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Dauvaram Nirmalkar vs. The State of Chhattisgarh

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 786Decided 2 Aug 2022
Criminal Appeal No. 1124 of 2022
Sanjiv Khanna · Bela M. Trivedi

Background

The appellant had been convicted under Section 302 IPC (murder) and sentenced to life imprisonment for killing his brother, Dashrath Nirmalkar, who died from severe head injuries. The evidence, including a disclosure-based recovery of a blood-stained pick-axe and the appellant's own conduct (including a suicide attempt afterward), established that the appellant was the killer, though several family members who witnessed relevant facts turned hostile at trial. The appellant's defence of a mystery "third person" was rejected as there was no supporting evidence. The core issue before the Supreme Court was not whether he committed the killing, but whether it amounted to murder or a lesser offence.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that the deceased brother had a long history of alcoholism and had been persistently abusive and threatening towards the appellant, and that on the night in question the deceased threatened to kill the appellant if he did not leave the house: this amounted to sustained, cumulative provocation culminating in a final grave and sudden trigger. Applying the classic test from K.M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra on Exception 1 to Section 300 IPC, the Court held that the appellant had lost self-control due to this provocation (evidenced also by his own attempted suicide immediately after), and that the killing therefore fell within the "grave and sudden provocation" exception rather than constituting murder. The conviction was accordingly reduced from murder (Section 302) to culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 Part I), and since the appellant had already served over 10 years in custody, his sentence was reduced to time already served, with the earlier fine retained.

Lesson Learnt

A killing preceded by a long pattern of provocation and abuse by the victim, not just a single final incident, can qualify for the "grave and sudden provocation" exception that reduces murder to culpable homicide, provided the final trigger caused a genuine, unplanned loss of self-control rather than premeditated revenge.

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

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