Provoked act not murder: HC
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The Madras high court has held that if an offence was committed when the offender has lost his power of selfcontrol because of grave and sudden provocation, it will not be a murder but culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and has reduced the life sentence to seven years RI for a person who killed his wife suspecting her fide-lity.
Justices K.N. Basha and P. Devadoss also confirmed the one-year RI awarded to the accused Rajesh under section 498-A of (IPC) (cruelty against a woman by her husband or his relative).
Rajesh married Parveen Banu and they had a son and daughter.
However, they often quarrelled and even separated as he suspected her fidelity.
On August 3, 2009, Rajesh saw Parveen near a provision store and assaulted her with an iron rod. Parveen succumbed to head injuries the same day.
The Erode police registered a case and the trial court awarded Rajesh a life sentence under section 302 and one-year RI under section 498-A of IPC.
On Wednesday, the bench said that under certain circumstances the offence of murder defined under section 299 of IPC will not be murder.
If the offence was committed when the offender has lost his power of self control because of grave and sudden provocation, it will not be culpable homicide not amounting to murder and will be punishable only under section 304 of IPC Part-I (If it was an intentional act), Part-II (If it was committed with sufficient knowledge as to its ensuing consequences).
“In the backdrop of the law relating to provocation, particularly sustained provocation, when we look at the facts of the present case, it comes to light that between the accused and the deceased there was continued strained relationship because of the illegal intimacy of the wife,” the bench said.
“To safeguard the future of the children, on the day of the killing, there was an altercation between them and the accused remarked about her behaviour.
Under these circumstances the accused lost his power of self control because of the quarrrel and in view of the previious provocative conduct of the wife hit her on her head with an iron rod,” said the bench.
“The accused has committed the offence because of sustained and cumulative provocation. It was only culpable homicide not amounting to murder. But it was an intended act falling under section 304 (1) of IPC. Therefore, the life sentence is set aside,” the bench said.
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