The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that a wife's derogatory remark stating she could keep thousands of husbands like him constitutes an indirect and oblique reference to the worthlessness of her spouse, effectively amounting to sudden and grave provocation.

While evaluating a criminal appeal against a trial court's order of life imprisonment under Section 304 Part-I of the Indian Penal Code, the Bench observed that such statements imply a husband has no value as a human being or a partner, naturally triggering a loss of self-control in the heat of passion.

Finding that the subsequent fatal assault with a nearby stone lacked premeditation and was immediately followed by the accused reporting the incident to the police himself, the High Court modified the conviction to Section 304 Part-II of the IPC and reduced the sentence to seven years of rigorous imprisonment.

The Division Bench of Justice Vivek Agrawal and Justice Ananindra Kumar Singh held, "Similarly, when a wife refers to her husband that 'she can keep thousand husbands like him' it is indirect/oblique reference to worthlessness of the husband, meaning he has no value as a human being or a husband. Therefore, it can be turned as a sudden and grave provocation. Considering the over all facts and circumstances of the case, while maintaining the conviction for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, we find that case would not fall under 304 Part-I of IPC but would fall under Section 304 Part-II of IPC." 

Advocate Jagat Kumar Dehariya appeared for the Appellant, while Government Advocate Ajay Shukla appeared for the Respondent. 

Brief Facts

The prosecution's story was that the appellant caused the death of his pregnant wife by assaulting her with a stone near a river bank. It was alleged that on the night of the incident, the deceased taunted the appellant by stating that she could have thousands of husbands like him. This statement enraged the appellant, who then pelted her with a stone, resulting in her death.

Following the incident, the appellant himself made phone calls to the police control room, relatives, and other acquaintances, informing them that he had murdered his wife.

The trial court convicted the appellant under Section 304 Part-I of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to undergo life imprisonment along with a fine. Aggrieved by the conviction, the appellant preferred the present appeal.

Contentions of Parties

The Appellant contended that he was innocent and had been falsely implicated by the prosecution. It was further submitted that the prosecution's evidence was highly unreliable and riddled with contradictions. It was pointed out that the first informant had admitted to not lodging the formal police report against the appellant, and therefore, prayed for the acquittal of the appellant.

Conversely, the Respondent-State supported the judgment of the trial court. It was contended that the prosecution had successfully established its case beyond a reasonable doubt through the testimony of multiple witnesses, medical evidence, and extrajudicial confessions, thereby praying for the dismissal of the appeal.

Observations of the Court

The High Court observed that there was ample evidence on record, including the testimonies of the relatives and call records, to prove that the appellant had thrown a stone at his wife following a verbal altercation.

The Court noted that the appellant's immediate conduct of informing the police and relatives about the incident on the phone strongly indicated a lack of premeditation or a prior intention to murder.

"we find that there is ample evidence to hold that under influence of intoxication when the deceased taunted the accused that 'she can keep 1000 husbands like him' he threw a stone on her when they were together in the vicinity of river Kulbaheri kharra ghat. At the time of incident, deceased-Kiran was pregnant...In view of the aforesaid, it seems that if the intention of the accused was to cause murder of the Kiran then he would be the last person to inform the police and other person like PW-1 on phone that he has killed his wife-Kiran", the Court observed.

It was further observed that the medical evidence and site photographs showed the presence of multiple sharp-edged stones on the riverbank, and the fatal injuries could have been caused by a single blow rather than repeated assaults.

The Court held that the highly derogatory statement made by the deceased wife questioning the worth of her husband amounted to a grave and sudden provocation, which deprived the appellant of his power of self-control.

Relying upon prevailing judicial precedents of the Supreme Court and High Courts involving similar verbal provocations, the Court concluded that the offence did not fall under Section 304 Part-I, but was appropriately alterable to Section 304 Part-II of the Indian Penal Code.

Consequently, the Court partly allowed the appeal, modifying the conviction to Section 304 Part-II and reducing the sentence from life imprisonment to rigorous imprisonment for seven years.

Cause Title: Shiva v. State of Madhya Pradesh [Neutral Citation: 2026 MPHC-JBP: 42572]

Appearances:

Appellant: Advocate Jagat Kumar Dehariya

Respondent: Government Advocate Ajay Shukla

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