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Suryakant Baburao @ Ramrao Phad v. The State of Maharashtra and Others

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 832Decided 30 Jul 2019
Criminal Appeal No. 1161 of 2019
Justice R. Banumathi · Justice A.S. Bopanna

Background

During a quarrel over spreading rubble in a field, accused Devraj shot the complainant's relative Chandrakant in the chest with a licensed pistol, and when the complainant Suryakant (the appellant, an injured eyewitness) tried to intervene, Devraj shot him too; two other accused allegedly joined in beating a third person with fists, a stick, and a knife. The trial court convicted all three accused under Section 307 (attempt to murder) read with Section 34 IPC and sentenced the main shooter, Devraj, to seven years' rigorous imprisonment, but the Bombay High Court on appeal reduced Devraj's sentence to five years, acquitted the other two of the attempt-to-murder charge (convicting them instead of a lesser offence with sentences reduced to time already served), while raising the compensation payable to victims. The injured complainant appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing the High Court had shown undue leniency.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court was wrong to reduce Devraj's sentence, given that the gunshot wound to the victim's chest was medically opined to be capable of causing death and the weapon used was a firearm, sentencing must be proportionate to the gravity of the offence, and undue sympathy in sentencing undermines public confidence in the justice system. It restored a higher sentence for Devraj, directing him to undergo six years and six months' rigorous imprisonment for the Section 307 offence (crediting the enhanced compensation he had already paid), and ordered him to surrender within four weeks. However, the Court declined to interfere with the acquittal of the two unarmed co-accused on the attempt-to-murder charge or with the reduced sentence (time served) for their lesser conviction, since they had not used deadly weapons, so the appeal was dismissed as against them.

Lesson Learnt

Courts must impose sentences proportionate to the gravity of the crime and the weapon/injury involved: undue leniency in sentencing (especially where a firearm causes life-threatening injury) can be corrected on appeal, even though sentencing is otherwise a matter of judicial discretion.

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

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