When a homicide occurs in a sudden fight, in the heat of passion, without premeditation or undue advantage taken, it qualifies under Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC, converting the offense from murder (Section 302) to culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304).

Judgment on Board

Per Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice.

1. This appeal has been filed under Section 374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, ‘Cr.P.C.’) against the judgment of conviction and sentence dated 03.01.2024 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Balodabazar, District Balodabazar-Bhatapara (C.G.) in Sessions Case No. 37/2022, whereby the appellant has been convicted for the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life along with a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, and in default of payment of fine, to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months.

2. Brief facts of the case are that on 07.04.2022 at about 11:40 a.m., the police of Police Station Rajadevari (Police Outpost Baya) received a telephonic information regarding the death of Jagatram Thakur at village Chhatauladabara. Upon receiving the said information, the police proceeded to the spot for verification, where they found the son of the deceased, namely Chitrasen Thakur, who lodged a Dehati Merg Intimation (Ex. P/1). In the said intimation, he stated that on the evening of 06.04.2022 at about 07:00 p.m., while he was returning from his fields, his wife Santoshi Bai informed him that his younger brother, Phulsingh Thakur @ Petlu, had assaulted their father with a burning piece of wood as the deceased had forbidden him from selling ‘Mahua’.

3. There was an eyewitness to the incident, namely Sukdev Yadav, who saw the appellant assaulting the deceased with a wooden stick and a burning log at his residence. A Dehati FIR (Ex. P/2) was also recorded. Thereafter, an inquest (Ex. P/5) over the dead body was conducted in the presence of witnesses, and the body was sent for post-mortem examination to the Community Health Centre, Kasdol, where PW-10 Dr. Rakesh Kumar Pradhan conducted the autopsy and submitted his report (Ex. P/6).

4. During the post-mortem examination, the doctor found a lacerated wound and contusion over the occipital region of the head, along with a depressed fracture of the occipital bone and internal brain hemorrhage. He opined that the cause of death was cardio-respiratory arrest due to head injury, and that the death was homicidal in nature.

5. The spot map (Ex. P/3) was prepared by the police, and another map (Ex. P/8) was prepared by the Patwari. Blood-stained soil, plain soil, and a green shawl were seized from the spot vide seizure memo (Ex. P/9(1)). The appellant was arrested on 11.04.2022, and his memorandum statement (Ex. P/9) was recorded. Pursuant to the said memorandum, one burnt wooden stick, one wooden stick, and a checked shirt were seized vide seizure memo (Ex. P/10). The seized wooden sticks were not sent to the doctor for query, however, during trial, the medical officer opined that the injury found on the head of the deceased could have been caused by a hard and blunt object. The numbered Merg Intimation (Ex. P/1) was recorded at Police Outpost Baya, and FIR (Ex. P/11) was registered at Police Station Rajadevari against the appellant for the offence under Section 302 of the IPC. The blood-stained soil, shawl, wooden sticks, and the checked shirt of the appellant were sent for chemical examination to the FSL, Raipur. As per the report (Ex. P/13), human blood was detected on the articles, particularly on the wooden stick and the shirt seized from the appellant; however, the blood group could not be determined.

6. Statements of the witnesses under Section 161