'Entire Incident Occured In Heat Of Moment' : Supreme Court Approves Alteration Of Conviction To Section 304-II IPC

The Supreme Court in a recent case allowed the release of a convict in a 24-year-old case of culpable homicide by altering the punishment imposed on him to the period already suffered in incarceration.

The Court justified the conviction under Section 304 Part II of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) upon finding that the convict was a young man at the time of the incident and had acted without any premeditation in the fit of anger which led to the occurrence of crime.

“We are in agreement with the view taken by the High Court that the entire incident had occurred in the heat of the moment and that neither party could control their anger which ultimately resulted into the fateful incident.”, the bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said.

For the incident that occurred in the year 2000, the appellant along with his father was held guilty by the Trial Court under Section 304 Part I of IPC along with Sections 323 and 324 of IPC for stabbing the in-laws of the appellant's sister which led to the killing of the sister's father in law and injury was suffered by sister's brother in law.

The Appellant and his father were sentenced to suffer 5 years imprisonment each along with Rs. 50,000/- fine each for the offence committed under Section 304-I of IPC.

However, on appeal, the High Court altered the conviction from Section 304-I to Section 304-II and modified the sentence of the appellant's father to the period he suffered in incarceration but maintained the 5 years imprisonment of the Appellant.

Being aggrieved by the High Court's decision, the Appellant preferred an appeal before the Supreme Court.

Upon perusing the evidence placed on record, the Court reached the finding that the offence so committed by the Appellant was not premeditated and was committed in a fit of anger without an intention to kill the deceased, therefore the Judgment authored by Justice Ujjal Bhuyan justified the conviction under Section 304-II instead of Section 304-I of IPC.

“It is natural for a young man to be emotionally upset to see his sister allegedly ill-treated by her in-laws and when the deceased and Abbasbhai came to their residence leading to the ruckus, it is not difficult to visualize the state of mind of Hussainbhai (Appellant) as well of his father Asgarali. The tension was building up since morning as Abbasbhai was first insisting that his wife Oneja should come to his house and then insisting on the cupboard key of the Ahmedabad house to be handed over to him. It is important to note that the incident had taken place inside the residence of Asgarali (and then spilling over onto the street infront) and not in the residence of Idrishbhai. It is quite possible that as a young man, Hussainbhai was overcome by emotion which led him to physically attack the deceased and his son (brother-in-law). The fact that the incident was not premeditated is buttressed by the happening thereof inside the residence of Asgarali.”, the court noted.

Observing that the incident had occurred in the spur of the moment and much time had been spent since the occurrence of an incident, the court found it appropriate to modify the punishment to be suffered by the Appellant to the period of incarceration already undergone by him.

“Much water has flown down the river by this time. The unfortunate incident leading to the loss of a precious life and sustaining of injuries by a couple of others had happened in a spur of the moment. Therefore, while concurring with the impugned judgment of the High Court dated 06.05.2016 insofar alteration of the conviction is concerned, we are of the view that the sentence imposed upon the appellant should be altered to the period of incarceration already undergone by him.”, the court said.

Accordingly, the appeal was allowed and the appellant was directed to be released forthwith unless his custody was required in another case.

Appearance:

For Appellant(s) Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mohit D. Ram, AOR Ms. Monisha Handa, Adv. Mr. Rajul Shrivastav, Adv. Mr. Anubhav Sharma, Adv. Ms. Sthavi Asthana, Adv. Mr. Nikhil Goel, AOR Mr. Naveen Goel, Adv. Mrs. Naveen Goel, Adv. Mr. Adhitya Koshy Roy, Adv. Ms. Siddhi Gupta, Adv.

For Respondent(s) Mr. Nikhil Goel, AOR Ms. Naveen Goel, Adv. Mr. Adhitya Koshy Roy, Adv. Ms. Sidhi Gupta, Adv. Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Adv. Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Ms. Devyani Bhatt, Adv. Mr. Mohit D. Ram, AOR

Case Title: HUSSAINBHAI ASGARALI LOKHANDWALA VERSUS STATE OF GUJARAT, CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1691 OF 2023

Citation : 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 584

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