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Udiya v. State of Madhya Pradesh

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 902Decided 14 Aug 2019
Criminal Appeal Nos. 2267-2268 of 2009
Justice Indu Malhotra · Justice Sanjiv Khanna

Background

The appellant, Udiya, was convicted by the trial court for the murder of his own brother, Nakuda, under Section 302 IPC (murder) and sentenced to life imprisonment; the Madhya Pradesh High Court had upheld this conviction. The Supreme Court had earlier restricted the scope of the appeal to only the nature of the offence and the quantum of punishment, not the conviction itself. The prosecution's case rested mainly on the eyewitness account of the deceased's wife, who saw the appellant strike her husband with a stone during an altercation.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court accepted that the killing occurred during a sudden, unplanned fight between the two brothers, with no prior enmity, premeditation, or weapon brought to the scene, bringing it within Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder, where death is caused in a sudden fight without undue advantage or cruelty). The Court therefore downgraded the conviction from murder (Section 302 IPC) to culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Part I of Section 304 IPC). On sentencing, since the appellant had already served over six years in custody before being released on bail, the Court reduced his sentence to the period already undergone. The appeal was partly allowed on these terms.

Lesson Learnt

A killing that occurs in a sudden, unplanned quarrel, without premeditation or an unfair advantage taken by the attacker, can be treated by courts as a lesser offence than murder, significantly affecting the sentence an accused ultimately serves.

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

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