An offence committed in the heat of passion during a sudden quarrel, without prior premeditation or cruel conduct by the assailant, constitutes culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Exception 4 of Section 300 IPC, rather than murder punishable under Section 302 IPC.

Judgement on Board

Per Ramesh Sinha, C.J.

1. Present is a criminal appeal under Section 374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure filed by the appellant against the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 06.12.2023 passed by the learned Second Additional Sessions Judge, Mahasamund (C.G.) in Sessions Trial No. 30/2023, whereby the learned trial Court has convicted the appellant under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him in the following manner:

2. The brief facts of the case are that on the intervening night of 12.02.2023 and 13.02.2023 at about 11:30 PM, when the appellant went to the house of the deceased Lalita Thakur and asked for water, the deceased refused to give water and rebuked him, on which the appellant, in a fit of anger, assaulted her by means of a tangiya, causing injuries on her head. Hearing the cries, nearby persons gathered and the deceased was found in an injured and unconscious condition. She was immediately taken to Community Health Centre, Bagbahara and thereafter referred to Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Hospital, Raipur for further treatment. During the course of treatment, the deceased succumbed to the injuries on 17.02.2023. Intimation regarding the incident was given to the police by eyewitness Narendra Diwan, upon which merg intimation was recorded and thereafter the matter was registered and investigated.

3. The inquest (Exhibit P-3) was prepared by the police in the presence of witnesses, and the dead body of the deceased Lalita Thakur was sent for postmortem to Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Hospital, Raipur, where PW-12/Dr. Nagendra Singh Sonwani conducted the postmortem and issued report (Exhibit P-11). During postmortem, the doctor noticed multiple stitched wounds over the head, including a “C”-shaped sutured wound of 28 cm on the left side of the scalp, another sutured wound of 9 cm on the right temporal region, along with surgical intervention marks. On internal examination, fractures of skull bones, extradural haemorrhage, subdural haemorrhage, and subarachnoid haemorrhage were found in different regions of the brain, and the brain was swollen and congested. The doctor opined that the cause of death was head injury caused by hard and blunt object, resulting in haemorrhage, and the death was homicidal in nature.

The merg intimation (Exhibit P-2) was recorded on the basis of information given by eyewitness Narendra Diwan, and thereafter FIR was registered for the offence under Section 307 IPC, which was later converted into Section 302 IPC after the death of the deceased. The spot map (Exhibit P-3) and Patwari map (Exhibit P-5) were prepared. During the investigation, memorandum statement of the accused (Exhibit P-7) was recorded, pursuant to which one iron tangiya, blood-stained jacket and jeans were seized vide seizure memo (Exhibit P-8). Blood-stained articles, including stone pieces from the spot and a blood-stained cloth, were also seized (Exhibits P-4 and P-10). The seized articles were sent for FSL examination, and as per the FSL report (Exhibit P-34), human blood was detected on the tangiya, clothes of the accused and other seized articles. Statements of witnesses under Section 161 Cr.P.C. were recorded. After completion of the investigation, charge sheet was filed against the