Principle: Whoever takes away any moveable thing from the land of any person without that person’s consent is said to commit theft. Facts: During his visit to the home of C, A asks B, the son of C, to accompany A to a forest. Neither A nor B inform C in this regard. B accompanies A to the forest.

Question

“There is no gainsaying that an able bodied youthful Jawan when physically assaulted by his superior may be in a state of provocation. The gravity of such a provocation may be heightened if the physical beating was meant to force him to submit to unnatural carnal intercourse to satisfy the superior’s lust. The store room incident involving the appellant and the deceased is alleged to have taken place when the deceased had bolted the door of the store room to keep out any intruder from seeing what was happening inside. By any standard the act of a superior to humiliate and force his subordinate in a closed room to succumb to the lustful design of the former was a potent recipe for anyone placed in the appellant’s position to revolt and retaliate against the treatment being given to him. What may have happened inside the store room if the appellant had indeed revolted and retaliated against the unbecoming conduct of the deceased is a matter of conjecture. The appellant or any one in his position may have retaliated violently to the grave peril of his tormentor. The fact of the matter, however, is that the appellant appears to have borne the assault without any retaliation against the deceased-superior and somehow managed to escape from the room…All that the evidence proves is that after the said incident
the appellant was seen crying and depressed and when asked by his colleagues, he is said to have narrated his tale of humiliation at the hands of the deceased…. That appears to have happened in the present case also for the appellant’s version is that he and his colleagues had planned to avenge the humiliation by beating up the deceased in the evening when they all assemble near the water heating point. That apart, the appellant attended to his normal duty during the day time and after the evening dinner, went to perform his guard duty at 2100 hrs.”
[Extracted from B.D Khunte v. Union of India, Criminal Appeal No. 2328 of 2014, para 12-13].

Answer 1

Check the facts against each ingredient of the definition, taking, moveable thing, from the person's land, without consent, before assuming theft occurred.

A has committed theft: No moveable item belonging to C was taken away from C's land, so the definition is not satisfied.
A has not committed theft: B merely accompanied A to the forest; nothing matching "moveable thing taken from land" occurred, so no theft is made out.
Theft as soon as A entered the home: Entry alone, without taking anything away, does not amount to theft under this definition.
No theft till B accompanied him: This wrongly treats B's act of walking along as the trigger for theft, but that act still doesn't match "taking a moveable thing from land."

The correct answer is A has not committed theft.

Answer 2

Assuming each option and checking against the elements of the definition.

A has committed theft: Assume true, then some moveable thing belonging to C must have been taken from C's land without consent. No such object is mentioned anywhere in the facts, only B walking to the forest with A, so the assumption has no object to point to.
A has not committed theft: Assume true, then no moveable thing should have been taken from C's land. That matches the facts exactly, B accompanying A is not the removal of any moveable property, so the assumption holds without strain.
Theft as soon as A entered the home: Assume true, then mere entry would have to satisfy taking a moveable thing, which stretches the definition past what it says. Entry alone involves no removal of anything, so the assumption reads a taking into an act where none occurred.
No theft till B accompanied him: Assume true, then B walking into the forest would have to itself be, or trigger, the taking of a moveable thing. B is a person accompanying A voluntarily, not an item removed from land, so this assumption also fails to locate any taking.

Only the assumption of no theft survives, since at no point do the facts describe a moveable thing being taken from C's land without consent.

Therefore, the correct answer is A has not committed theft.

Answer 3

Assuming each option and checking against the elements of the definition.

A has committed theft: Assume true, then some moveable thing belonging to C must have been taken from C's land without consent. No such object is mentioned anywhere in the facts, only B walking to the forest with A, so the assumption has no object to point to.
A has not committed theft: Assume true, then no moveable thing should have been taken from C's land. That matches the facts exactly, B accompanying A is not the removal of any moveable property, so the assumption holds without strain.
Theft as soon as A entered the home: Assume true, then mere entry would have to satisfy taking a moveable thing, which stretches the definition past what it says. Entry alone involves no removal of anything, so the assumption reads a taking into an act where none occurred.
No theft till B accompanied him: Assume true, then B walking into the forest would have to itself be, or trigger, the taking of a moveable thing. B is a person accompanying A voluntarily, not an item removed from land, so this assumption also fails to locate any taking.

Only the assumption of no theft survives, since at no point do the facts describe a moveable thing being taken from C's land without consent.

Therefore, the correct answer is A has not committed theft.

Principle: Whoever takes away any moveable thing from the land of any person without that person’s consent is said to commit theft. Facts: During his visit to the home of C, A asks B, the son of C, to accompany A to a forest. Neither A nor B inform C in this regard. B accompanies A to the forest.

Show Hint

The Correct Option is B

Approach Solution - 1

Approach Solution -2

Top Questions on Criminal Law

Questions Asked in CLAT exam