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Nagarathinam vs. State through the Inspector of Police

Criminal Appeal · 2023 INSC 495Decided 4 May 2023
Criminal Appeal No. 1389 of 2023
Ajay Rastogi · Ahsanuddin Amanullah · Sanjay Kishan Kaul

Background

Distressed over an affair and repeated threats from the man involved, the appellant decided to end her own life along with her two young twin sons and administered pesticide poison to the children before attempting to drink it herself; her niece stopped her in time, but both children died. She was tried and convicted of murder (Section 302 IPC) and attempted suicide (Section 309 IPC) and sentenced to life imprisonment. The High Court acquitted her of the attempted-suicide charge but upheld the murder conviction. After serving nearly 20 years in prison, a State Level Committee recommended her premature release, but the Tamil Nadu government rejected it, citing the "cruel and brutal" nature of the offence.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the facts did not fit any exception under Section 300 IPC that would reduce the offence from murder to culpable homicide (unlike the precedents cited, where the deceased had consented to a joint suicide pact), because there was no consent from the children who died. So the murder conviction was upheld. However, on premature release, the Court held the government's rejection could not stand. It found the State had mischaracterized her act as motivated by a desire to continue her illicit relationship, when in fact she had acted in personal grief and had tried to take her own life alongside her children, not to eliminate them for selfish gain. Given her long incarceration (nearly 20 years, well past the 10-year eligibility threshold) and the State Level Committee's own positive recommendation noting her good conduct, the Court set aside the rejection order and directed her immediate release under the applicable premature-release policy.

Lesson Learnt

Even where a murder conviction stands, courts can still intervene in a premature-release decision where the government mischaracterizes the facts or ignores its own expert committee's favourable recommendation: long incarceration, genuine remorse, and good conduct in custody can outweigh a blanket "cruel and brutal" label used to deny release.

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

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