Value of Motive under criminal Law

In the case of State of H.P. Vs. Jeet Singh reported in (1999) 4 SCC 370 : (AIR 1999 SC 1293), the Apex Court held that: "No doubt it is a sound principle to remember that every criminal act was done with a motive but its corollary is not that no criminal offence would have been committed if the prosecution has failed to prove the precise motive of the accused to commit it. When the prosecution succeeded in showing the possibility of some ire for the accused towards the victim, the inability to further put on record the manner in which such ire would have swelled up in the mind of the offender to such a degree as to impel him to commit the offence cannot be construed as a fatal weakness of the prosecution. It is almost an impossibility for the prosecution to unravel the full dimension of the mental disposition of an offender towards the person whom he offended."

         The following observations regarding motive made by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Nathuni Yadav and others v. State of Bihar and another 1997 (34) ACC 576 are worth mentioning:
"Motive for doing a criminal act is generally a difficult area for prosecution. One cannot normally see into the mind of another. Motive is the emotion which impells a man to do a particular act. Such impelling cause need not necessarily be proportionally grave to do grave crimes. Many a murders have been committed without any known or prominent motive. It is quite possible that the aforesaid impelling factor would remain undiscoverable. Lord Chief Justice Chambell struck a note of caution in 'Reg v. Palmer' thus: "but if there be any motive which can be assigned I am bound to tell you that the adequacy of that motive is of little importance. We know, from experience of Criminal Courts that atrocious crimes of this sort have been committed from very slight motives; not merely from malice and revenge, but to gain a small pecuniary advantage, and to drive off for a time pressing difficulties."

In the case of Molu and others v. State of Haryana, AIR 1976 SC 2499, the Hon'ble Apex Court held that : "It is well settled that where the direct evidence regarding the assault is worthy of credence and can be believed, the question of motive becomes more or less academic. Sometimes the motive is clear and can be proved and sometimes, however, the motive is shrouded in mystery and it is very difficult to locate the same. If, however, the evidence of the eye-witnesses is credit-worthy and is believed by the Court which has placed implicit reliance on them, the question whether there is any motive or not becomes wholly irrelevant."

Regarding motive for commission of crime, the Apex Court has observed as under in the case of Suresh Chandra Bahri v. State of Bihar AIR 1994 SC 2420 in para 21 of the report at page 2429:
"Sometimes motive plays an important role and becomes a compelling force to commit a crime and therefore motive behind the crime is a relevant factor for which evidence may be adduced. A motive is something which prompts a person to form an opinion or intention to do certain illegal act or even a legal act but with illegal means with a view to achieve that intention. In a case where there is clear proof of motive for the commission of the crime it affords added support to the finding of the Court that the accused was guilty for the offence charged with. But it has to be remembered that the absence of proof of motive does not render the evidence bearing on the guilt of the accused nonetheless untrustworthy or unreliable because most often it is only the perpetrator of the crime alone who knows as to what circumstances prompted him to a certain course of action leading to the commission of the crime."

Thus, In case of direct evidence, absence of motive looses significance.