Full Judgment Text
Reportable
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL No. 1339 of 2008
Raj Paul Singh & Anr. …… Appellants
Versus
State through P.S. Musheerabad,
Hyderabad ….. Respondent
J U D G M E N T
K. A. PATNAIK, J.
This is an appeal against the judgment and order
dated 16.04.2007 of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in
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Criminal Appeal No. 1258 of 2005.
2. The facts very briefly are that on 19.04.2004 Santoshi
(hereinafter referred to as ‘the informant’) lodged an FIR in
Musheerabad P.S., District Hyderabad, alleging that on
18.04.2004 at about 9.30 P.M. her husband’s brother, the
appellant no.1, came in an auto in a fully drunken
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condition, went to his house situated opposite to her house
and started abusing her in filthy language and her
husband, she and their children came down from their
portion on the first floor and her husband warned the
appellant not to abuse him, but the appellant did not listen
and he asked his wife to get a knife and his wife, appellant
no.2 herein, went to the kitchen and brought one knife and
gave it to the appellant no.1 and the appellant no.1 took the
knife and stabbed the husband of the complainant on the
left side of his chest and as a result the husband of the
informant fell down with bleeding injury and he was taken
to the Sagarlal Hospital, where he died subsequently. The
Inspector of the P.S. Musheerabad, M. Bhasker Reddy,
registered a case under Section 302 read with Section 34 of
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the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short ‘the IPC’). He visited
the hospital, the scene of occurrence, conducted the inquest
and sent the dead body of the deceased for post mortem
examination. The appellant no.1 was then arrested and at
his instance the knife was recovered and after investigation,
a charge-sheet was filed against both the appellants for the
offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34,
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IPC. The case was registered as Sessions Case No. 562 of
2004 and after framing of charges, the appellants were
tried.
3. At the trial, the informant was examined as PW-1, one
of the sons of the deceased was examined as PW-2, Dr. C.
Surender Reddy, who conducted the post mortem on the
dead body of the deceased, was examined as PW-3 and M.
Bhasker Reddy, the Inspector of Police and the Investigating
Officer, was examined as PW-7. On behalf of the defence,
the mother of the deceased, Laxmi Bai, was examined as
st
DW-1. By the judgment dated 19.07.2005, the 1
Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge held both the
appellants guilty of the offence under Section 302 read with
Section 34, IPC, and sentenced them to life imprisonment
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and to pay fine of Rs.100/- and in default to undergo
Simple Imprisonment for one month.
4. The appellants then filed Criminal Appeal No. 1258 of
2005, but by the impugned judgment, the Division Bench of
the High Court sustained the conviction and the sentence.
Aggrieved, the appellants have filed this appeal by way of
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Special Leave under Article 136 of the Constitution. On
11.02.2008, this Court issued notice qua the nature of the
offence only and on 18.08.2008 this Court granted leave
after condoning the delay in filing the special leave petiton,
but refused bail to the appellants.
5. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the
nature of the offence committed by the appellants is not
murder as defined in Section 300, IPC, but culpable
homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304, IPC,
for which a punishment less than life imprisonment may be
imposed on the appellants. He referred to Exception 4 to
Section 300, IPC, which states that culpable homicide is not
murder if it is committed without premeditation in a sudden
fight in the heat of passion upon a sudden quarrel and
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without the offender having taken undue advantage or acted
in a cruel or unusual manner. He submitted that in the
facts of the present case there was no premeditation on the
part of the appellants and there was a sudden quarrel and a
sudden fight and the appellant no.1 stabbed the deceased in
the heat of passion and therefore Exception 4 to Section
300, IPC, was attracted. In support of his submission, he
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cited the decision of this Court in Naveen Chandra v. State
of Uttranchal [2007(1) RCR (Criminal) 689]. Learned
counsel for the respondent, on the other hand, submitted
that this is not a case which would at all fall under
Exception 4 to Section 300, IPC. and that both the trial
court and the High Court have rightly held that the
appellants were guilty of the offence of murder under
Section 302 read with Section 34, IPC.
6. Exception 4 to Section 300, IPC, is quoted hereinbelow:
“Culpable homicide is not murder if it is
committed without premeditation in a sudden
fight in the heat of passion upon a sudden
quarrel and without the offender having taken
undue advantage or acted in a cruel or
unusual manner.”
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It will be clear from the language of Exception 4 to Section
300, IPC, quoted above that culpable homicide will not
amount to murder if it is committed without premeditation
in a sudden fight in the heat of passion upon a sudden
quarrel provided the offender has not taken undue
advantage or acted in a cruel or unusual manner. In
Narayanan Nair Raghavan Nair v. The State of Travancore –
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Cochin (AIR 1956 SC 99), a three-Judge Bench of this Court
speaking through Bose, J. held:
“It is enough to say that the Exception requires
that no undue advantage be taken of by the
other side. It is impossible to say that there is
no undue advantage when a man stabs an
unarmed person who makes no threatening
gestures and merely asks the accused's
opponent to stop fighting. Then also, the fight
must be with the person who is killed.”
