The correct answer is (a) Section 83.
The M’Naghten Rules are a set of rules used by English and other common law jurisdictions to determine whether the defendant was insane at the time of the crime and therefore not criminally responsible. The rules were established in 1843 by the House of Lords in the case of Daniel M’Naghten, who had shot and killed Edward Drummond, the private secretary of Prime Minister Robert Peel, believing that Drummond was the prime minister.
The M’Naghten Rules state that a person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct, as a result of a defect of reason from disease of the mind, he did not know the nature and quality of the act he was doing; or, if he did know it, that he did not know that what he was doing was wrong.
Section 83 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is titled “Insanity”. It states that “Nothing is an offence which is done by a person who, at the time of doing it, by reason of unsoundness of mind, is incapable of knowing the nature and quality of the act he is doing, or of knowing that he is doing what is wrong”.
The M’Naghten Rules are similar to Section 83 of the IPC in that they both require the defendant to be suffering from a defect of reason from disease of the mind. However, the M’Naghten Rules are more restrictive than Section 83 in that they require the defendant to not know the nature and quality of the act he was doing, or to not know that what he was doing was wrong. Section 83, on the other hand, only requires the defendant to be incapable of knowing the nature and quality of the act he was doing, or of knowing that he is doing what is wrong.
The M’Naghten Rules have been criticized for being too narrow and for not taking into account the defendant’s mental state at the time of the crime. Section 83 of the IPC has also been criticized for being too narrow, but it has been amended to include a provision that allows for the consideration of the defendant’s mental state at the time of the crime.