Mens rea in Criminal prosecutions under Indian law A criminal offence is committed when an act which is forbidden by law is done voluntarily. English jurists give the name of mens rea to the volition which is the motive force behind the criminal act.1 It is a fundamental principle of English criminal law that, ordinarily speaking, a crime is not committed at common law if the mind of the person doing the act is innocent.2 There must be a wrongful intention or some blameworthy condition of mind (mens rea) as an essential ingredient in a criminal offence. This principle of natural justice underlying the docrtine of mens tea is expressed in the familiar Latin maxim “actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea” (the intent and the act must both concur to constitute the crime).3 From this maxim follows another proposition, namely, actus me invito f ....