A 40-year-old man with schizophrenia is charged with murder. The defence claims he did not know the nature and quality of his act. The legal standard being invoked is:

• A Irresistible impulse test
• B M'Naghten rules ✓
• C Durham rule (product test)
• D American Law Institute (ALI/Model Penal Code) test

Explanation

The M'Naghten rules (1843, England) are the legal standard for criminal insanity used in India (under Section 84 of the IPC/BNS). They state a person is not criminally responsible if, at the time of the act, due to disease of the mind, they either: (1) did not know the nature and quality of the act, or (2) did not know it was wrong. The Durham rule (product test) excuses if the act was the 'product' of mental disease. The ALI/MPC test adds a volitional prong (inability to conform conduct). The irresistible impulse test focuses on loss of control. M'Naghten rules are exclusively cognitive.

Reference: Kaplan & Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry, 11th ed.

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