Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur has ruled that a death caused by a single blow during a sudden domestic quarrel does not amount to murder, and altered the conviction of an accused from culpable homicide under IPC Section 304 Part I to Section 304 Part II, while retaining the sentence of seven years’ rigorous imprisonment.A division bench of Justice Farjand Ali and Justice Sandeep Shah passed the order on March 28 while deciding cross-appeals filed by the Rajasthan govt and accused Praveen Singh alias Pintu against a 2007 trial court judgment.The case arose from an incident on July 23, 2005, in Chittorgarh district, where Kiran, the wife of the accused, was found seriously injured at her parents’ home and later died during treatment. The prosecution case rested mainly on the statement of the couple’s minor child, who said his father struck his mother on the head with a spade. Police initially registered a case of attempt to murder, which was later converted to murder after her death. After the trial, a lower court acquitted Pintu of murder under IPC Section 302 but convicted him under Section 304 Part I and sentenced him to seven years in prison. It also acquitted the other accused, including his family members, of cruelty charges under IPC Section 498-A.Challenging the trial court order, the state sought conviction for murder and cruelty, while Pintu appealed for complete acquittal. After reviewing the evidence, the high court found that the incident occurred during a sudden quarrel between husband and wife and was not premeditated. The bench noted that the accused had not arrived armed, but used a spade available at the spot and delivered a single blow. “There was no evidence of prior enmity or intention to kill, indicating a momentary loss of self-control,” the court observed. The bench held that although there was no intention to cause death, the accused had knowledge that hitting a person on the head with a heavy object was likely to cause death. On that basis, it held the offence fell under IPC Section 304 Part II. The high court also upheld the acquittal under IPC Section 498-A, saying there was no evidence of sustained cruelty and that the prosecution case related to a solitary incident already covered by the more serious offence. With this modification in the basis of conviction, the high court maintained the sentence of seven years’ rigorous imprisonment.
