Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

(10) The question, therefore, is: can a murder be an accident in any given case? There is no doubt that 'murder', as it is understood, in the common parlance is a felonious act where death is caused with intent and the perpetrators of that act will normally have a motive against the victim for such killing. But, there are also instances where murder can be by accident on a given set of facts. The difference between a 'murder' which is not an accident, and a 'murder' which is an accident depends on the proximity of the cause of such murder. In our opinion, if the dominant intention of the act of felony is to kill any particular person then such killing is not an accidental murder but is a murder simpliciter, while if the cause of murder or the act of murder was originally not intended and the same was caused in furtherance of any other felonious act then such murder is accidental murder."