Bombay HC reduces life sentence awarded to man convicted for killing wife over burnt meat

The Bombay High Court recently reduced the punishment of life imprisonment given to a man who was convicted for killing his wife for not cooking meat properly.

The division bench comprising Justices Rohit Deo and Urmila Joshi-Phalke though upheld the conviction of the man, it held that his case would be covered under Section 304 Part-I (culpable homicide) instead of Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and accordingly sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for ten years.

The bench observed that for considering, whether the case would fall under Section 302 of the IPC or lesser and for finding out nature of intention one has to take into consideration the kind of weapon used.

Court found that the man had not prepared for the assault on his wife and during the quarrel when the death of his wife took place, he used a lethal weapon like stick.

“In this view of the matter, we find that the appellant had knowledge that injuries could cause death of the deceased. There was an intention on the part of the accused to cause injuries. However, the accused had not taken undue advantage or has not acted in a cruel or unusual manner,” the court noted.

Therefore, the court held that the act of the man would cover under exception 4 of Section 300 of IPC and, therefore, his case would fall under Section 304 Part-I of IPC.

The court was dealing with the appeal moved by the man against his conviction for the offence of murder.

In 2015, the man, who was an alcoholic, had assaulted his wife for not cooking meat properly which was witnessed by the neighbours. The wife was later found lying unconscious in her house the next morning and she was declared dead by the doctors.

The prosecution had been successful in proving its case beyond reasonable doubt despite four of the prosecution witnesses having been turned hostile, including the daughter of the couple.

Consequently, the man was held guilty for murdering his wife and the sessions court had sentenced him to life imprisonment.

In the appeal, the counsel for the man alleged that the deceased wife was suffering from “Epilepsy” and on the day of incident she had stroke of Epilepsy and fallen on the ground and sustained injuries, which caused her death.

However, the Additional Public Prosecutor for the State submitted that the deceased was assaulted with a stick repeatedly by the man which had caused her internal injuries, resulting into her death.

The court found that there was nothing on record to show that the deceased was getting treatment for Epilepsy and the evidence of the medical officer and the inquest report had revealed that the deceased had sustained injuries due to assault on her by stick.

Therefore, the court held that the deceased died homicidal death. However, it observed that the death of the deceased took place as a result of a sudden fight.

 “Admittedly, there was quarrel between the accused and the deceased on account of meat which was not properly cooked and the accused lost his self-control and assaulted the deceased,” it noted.

Therefore, stating that exception 4 of Section 300 of the Indian Penal Code covers acts done in a sudden fight, the court held the man guilty under section 304 Part-I of IPC and commuted his conviction from that of murder to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Case Title: Suresh Madhukar Shendre v. State of Maharashtra