LEGAL PRINCIPLES: Whoever dishonestly takes away any property from the possession of another, with an intention of such taking away, without his permission is liable for theft.
FACTUAL SITUATION: Raja, a famous gangster, moves into an apartment in Kankurgachi, Calcutta. There, he discovers that the previous owner of the apartment had left behind a pair of beautiful combs and confused as to whom he should be returning them to, he decides to retain them and starts using them. The previous owner of the combs gets to know this and registers an FIR for theft against Raja. Is Raja liable?
DECISION will be ______.
LEGAL PRINCIPLES: Whoever dishonestly takes away any property from the possession of another, with an intention of such taking away, without his permission is liable for theft.
FACTUAL SITUATION: Raja, a famous gangster, moves into an apartment in Kankurgachi, Calcutta. There, he discovers that the previous owner of the apartment had left behind a pair of beautiful combs and confused as to whom he should be returning them to, he decides to retain them and starts using them. The previous owner of the combs gets to know this and registers an FIR for theft against Raja. Is Raja liable?
DECISION will be ______.
The correct option is C Raja is not liable as he has not taken it away from anyone else's possession and there was no dishonest intention
According to the principle given,
there are 3 main essentials required for committing theft. These essentials or
ingredients are-
That the taking away of
the property must be done dishonestly.-Dishonesty, as defined in section 24of
IPC, consists of two main ingredients it says that an act is done which causes
either ‘wrongful gain' or ‘wrongful loss' is said to be done dishonestly. Dishonesty
must have the element of mens rea to cause loss or gain to oneself.
That there should be an
intention of taking property from the possession of another. Such intention
must be to cause wrongful gain to oneself or wrongful loss to another.
That such taking away of property
must be done without the permission of the owner- i.e. without consent.
Applying the given principle
to the factual matrix it can be concluded that the possession of the combs was
not transferred to Raja dishonestly and there was no mens rea. Neither Raja had
the intention of causing wrongful loss or wrongful gain to the owner. The very
fact that he was confused as to whom should he give the combs back, shows that
he had the intention of returning the combs back to the rightful owner.
Therefore, it can be safely concluded that Raja didn't have the dishonest
intention to take away the combs.
According to the principle given, there are 3 main essentials required for committing theft. These essentials or ingredients are-
That the taking away of the property must be done dishonestly.-Dishonesty, as defined in section 24of IPC, consists of two main ingredients it says that an act is done which causes either ‘wrongful gain' or ‘wrongful loss' is said to be done dishonestly. Dishonesty must have the element of mens rea to cause loss or gain to oneself.
That there should be an intention of taking property from the possession of another. Such intention must be to cause wrongful gain to oneself or wrongful loss to another.
That such taking away of property must be done without the permission of the owner- i.e. without consent.
Applying the given principle to the factual matrix it can be concluded that the possession of the combs was not transferred to Raja dishonestly and there was no mens rea. Neither Raja had the intention of causing wrongful loss or wrongful gain to the owner. The very fact that he was confused as to whom should he give the combs back, shows that he had the intention of returning the combs back to the rightful owner. Therefore, it can be safely concluded that Raja didn't have the dishonest intention to take away the combs.
