Indian criminal law | Updated 30 October 2026

Section 301 IPC and Section 102 BNS: Death of a Person Other Than the Intended Victim

Section 301 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 addresses culpable homicide where an act aimed at one person causes the death of another. Its corresponding current provision is Section 102 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

Current law: The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita came into force on 1 July 2024. Section 102 BNS corresponds to Section 301 IPC. The applicable statute for an offence depends principally on when the conduct occurred and the relevant saving provisions.

Text of Section 301 IPC and Section 102 BNS

Section 301 IPC was titled Culpable homicide by causing death of person other than person whose death was intended. Section 102 BNS retains the same rule in substantially identical terms:

If a person, by doing anything which he intends or knows to be likely to cause death, commits culpable homicide by causing the death of any person, whose death he neither intends nor knows himself to be likely to cause, the culpable homicide committed by the offender is of the description of which it would have been if he had caused the death of the person whose death he intended or knew himself to be likely to cause.

The rule concerns the legal character of the resulting homicide; it does not by itself create a separate scale of punishment.

Meaning and essential ingredients

The provision embodies the principle often called transferred intention or transferred malice. An offender cannot escape the applicable homicide liability solely because the person killed was not the intended target.

The accused performs an act intending to cause death or knowing that death is likely.
The act causes the death of a person other than the person targeted or contemplated.
The actual victim was not the person whose death the accused intended or knew to be likely.
The homicide is classified as it would have been had the contemplated person died, subject to the other requirements and exceptions of homicide law.

Illustration of Section 301 IPC / Section 102 BNS

A fires at B intending to kill B. The shot misses B and fatally strikes C, whose presence A did not anticipate. The fact that C was not the intended victim does not automatically reduce the offence to negligence. The homicide is assessed by reference to the intention or knowledge associated with A's act, together with the applicable statutory tests for murder or culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Punishment and related provisions

Section 301 IPC and Section 102 BNS do not prescribe a standalone punishment. The punishment follows the legal classification of the homicide:

Murder: Section 101 BNS defines murder, and Section 103 BNS prescribes punishment, ordinarily death or imprisonment for life and fine, subject to the statutory provisions.
Culpable homicide not amounting to murder: Section 100 BNS defines culpable homicide; Section 105 BNS specifies punishment depending on the relevant intention or knowledge.
Historical IPC provisions: Sections 299 and 300 IPC dealt with culpable homicide and murder; Sections 302 and 304 IPC prescribed the corresponding punishments.

Whether a case amounts to murder or culpable homicide not amounting to murder depends on the evidence, the statutory definitions and any applicable exceptions. An unintended victim does not, by itself, decide the classification.

Applicability after 1 July 2024

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 repealed the Indian Penal Code, 1860, subject to the saving provisions in Section 358 BNS and applicable general legal principles. For conduct occurring before 1 July 2024, the former IPC provisions may remain relevant. For conduct on or after that date, Section 102 BNS is the corresponding provision to consult.

Official statutes and correspondence

Legal note: This article provides general statutory information. Case-specific classification, defences and procedural consequences require examination of the facts and applicable law.