Criminal appeal concerning a conviction for murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The case stems from a road rage incident where the appellant, Ravinder Kumar, struck the deceased with an iron rod following an altercation initiated by the deceased and his companions. The court considered whether the offence should be reclassified from murder to culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 of the IPC, given the lack of pre-meditation and the circumstances of sudden provocation. Ultimately, the judgment modified the conviction to Section 304 Part I of the IPC and reduced the sentence to seven years of rigorous imprisonment.
Penal Code, 1860, Section 302, 304 – Indian Evidence Act, 1872, Section 27 – Murder – Nature of offence – Disclosure statement – Nature of offence – There is no pre-meditation – It was the deceased and the persons along with him who chased and confronted the accused – It was a group of five persons who confronted the three occupants of the vehicle involved in the hit and run – The altercation was spoken of, but the witnesses of the prosecution only spoke of heated arguments – It was in the course of such altercation that the 1st accused who is the appellant-herein picked up an iron rod and hit the deceased – There cannot be any intention to cause death alleged but there is definitely an intention to cause bodily injury which resulted in the death – Hence, culpability under Section 299 of the I.P.C. though attracted, it does not result in a finding under Section 300 since it falls under Exception 1 – The one blow inflicted on the head of the deceased resulted in his death, that too after five days, which overt act was without any pre-meditation and was occasioned in an altercation where the group comprising the deceased were the aggressors and the offender-appellant herein could be said to have acted under sudden provocation, thus being deprived of the power of self-control – Necessarily, the offence has to be found to be one under Section 304 of the I.P.C. being culpable homicide not amounting to murder – However, under Part I of Section 304 of the I.P.C., since the bodily injury deliberately inflicted was likely to cause death and in such circumstance, the conviction has to be modified to be under Section 304 Part I – Held that in the totality of the circumstances based on the evidence led, the sentence has to be of 7 years rigorous imprisonment – The fine imposed and the default sentence shall remain untouched – The appellant, if on bail, shall surrender within a period of two months before the jurisdictional Court, if he has not already completed seven years in jail.
(Para 7)
Ravinder Kumar @Raju V. State Of Punjab
Supreme Court: 2025 INSC 396: (DoJ 25-03-2025)
