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Suraj Jagannath Jadhav v. The State of Maharashtra

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 1368Decided 13 Dec 2019
Criminal Appeal No. 1885 of 2019
Justice Ashok Bhushan · Justice M.R. Shah

Background

The appellant was convicted of murdering his wife by pouring kerosene on her and setting her ablaze with a lit matchstick as she tried to flee the house. He later poured water on her, apparently in an attempt to put out the fire. His sole argument before the Supreme Court was that this conduct showed an absence of intent to kill, so his offence should be downgraded from murder (Section 302 IPC) to culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 Part II IPC), relying on a precedent involving a highly intoxicated accused.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found no evidence that the accused was highly inebriated at the time, unlike the precedent he relied on, and held he was fully conscious of his actions. It held that pouring kerosene on a person and setting them alight is inherently so dangerous that any person of ordinary intelligence would know it is likely to cause death: squarely falling within "Section 300 fourthly" of the IPC (murder). His later act of pouring water appeared to be an attempt to cover up his guilt rather than a genuine mitigating factor, especially since it only came after the victim screamed for help. The conviction and sentence under Section 302 IPC were upheld and the appeal was dismissed.

Lesson Learnt

Trying to help a victim after inflicting a fatal injury does not by itself reduce a murder charge to a lesser offence: courts look at the dangerousness and deliberateness of the original act, and a claim of intoxication must actually be proven, not merely asserted.

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

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