly in Ratanlal and Dhirajlal's Law of Crimes, 23rd edn, p. 199 means: 'Mistake' is not mere forgetfulness. It is a slip 'made, not by design, but by mischance'. Mistake, as the term is used in jurisprudence, is an erroneous mental condition, conception or conviction induced by ignorance, misapprehension or misunderstanding of the truth, and resulting in some act or omission done or suffered e....
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....of an animal and fired at it which unfortunately hit two military officers. There was nothing to show that the accused knew that there was a military camp or that any military exercise was going on. The question was whether the accused was liable for having committed an offence punishable under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code. The Court held that the accused was protected by Section 79 observing. If he mistook something else as an animal, then Section 79 Penal Code comes to his rescue. That was a case where the accused under a bona fide mistake shot at an object thinking him to be an animal and the mistake was held to be one made in good faith. In Dhara Singh v. Emperor AIR 1947 Lah 249 it was held that the accused was labo....
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.... was a tiger and he accordingly assailed it with his axe. These considerations do not arise in the present case. There was complete absence of good faith on the part of the respondent. It cannot be doubted that the deceased and the respondent were having strained relations and the respondent knew full well that the deceased had come for the recital of Bhagbat at the house of PW 2 which he attended along with others. From the dying declaration as well as the extra-judicial confession it is apparent that the deceased after the recital of Bhagbat had gone near the pond to take the bell-metal utensil. Apparently, the respondent was waking for an opportunity to settle the account when he struck the deceased with the lathi blow and there was n....