Section 2 IPC - Every Person is liable to punishment for an offence under IPC committed in India

 

According to Section 2 of the Indian Penal Code " Every person shall be liable to punishment under this Code and not otherwise for every  act or omission contrary to the provisions thereof which he shall be guilty within India". 

        Section 2 deals with the inter-territorial operation of the Code. It refers to offences committed within India and declares every person shall be liable to punishment under this Code and not otherwise for every  act or omission contrary to the provisions thereof which he shall be guilty within India. 

        The term 'every person' used in the Section includes foreigners also. The moment he sets his foot on the Indian soil, he becomes liable to any  act which constitutes an offence in India. He cannot raise defense of ignorance of law. He shall be tried under the  law of the land. Moreover when a foreigner accept the protection under Indian laws shall also be obedient to Indian laws.

        A foreigner who commits an offence within India is guilty and can be punished as such without any limitation as to his corporeal presence in India at the time. The fact was that the conviction of a Pakistani national was upheld for an offence committed in India, notwithstanding he not being corporally present in India. [ Mubarak Ali Ahmed vs. State of Bombay (1957)]

        Thus to invoke the provision of the Code, it must be established that the offence for which the accused is charged was committed within the territory of India. The territory of India for the purposes of application of its laws would comprise not only its lands, its internal waters such as rivers, lakes, canals, but also that portion of sea lying along and washing its coast which is commonly called its maritime territory and extends into sea to a distance of 2 maritime miles from the baseline.

        The territory also include ships, aircrafts whether armed or unarmed and private ships of its subjects on the high seas or in foreign tidal waters and foreign private ships while within its scope.

EXCEPTIONS FROM CRIMINAL PROSECUTION

    Though according to Section 2 of the IPC, every person is liable to punishment under the code for an offence, there are certain exceptions to the general rule of criminal liability which are based on the principle of expediency, on convention or on an agreement or understanding between nations. For instance, the law provides immunity from criminal prosecution to high dignitaries, the heads of foreign governments ambassadors, diplomat agents, Consuls, United Nations representatives, the President of India and the Governors of States. This is based on the well recognized principle that the exercise of criminal jurisdiction would be incompatible with the high status and dignity which such person possess. Immunity from criminal prosecution to such persons have been universally acknowledged by all the countries.

In respect of acts of war, alien enemies can not be tried by criminal courts. If an alien enemy commits a crime unconnected with war, e.g theft, he would be triable by ordinary criminal courts.

Likewise a foreign army enjoys the privilege of exclusion from criminal jurisdiction, if such army remains with the consent of State of its soil..