(1)Except as provided in this section and in section 86, intoxication shall not constitute a defence to any criminal charge.
Section history
Section 85 — Intoxication when a defence
Consolidated view is experimental and may be broken for certain provisions.
Amendments
Subsection (2) — Original text to 1 January 2020superseded
(2)Intoxication shall be a defence to any criminal charge if by reason thereof the person charged at the time of the act or omission complained of did not know that such act or omission was wrong or did not know what he was doing and —
(a)the state of intoxication was caused without his consent by the malicious or negligent act of another person; or
(b)the person charged was, by reason of intoxication, insane, temporarily or otherwise, at the time of such act or omission.
[Indian PC 1860, s. 85]
Subsection (2) — From 1 January 2020 (current)rewritten by Criminal Law Reform Act 2019
(2)Intoxication is a defence to any criminal charge if by reason of the intoxication the person charged, at the time of the act or omission complained of —
(a)did not know what he was doing; or
(b)did not know that such act or omission was wrong (whether wrong by the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest persons or wrong as contrary to law)2022,
and the state of intoxication was caused without the knowledge or against the will of the person charged with the offence.
(2A)Subsection (2)(b) only applies if the person charged, at the time of the act or omission complained of, did not know that the act or omission —
(a)was wrong by the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest persons; and
(b)was wrong as contrary to law.
(3)Intoxication is a defence to any criminal charge if by reason of the intoxication the person charged was of unsound mind as determined in accordance with section 84.