ELEMENTS OF CRIME
What is a crime? Simply stated crime is violation of criminal code i.e., an act prohibited by law
which causes injury to the public. To understand what crime is we need to learn what the
elements of crime is, these elements generally play a huge role in every criminal cases.
The following are four basic elements of crime:
1. Accused person
2. Mens rea
3. Actus reus
4. Injury
Accused person: In order to commit a crime it is important for somebody to commit it. The term
person can include a company/ a body of persons / an association [Section 11 of IPC].
Mens rea: The term mens rea means guilty mind in Latin, A mere person cannot commit a crime
unless the person has an intention or a guilty mind to do so.
(Both Mens rea and Actus reas together are important to create an offence)
Actus reus: Merely possessing intention does not constitute a crime, acting on the intention and
doing something in furtherance does,
(Actus reus could be doing an act or omission to perform an action; which leads to completion of
an offence)
Injury: This is the basic element of crime. If a person does not face any kind of injury there is
no crime. [Section 44 of IPC] defines injury as “any harm whatever illegally caused to any
person, in body, mind, reputation or property”.
However some crimes does not require injuries to anybody.
