Incident Occurred At Spur Of The Moment: Supreme Court Converts Conviction From Section 302 IPC To Part I Of Section 304 IPC
The Supreme Court on Friday converted the conviction of two convicts under Section 302 IPC to Part I of Section 304 IPC taking into consideration the fact that the incident occurred at the spur of the moment.
The appellants approached the Apex Court seeking conversion of their conviction from Section 302 IPC to part I or II of Section 304 IPC.
The State of Madhya Pradesh opposed the prayer on the ground that the appellant(s) had assaulted the deceased on his head which is a vital part and, therefore, the intention to cause death would easily be gathered from the circumstances.
"Taking into consideration the fact that the incident had occurred at the spur of the moment, as a result of heated arguments between the parties, we find that the appellants would be entitled to benefit of Exception1 of Section 300 IPC and as such the conviction under Section 302 IPC would not be sustainable", held the Bench comprising Justice BR Gavai and Justice Vikram Nath.
The Apex Court said that the perusal of the FIR itself would reveal that there was a heated argument between the parties, which led to a sudden quarrel. As a result of which, the present appellant used a stick and the other one used Kharera (wooden plank of bullockcart).
The Madhya Pradesh High Court had upheld the Trial Court's Order convicting the appellants under Section 302 read with Section 34 of IPC while observing that intention to commit murder can definitely be attributed to the appellants.
Advocate-on-Record (AoR) Vikrant Singh Bais represented the appellant before the Supreme Court while AoR Gopal Jha appeared for State of Madhya Pradesh.
In the present case, one of the appellants has undergone sentence for more than seven years while the other one has undergone sentence for more than eight years, without any remission granted to any of them.
The Supreme Court sentenced them for the converted offence under Part I of Section 304 IPC to the period already undergone.
The Supreme Court partly allowed the appeal and directed release of the appellants forthwith.
"We, therefore, convert the conviction of the appellants under Section 302 IPC to Part I of Section 304 IPC and sentence them for the said offence to the period already undergone", it said.
Cause Title- Jandel Singh v. State of Madhya Pradesh
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