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The State of Madhya Pradesh v. Kanha @ Omprakash

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 130Decided 4 Feb 2019
Criminal Appeal No. 1589 of 2018
Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice M.R. Shah

Background

Following an altercation rooted in a disputed love marriage and a business rivalry over a cable-TV connection, the respondent shot the complainant's brother, Dashrath Singh, causing eleven punctured, bleeding wounds with a firearm. The Trial Court convicted him under Section 307 IPC (attempt to murder) and sentenced him to three years' rigorous imprisonment, acquitting seven co-accused. On appeal, the Madhya Pradesh High Court downgraded the conviction to the lesser offence under Section 324 IPC (voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon) and reduced the sentence to the forty days already served plus a fine, prompting the State to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that Section 307 IPC does not require the resulting hurt to be grievous: what matters is whether the accused's act, had it succeeded, would have amounted to murder, judged by the intention and the nature of the attack. Given the use of a firearm and the presence of eleven punctured and bleeding wounds, the Court found clear evidence of an intention to kill, and held that the High Court's judgment "overlooks material parts of the evidence and suffers from perversity" in downgrading the offence. The Supreme Court set aside the High Court's judgment, restored the Trial Court's conviction under Section 307 IPC along with the three-year sentence and fine, allowed the State's appeal, and directed the respondent to surrender forthwith to serve out his sentence.

Lesson Learnt

A charge of attempt to murder does not depend on how serious the victim's actual injuries turn out to be: courts look at the weapon used, the nature and number of injuries, and the surrounding circumstances to judge the accused's intention, and an appellate court downgrading such a conviction without properly weighing this evidence risks being reversed.

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

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