Definition
Doing an act by the free exercise of one's will, including all natural and probable consequences that a person of ordinary prudence would know are likely to follow from the act.
Under Section 2(43) of the BNS 2023 (formerly IPC Section 39), a person is said to cause an effect voluntarily when they cause it by means they knew or had reason to believe would produce it, or when they intended to cause it through those means. The definition extends liability beyond direct and intended consequences to foreseeable consequences—bringing the doctrine of constructive liability into Indian penal law. It operates alongside Section 6 BNS (knowledge of consequences), making voluntary acts the basis of criminal liability when the natural outcome of the act was foreseen or ought to have been foreseen.
Statutory Definition
Section 2(43), Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (formerly IPC Section 39): 'A person is said to cause an effect voluntarily when he causes it by means whereby he intended to cause it, or by means which, at the time of employing those means, he knew or had reason to believe to be likely to cause it.'
Etymology & Origin
From Latin 'voluntarie' (willingly, of one's own accord) from 'voluntas' (will, choice). The concept of voluntary action as the basis of criminal responsibility is foundational in moral philosophy and criminal jurisprudence.
Full Legal Analysis
Voluntarily: The Volitional Basis of Criminal Acts
In criminal law, liability generally attaches only to voluntary acts—acts that are the product of a free, conscious will. BNS Section 2(43) gives this concept precise legal content: an act (and its consequences) is voluntary if it was intended, or if the means used were known or reasonably believed to be likely to produce the consequence. This extended definition is critical because it prevents the defence of “I didn’t intend this specific harm” where the harm was a foreseeable consequence of the voluntary act.
Extension to Natural and Probable Consequences
The definition in Section 2(43) contains two limbs: (a) intended consequences—where the person used the means intending to produce the effect; and (b) constructively intended consequences—where the means were employed knowing or having reason to believe they would likely produce the effect. The second limb is particularly important: it prevents accused persons from claiming that only their directly intended consequences were voluntary. If you fire a gun at someone at close range, all injuries and death are voluntary consequences, even if you only intended to wound.
Voluntarily Causing Hurt and Grievous Hurt
The most common application is in offences of hurt. BNS Section 114 (voluntarily causing hurt) and Section 117 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) require that the hurt be caused voluntarily—i.e., either intended or foreseeable as likely. This is proved by showing: the act was done by the accused; the act was done without compulsion or automatism; and the resulting hurt was either intended or a foreseeable consequence. Simple negligence or accident negates voluntariness.
Involuntary Acts: Absence of Volition
An act is not voluntary where: (a) it is done under compulsion (another person physically controls the actor’s body); (b) it is a reflex action or convulsion; (c) the person is in an automatism state (sleepwalking, epileptic fit—where recognised as a defence under General Exceptions, BNS Sections 14-44); or (d) the act occurs under irresistible physical force (vis absoluta). The burden of proving involuntariness rests on the accused.
Relationship with Intention and Knowledge
“Voluntarily” overlaps with “intentionally” and “knowingly” in BNS, but they are not synonymous. An intentional act is always voluntary; a voluntary act may not require specific intent—it suffices that the act was willed and the consequences were foreseeable. This allows courts to hold accused persons liable for foreseeable harms even when the specific harm was not their precise intention, provided they acted by their own free will in the first place.
“Voluntarily encompasses not just what was intended, but what was foreseen as likely. A person cannot escape criminal responsibility by pointing to a consequence they caused knowingly, simply because it was not their primary aim.”
This Term in Indian Statutes
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, 2023
"A person is said to cause an effect voluntarily when he causes it by means whereby he intended to cause it, or by means which, at the time of employing those means, he knew or had reason to believe to be likely to cause it."
Definition of voluntarily: covers both intended and foreseeable consequences
