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It does not matter that there was no intention even to cause the injury of a kind that is sufficient to cause death in ordinary course of nature. Even the knowledge that an act of that kind is likely to cause death is not necessary to attract “thirdly” as upheld by the Supreme Court through the learned bench led by Justice Abhay S. Oka in the case of Vinod Kumar v. Amritpal @ Chhotu & Ors. (CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1519 OF 2021)(Arising out of SLP (Crl.) No.9185 of 2016)

The brief facts of the case are that the respondent nos.1 to 5 are the accused who were prosecuted for the offences punishable under Sections 147, 364, 302/149, 201 and 323/149 of the Indian Penal Code . The Sessions Court convicted the accused for all the aforesaid offences. They were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life for the offence punishable under Sections 302 read with 149 of IPC. For the other offences, lesser punishments were imposed. All the sentences were ordered to run concurrently. They were also directed to pay fine for other offences. Being aggrieved by the Judgment and order of the Sessions Court, the accused preferred an appeal before the High Court of Rajasthan. By the impugned Judgment and order dated 18th July 2016, while maintaining the conviction of the accused for the offences punishable under Sections 147, 364, 201 and 329/149 of IPC, the conviction of the accused for the offence punishable under Sections 302 of IPC was brought down to the offence punishable under Section 304 Part II of IPC and the accused were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 8 years. The fine amount was not disturbed. The appellant, who is the first informant, has taken an exception to the impugned Judgment and order of the High Court. He is the brother of a victim of the offence Vijay Singh (PW1). The allegation against the accused is also of committing murder of Balveer Singh. Vijay Singh (PW1) was injured in the incident. The learned counsel appearing for accused without challenging the incident and participation of the accused in the incident, made a submission before the High Court that the offence established against the accused was the one punishable under Section 304 Part II of IPC. The accused did not challenge the conviction for the other offences.

After the perusal of the facts and arguments, the Hon’ble Supreme Court held, “The view taken by High Court in the impugned Judgment and order that the offence under Section 300 was not made out is not even a possible view which could have been taken on the basis of the evidence on record. As we are of the view that the High Court has committed a gross error by applying Section 304 Part II of IPC, the Judgment and order of the High Court will have to be set aside and the judgment and order of the Sessions Court will have to be restored. We hold that the learned Additional District and Session Judge was right in convicting the accused for the offence punishable under Section 302/149 of IPC.”

Click here to read the Judgment

Judgment reviewed by Vandana Ragwani