Section 313 IPC: Causing Miscarriage Without Woman's Consent
Section 313 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 dealt with the serious offence of causing a pregnant woman to miscarry without her consent. The provision applied whether or not the woman was "quick with child" and prescribed punishment extending to imprisonment for life.
Text and meaning of Section 313 IPC
Whoever commits the offence defined in the preceding section without the consent of the woman, whether the woman is quick with child or not, is punishable with imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and is also liable to fine.
Section 313 must be read with Section 312 IPC. Section 312 dealt with voluntarily causing a woman with child to miscarry, subject to its statutory exception where the miscarriage was caused in good faith for the purpose of saving the woman's life. Section 313 addressed the aggravated situation in which the offence under Section 312 was committed without the woman's consent.
Essential ingredients of the offence
For Section 313 IPC to apply, the prosecution was required to establish the factual ingredients of causing miscarriage contemplated by Section 312 and the additional requirement that the act was done without the consent of the pregnant woman. The statutory wording expressly made it immaterial for Section 313 whether the woman was "quick with child".
1. The woman must be pregnant
The provision concerned miscarriage of a "woman with child". The existence of pregnancy and the alleged act causing miscarriage are therefore central factual matters.
2. The accused must cause the miscarriage
Section 313 incorporates the offence described in Section 312. There must accordingly be a legally attributable act causing miscarriage, subject to the terms of Section 312.
3. Absence of the woman's consent
Lack of consent is the distinguishing element of Section 313. A miscarriage caused without the pregnant woman's consent attracted the more severe punishment prescribed by this provision.
4. "Quick with child" is not required
The section expressly applied whether the woman was quick with child or not. This distinguished the aggravated offence from the punishment structure contained in Section 312.
Punishment under Section 313 IPC
A person convicted under Section 313 could be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term extending up to ten years, and was also liable to fine. The historical expression "transportation for life" was replaced by "imprisonment for life" by Act 26 of 1955 with effect from 1 January 1956.
Classification under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
| Nature | Cognizable |
|---|---|
| Bail | Non-bailable |
| Trial | Triable by the Court of Session |
| Maximum punishment | Imprisonment for life, or imprisonment up to ten years, and fine |
Under the First Schedule to the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the offence under Section 313 IPC was classified as cognizable and non-bailable and was triable by a Court of Session.
Consent and the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act
The concept of consent is also central to lawful termination of pregnancy under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971. Under Section 3(4) of that Act, subject to the statutory rule concerning a woman below eighteen years of age or a mentally ill person, a pregnancy cannot be terminated except with the consent of the pregnant woman. The MTP Act separately regulates when and where a pregnancy may lawfully be terminated by a registered medical practitioner.
The MTP Act and Section 313 IPC operated in different but related fields: the MTP Act laid down conditions for lawful medical termination, while Section 313 IPC criminalised causing miscarriage without the woman's consent in the circumstances covered by Sections 312 and 313.
Related IPC provisions
The surrounding provisions addressed connected offences concerning pregnancy, unborn children and birth. Section 312 IPC dealt with causing miscarriage; Section 314 IPC dealt with death caused by an act done with intent to cause miscarriage; Section 315 IPC concerned acts intended to prevent a child being born alive or to cause it to die after birth; and Section 316 IPC concerned causing the death of a quick unborn child by an act amounting to culpable homicide.
Important distinction between Sections 312 and 313 IPC
The principal distinction was consent. Section 312 contained the basic offence of voluntarily causing miscarriage and prescribed different punishment depending on whether the woman was quick with child. Section 313 applied when that offence was committed without the woman's consent and prescribed a substantially higher punishment, including the possibility of imprisonment for life.
Legal note
The application of Section 313 depended on the evidence and facts of each case, including proof of pregnancy, causation, the acts attributed to the accused and absence of consent. This article describes the statutory position before commencement of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and should be read with the law applicable to the date of the alleged offence.