4.4 Doctrine of Transferred Malice

The doctrine: where the accused, with the mens rea for one offence, accidentally commits that offence upon a different victim or object — the malicious intent "transfers" to the actual result: the bullet aimed and intended to kill A strikes and kills B — the murderer's guilt is unimpaired; the intent follows the act. The rationale: the culpability is identical (a settled will to kill a human being) and the law's protection extends to every person equally — the identity of the victim is immaterial to the wrong (the R v. Saunders / Latimer tradition; the subcontinent's "transmigration of motive"). The boundaries (where the marks live): Transfer between VICTIMS, not between offences: the intent to kill transferred to the unintended victim's death (murder), but the doctrine does NOT convert an intent of one KIND into another offence's conviction — aiming a blow at A, missing, and breaking B's window is not arson-intent transferred; Different act-type blocks transfer (Latimer's limit): where the original malice is exhausted by a different manner of happening, the courts refuse the transfer; The concurrence requirement remains: the mens must still coincide with the actus — the intent abandoned before the later accidental harm does not transfer (the classic of the planned poisoning followed by an unrelated running-over); Nepali practice: the Code's scheme and the courts apply…