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Krishnamurthy vs State Rep. By Inspector of Police

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 897Decided 1 Sept 2022
Criminal Appeal No. 63 of 2011

Background

Following a quarrel between neighbours over a missing goat, Krishnamurthy (accused no. 2) and two others went to the deceased Samidurai's house at 2 a.m. armed with an iron pipe and a wooden log. Krishnamurthy struck the deceased on the head with a wooden log; the other two accused also assaulted him. Samidurai died from his injuries, chiefly a head injury causing a subdural haematoma. The trial court convicted Krishnamurthy of murder under Section 302 IPC (life imprisonment); the High Court confirmed his conviction while reducing the other two accused's convictions to lesser offences. Only Krishnamurthy appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court accepted that Krishnamurthy had indeed struck the fatal blow with a wooden log, but found no evidence that he intended to kill the deceased: the attack arose from a sudden quarrel, not a premeditated intent to cause death. It noted the High Court itself had observed the act was "not done intentionally to cause death" yet still convicted him of murder, an inconsistency the Supreme Court corrected. Since at most Krishnamurthy could be said to have known his act was likely to cause death (without intending it), his conviction was altered from Section 302 IPC (murder) to Section 304 Part II IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). He was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, which he had already served, and ordered released immediately.

Lesson Learnt

A killing is only "murder" if the perpetrator intended to cause death or knew the injury was so serious it would almost certainly kill; where the evidence shows only that death was a foreseeable risk without a clear intent to kill, the correct charge is the lesser offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder: the distinction can significantly reduce a sentence.

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

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