Insanity as a Legal Defense with Special Reference to the Law in Pakistan

Abstract

Much Crime is the combination of two elements namely the ‘actusreas’ and ‘mensrea’ is considered to have been committed when both these elements exist and are proven against the accused. Of these elements, ‘mensrea’ is the guilty state of mind with which a crime is committed. Hence, the law, under circumstances the mental capacity of a person is impaired due to some disease, allows legal defences for persons suffering from such mental conditions. Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 provides for a general defence of insanity to a person who, due to unsoundness of mind, cannot understand what he is doing or differentiate between right