This view on Exception 4 to Section 300, IPC, has also been
taken by this Court in Kikar Singh v. State of Rajasthan (AIR
1993 SC 2426) wherein it has been held:
“Where the deceased was unarmed and did
not cause any injury to the accused even
following a sudden quarrel if the accused has
inflicted fatal blows on the deceased,
exception 4 is not attracted and commission
must be one of murder punishable under S.
302.”
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Thus, in a case where a man stabs another person, unless it
is established that there was some threat from that person
to the offender, the Court cannot possibly hold that the
offender by stabbing that person has not taken any undue
advantage or has not acted in a cruel or unusual manner.
7. In this case, the conviction of the appellants for the
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offence under Section 302 read with Section 34, IPC, is
based on the evidence of PW-1 and PW-2, the two eye
witnesses. If we read their evidence, we find that PW-1 has
stated:
“Disputes arose between me and A-2 with
regard to collection of empty wine bottles
between the children of A-2 and collected from
a Raja Deluxe theater and that A-2 used to
abuse in filthy language. The disputes arose
prior to 4 months of the incident and disputes
were continued. On 18.04.2004 at about 9.30
p.m. A-1 came to house in drunken condition
and started abusing me in filthy language by
saying Maake Loude. On that I along with my
husband and children came down to ground
floor. My deceased husband chastised A-1 by
saying that he should not abuse me as I am
his sister in law and he did not stop abusing me.
A-1 instructed A-2 to bring a knife. On that A-
2 went inside the house and brought a meat
cutting knife and gave it to A-1 and instigated
A-1 to stab my husband. Then A-1 stabbed
my husband on the left side of chest, when A-1
removed the knife from injury my husband fell
down on the ground and we noticed blood was
oozing from injury.”
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Similarly, PW-2 has deposed:
“The disputes arose between family of accused
and our family with regard to collection of
empty wine bottles from the wine shop
situated by the side of Rolex Café,
Musheerabad. The disputes were going on for
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the last four months prior to the date of
incident. While I was about to leave the house
of PW-1 after taking meals, at 9.30 p.m. A-1
came to house in drunken condition and
started abusing PW-1. He abused PW-1 by
saying “ Maake Loude ”. On hearing the abusive
words, I along with my father, PW-1 and
others came to ground floor.
My father questioned A-1 as to why he was
abusing PW-1. A-1 replied that he will abuse
PW-1 like that only. My father told A-1 not to
abuse PW-1 as she is his sister-in-law. On
that A-1 instructed A-2 to bring a knife from
his portion of house. A-2 went inside the
portion and brought a knife and gave it to A-1.
Then A-1 stabbed my father on the left side of
chest on the instigation of A-2. It was a
mutton cutting knife. After stabbing accused
removed the knife and went away. My father
received bleeding injury and he fell down on
the floor. After the incident both the accused
went inside their portion and some time
thereafter they escaped from the house. I
lifted my father to Sagarlal Hospital 10
minutes after his admission, doctors informed
me about the death of my father. I came back
to the house of PW-1 and informed her about
the death of my father on that she became
unconscious and fell down”.
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8. It will be clear from the evidence of the two eye
witnesses quoted above that the deceased was unarmed and
there was absolutely no physical threat from the deceased
to the appellants and the appellant no.1 after being
provided with a knife by the appellant no.2 stabbed the
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deceased on the left side of the chest on the instigation of
the appellant no.2 and because of these injuries the
deceased died. This was, thus, a case where the appellants
have taken undue advantage and have acted in a cruel or
unusual manner and the case did not fall within Exception
4 to Section 300, IPC. In Naveen Chandra v. State of
Uttranchal (supra) cited on behalf of the appellants, this
Court has clearly held:
“Where the offender takes undue advantage or
has acted in a cruel or unusual manner, the
benefit of Exception 4 cannot be given to him. If
the weapon used or the manner of attack by the
assailant is out of all proportion, that
circumstance must be taken into consideration to
decide whether undue advantage has been taken”
9. In our considered opinion, therefore, the case of the
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appellants does not fall within Exception 4 to Section 300,
IPC, and the trial court and the High Court have rightly held
the appellants guilty of the offence of murder under Section
302 read with Section 34, IPC. The appeal has no merits
and is accordingly dismissed.
.……………………….J.
(A. K. Patnaik)
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………………………..J.
(Swatanter Kumar)
New Delhi,
October 09, 2012.
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