Voluntarily, Section 39 IPC

 Voluntarily is defined in section 39 IPC as a person is said to cause an effect “voluntarily” when he causes it by means whereby he intended to cause it, or by means which, at the time of employing those means, he knew or had reason to believe to be likely to cause it.

For example- A sets fire, by night, to an inhabited house in a large town, for the purpose of facilitating a robbery and thus causes the death of a person. Here, A may not have intended to cause death; and may even be sorry that death has been caused by his act; yet, if he knew that he was likely to cause death, he has caused death voluntarily.

Inchoate offense

 The word inchoate comes from the Latin “to begin” or “not yet completed”. Each inchoate offense has its own elements, but they all share two elements: the mens rea of purpose or specific intent and the actus reus of taking some steps toward accomplishing the criminal purpose but not enough steps to complete the intended crime. Inchoate crimes are unique in the substantive criminal law.

The list of inchoate crimes as we have today are a very recent addition to the legal system prior to which it was widely believed among judicial circles that every crime necessarily entails criminal liability for attempting it. There was however felt a need to include a head of inchoate crimes much before, in the 16th century in England when there was seen that there was a major threat to peace and law. In the time of lawlessness, there was understood to be only one way to deal with this problem.

English jurists felt that in order to prevent such gross violations of the law, there was a need to take a sterner approach with reference to the prosecution of crimes.

Attempt to commit a crime and the abetment of the commission of that crime belong to the category of incomplete crimes or inchoate crimes injurious rather in tendency than in fact. These are also classified as crimes in the interests of social security and well-being. In civil law the attempted doing of an act which when completed is actionable, is not actionable at all.

On the other hand the attempted commission of an offence is taken serious note of by the Criminal Law and attempts are also punished with great severity.

Inchoate crimes, however, contemplate future completed crimes, crimes that have not yet occurred. In an inchoate crime, the defendant’s purpose is to bring about a future crime, and that purpose can be internally and externally conditional in all sorts of ways.

The offences of abetment, conspiracy and incitement are included in inchoate crimes.