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Rambir v. State of NCT, Delhi

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 626Decided 6 May 2019
Criminal Appeal No. 839 of 2019
Justice R. Banumathi · Justice R. Subhash Reddy

Background

The appellant was convicted of murdering his wife by strangulating her with an iron rod ("saria") on the rooftop of their home after she had taken money from his wallet, and was sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 302 IPC; the Delhi High Court upheld the conviction. The Supreme Court had issued notice limited only to the nature of punishment and quantum of sentence, with the appellant arguing that the killing occurred in a sudden quarrel, without premeditation, and should instead fall under Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) rather than murder.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that all four ingredients of Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC were satisfied: there was a sudden fight, no premeditation, the act occurred in the heat of passion (the rod was picked up spontaneously during the altercation, not brought in advance), and the appellant had not acted with extreme cruelty or taken undue advantage, since the act of strangulation alone, however fatal, did not amount to the kind of barbaric or torturous conduct that would disqualify him from the exception. Relying on its earlier decision in Surinder Kumar v. Union Territory, Chandigarh, the Court held that the conviction under Section 302 IPC could not stand and modified it to one under Section 304 Part II IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder, without intention but with knowledge), reducing the sentence from life imprisonment to 10 years' simple imprisonment.

Lesson Learnt

Even where a death results from a deliberate, violent act, a killing committed in a sudden fight, without premeditation, in the heat of the moment, and without extreme cruelty or undue advantage can be treated as culpable homicide rather than murder: a legal distinction that substantially changes the punishment from life imprisonment to a fixed term.

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

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