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Criminal LawSupreme Court of India

M. B. Suresh v. State of Karnataka

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 985 of 2007)Decided 6 Jan 2014
Criminal Appeal No. 985 of 2007
Justice C.K. Prasad · Justice J.S. Khehar

Background

Following a longstanding land dispute, Suresh was accused of shooting a man who subsequently died. The trial court acquitted him and his father, but the High Court convicted Suresh of murder and other offences and his father of property damage. They appealed, including a challenge to whether the shooting injury had been proved to cause the death.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court partly allowed Suresh's appeal by replacing murder with attempted murder and imposing ten years' rigorous imprisonment. The evidence established an intentional shooting but did not sufficiently connect the injury to the fatal shock described in the medical evidence. That causation gap prevented a murder conviction while leaving the intention or knowledge required for attempted murder established. The other convictions remained, the father's appeal was dismissed, and Suresh was ordered released because he had already spent more than ten years in custody, unless wanted in another case.

Lesson Learnt

Proof that someone attacked a victim does not automatically prove that the attack legally caused a later death. A causation gap can change the offence and sentence without turning a proved intentional shooting into an acquittal.

M. B. Suresh v. State of Karnataka – Legal Case Shots | LegalAware