Automatism and Section 84, IPC A Proposed Amendment

Abstract

India does not have a statutory framework for dealing with cases of automatism: the state of total loss of control over one’s actions. Over the years, this has culminated into the judiciary utilising Section 84 of the IPC (unsoundness of mind) to deal with the conviction or acquittal of automatons. In this piece, the author argues that a new statutory framework is necessary. The author first looks at the problems with approaching automatism under the unsoundness framework, before drafting the new amended Section 84A that aims to encompass the defence of automatism. The author suggests phraseological changes to the unamended Section 84 that they then justify through the course of their paper. The argument is such: Section 84 needs to be amended to include automatism, and the paper proposes an amendment to that end.