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No.15138812Y L/Nk Gursewak Singh vs. Union of India & Anr. (2023 INSC 648)

Criminal Appeal · 2023 INSC 648Decided 27 Jul 2023
Criminal Appeal No. 1791 of 2023
Abhay S. Oka · Sanjay Karol

Background

The appellant, then a Lance Naik in the Indian Army, was convicted by Court Martial under Section 302 IPC (murder) read with Section 69 of the Army Act and sentenced to life imprisonment for shooting dead a fellow soldier, Lance Naik Kala Singh, during guard duty in December 2004. The shooting followed an altercation between the two men over inter-se seniority after both had consumed liquor while on duty. His challenges before the Armed Forces Tribunal and the Punjab and Haryana High Court failed, and he approached the Supreme Court arguing the case should be treated as a lesser offence (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) because it arose from a sudden fight in the heat of passion, not a premeditated killing.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined witness evidence showing the appellant snatched the deceased's rifle during a heated quarrel over seniority, fired only one bullet despite 19-20 rounds being available, did not flee afterward, and personally helped carry the deceased to the ambulance and hospital. The Court found these facts showed no premeditation and no unusually cruel conduct, meeting the conditions of Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC (sudden fight, without undue advantage or cruelty, in the heat of passion), which reduces the offence from murder to culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The conviction was therefore altered from Section 302 IPC to the first part of Section 304 IPC. Given the appellant had already undergone about 9 years and 3 months of incarceration, the Court held that period already served was an appropriate sentence, and the appeal was partly allowed with his bail bonds cancelled since he was to be released on the sentence already undergone.

Lesson Learnt

A killing that occurs during a sudden, unpremeditated fight, without excessive cruelty or taking undue advantage of the victim, can be treated as culpable homicide rather than murder, and courts look closely at conduct like the number of shots fired and post-incident behaviour (fleeing versus helping the victim) to judge whether the killer acted with the intent and cruelty that separates murder from its lesser form.

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

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