Clause 245 - Presumption as to culpable mental state - Direct Taxes Code Bill, 2009

Presumption as to culpable mental state 245. (1) The Court shall presume the existence of a culpable mental state on the part of the accused in a prosecution for any offence under this Code which requires such mental state on the part of the accused. (2) It shall be a defence for the accused to prove the fact that he had no culpable mental state with respect to the act charged as an offence in that prosecution. (3) For the purposes of this section "culpable mental state" includes intention, motive, knowledge of a fact, or belief in, or reason to believe, a fact. (4) For the purposes of this section, a fact is said to be proved when the court believes that its existence is established by a preponderance of probability.