Delhi High Court: A Division Bench comprising of S. Muralidhar and Vinod Goel, JJ., dismissed the appeal filed against the order of the trial court whereby the appellant was convicted for the offence punishable under Section 300 IPC.
The appellant was accused of murdering the deceased by repeatedly stabbing him with a knife. The trial court convicted the appellant for murder under Section 302. The said order of conviction was challenged by the appellant in the instant appeal. Counsel for the appellant submitted that the incident was not premeditated; it was a result of a sudden fight in the heat of passion upon a sudden quarrel between the appellant and the deceased. Based on such submission, counsel for the appellant contended that Exception 4 to Section 300 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) stood attracted to the case.
The High Court referred to Surinder Kumar v. State (UT of Chandigarh), (1989) 2 SCC 217 and Ghapoo Yadav v. State of M.P., (2003) 3 SCC 528. It was observed that to attract Exception 4 to Section 300, not only must the defence be able to show that the offence was committed without pre-meditation in a sudden fight in the heat of passion upon a sudden quarrel, but more importantly, it must be shown that the offender ‘did not take undue advantage and did not act in a cruel or unusual manner’. However, in the present case, on the facts and circumstances, the Court was of the view that the exception did not get attracted to the case. The testimony of witnesses as also the post-mortem report clearly showed that whatever may have been the provocation, the act of brutally stabbing the deceased with repeated knife blows, was an act done in a cruel and unusual manner which was disproportionate to the provocation. The appeal was accordingly dismissed. [Rajesh Bansal v. State,2018 SCC OnLine Del 10563, dated 14-8-2018]
