Accidental Killing Of Stray Dog On Road Does Not Amount To Mischief Under Section 429 IPC: Delhi Court Sets Aside Charge Against BMW Driver

A Delhi Court last week discharged a BMW driver of the charge under Section 429 IPC in a case related to the killing of a stray dog in a road accident in June 2019. 

Section 429: Mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc., of any value or any animal of the value of fifty rupees. Whoever commits mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless, any elephant, camel, horse, mule, buffalo, bull, cow or ox, whatever may be the value thereof, or any other animal of the value of fifty rupees or upwards, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both.

Additional Sessions Judge Deepali Sharma in the judgment pronounced on November 19 said in order to attract Section 429 IPC, it is essential to prove the offence of mischief, which is the main ingredient of the provision, and for that, the court added, it is necessary to establish that the accused had the requisite intention or knowledge to cause wrongful loss or damage to public or person.

"From a bare perusal of the FIR it is manifest that the accused was driving his car on the road itself and his car had accidentally hit the stray dog as a result of which the dog died. There is no allegation in the FIR that the accused had deliberately or intentionally hit the dog or that he had gone towards the dog to hit it," said the court.

It added even though the accused was driving the car on the main road at a high speed, it cannot be said that he hit the dog in order to commit mischief as defined under Section 425 IPC which is an essential ingredient of an offence u/s 429 IPC.

"Hence, in view of the aforesaid discussion, the accused is liable to be discharged for the offence u/s 429 IPC and the impugned order dated 24.03.2022 is accordingly set aside," said the court.

The court gave the ruling on a revision petition filed by Pandav Nagar resident Puneet against a trial court order framing charge against the accused under Section 429 IPC. In the case lodged at Mayur Vihar Police Station in 2019, a woman had alleged that a BMW Driver had killed one stray dog at Mayur Vihar red light with "his car climbing upon the dog twice".  

The complainant said the person was driving at full speed and she tried to stop him but he ran away. The complaint led to registration of FIR under Section 428/429 IPC. The charge was framed by a metropolitan magistrate (MM) against the accused in March this year.

In revision, the counsel representing the accused earlier argued before the sessions court that Section 429 IPC does not apply to stray dogs and that there was no intention or knowledge as required for offence of mischief, which has been defined under Section 425 IPC. Advocate Rudrashish Bhardwaj, representing the accused, submitted that ingredients of offence of mischief are not fulfilled in the case.

"Stray dog was not the property which could be subjected to the offence u/s 429 IPC as it did not fall under the category of the animals mentioned therein," Bhardwaj argued.

The Additional Public Prosecutor argued that the trial court has rightly framed the charge against the petitioner as a dog was killed after being run over by the car, while he was driving it at a high speed.

Title: Puneet versus State of NCT of Delhi

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