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B.D. Khunte v. Union of India

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 242 of 2012)Decided 30 Oct 2014
Criminal Appeal No. 242 of 2012
Justice T.S. Thakur · Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel · Justice R. Banumathi

Background

An Army soldier shot his superior officer while on night guard duty and was sentenced by a court martial to life imprisonment and dismissal from service. He sought a reduction of the murder conviction, arguing that the officer had beaten and sexually humiliated him earlier that afternoon and that he remained deeply disturbed.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court dismissed both appeals and upheld the conviction and sentence. It accepted that the earlier incident had humiliated the soldier, but found that the intervening hours, his performance of normal duties and his plan to retaliate later showed that the shooting was not committed during a sudden loss of self-control. The officer's appearance near the guard post did not itself supply a fresh provocation. Anger and a motive for revenge could not bring these facts within the exception reducing murder to culpable homicide.

Lesson Learnt

Serious humiliation does not automatically reduce a later killing to a lesser offence. Courts examine whether the killing occurred during a grave and sudden loss of self-control, including the time available to cool down and the person's intervening conduct.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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