IMPORTANT POINT
Death occurring during sudden quarrel without pre-meditation and without pore-determined motive is murder. Accused may be entitled to benefit of exception 4 to section 300 IPC.

JUDGMENT

Abhay Manohar Sapre, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. This appeal arises out of a judgment and order dated 27.01.2010 passed by the High Court of Karnataka at Bangalore whereby Criminal Appeal No. 689/2006 filed by the appellant herein arising out of judgment and order dated 01.02.2006 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Mysore in S.C. No. 306/2004 has been dismissed thereby upholding the appellant's conviction for the offence of murder punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as “the IPC”) and the sentence of imprisonment for life with a fine of Rs.10,000/-awarded to him. In default of payment of fine, the appellant has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for further period of six months. The appellant has also been convicted for the offence punishable under Section 498-A of the IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years with a fine of Rs.2,000/-. In default of payment of fine, the appellant has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for further period of two months. Substantive sentence for both the offences are directed to run concurrently.

3. The factual matrix in which the appellant came to be prosecuted and convicted has been set out in detail by the trial Court as also the High Court in the orders passed by them. Therefore, we need not recapitulate the same all over again except to the extent it is necessary to do so for the disposal of this appeal.

4. Briefly stated, the incident that eventually culminated into the death of the appellant's wife, Padma and the consequent prosecution of the appellant/husband are as follows:

(a) On 22.5.1995, Padma, the daughter of Lakshmi, PW-2 (complainant) was married to the appellant. At the time of marriage, the appellant was a trainee constable in KSRP at Bangalore. On completion of the training, the appellant was posted at Bangalore and started living with his in-laws. In 1996, the couple was blessed with their first child, a son named ‘Nandan’. The appellant with his wife and son (Nandan) shifted to his parental house at Mandya, a nearby village and started living with his parents. After sometime, the appellant sent his wife to her parents’ house for delivery where she gave birth to their second child, a son named ‘Keerthan’. In the meantime, the appellant was transferred to Mysore, therefore, he shifted with his family (wife Padma and two sons) to a place called Kurubarahalli and started living there in house bearing No. 1326/A I St. Cross.

(b) On 11.8.2004, around 10.30-11.00 p.m., the appellant got a message that his old father, who was living at Mandya, was seriously ill. The appellant asked Padma to accompany him to leave for Mandya immediately to see his father's condition. However, Padma did not agree to leave immediately but said that they can go the next day. This issue led to heated exchange between them and eventually resulted in appellant loosing his mental balance to the extent that he first alleged to have stabbed Padma with knife and then poured Kerosene and set her on fire. The appellant then took his two minor sons and locked the house by leaving Padma in the house in injured condition and left for Mandya to see his ailing father. He gave Rs.20/-and Rs.10/-to his sons and told them not to disclose the incident to anyone, which they had noticed. After two days, the appellant with his sons returned from Mandya and, in an effort to make everyone believe that Padma was alone in the house, called the neighbours to open the door. The door lock was then opened with the help of skilled labour. The neighbours, Jvaramma and others, who lived near the house, entered the house with the appellant and found the burnt dead body of Padma. Someone informed the appellant's brother-in-law at Bangalore, that Padma has been taken to K.R. Hospital for treatment for the injuries sustained by her. On receiving the information, PW-2 (Lakshmi) -mother of Padma, rushed to Kurubarahalli along with her son, R