Insanity defence: A madness

Often some research on a subject matter can trigger you to do a lot of scrutinizing to know more about it, and this is one such topic. “Insanity Defence” is a means in criminal law of the Indian Legal System to protect an accused from the culpability of a wrongful offence. A person, who is completely unaware of his surroundings, or oblivious about the distinction between right and wrong, shouldn't be punished. "Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea" - as per this legal maxim, for any action to be considered unlawful, the accused person should do it with a guilty mind, along with the physical act. It is an infringement of fundamental and human rights, under the Constitution of India, when a person is punished for an offence for which he is not accountable.

To analyze and comprehend the concept of such defence of insanity, we shall look into the evolution of the rules and principles of unsoundness of mind or insanity in English law and its influence on Indian laws.

It is also to be noted that insanity defence is a legal concept and hence, merely suffering from a mental illness is not adequate to prove insanity. To prove insanity the burden of proof is on the accused, who needs to provide the court with evidence, like “preponderance of the evidence” in the civil case. The focus of this paper is on the idea of insanity in law and how it became a loophole in the present judicial system.