Repeated Brick Blows During Sudden Fight Between Intoxicated Friends Does Not Attract Murder Charges: Delhi High Court
In a case involving a drunken altercation between two friends over liquor payment, the Delhi High Court has converted murder conviction into culpable homicide not amounting to murder, holding that the incident occurred in the heat of passion without premeditation. A Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Madhu Jain held that the case would fall under Section 304 Part II IPC and...
In a case involving a drunken altercation between two friends over liquor payment, the Delhi High Court has converted murder conviction into culpable homicide not amounting to murder, holding that the incident occurred in the heat of passion without premeditation.
A Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Madhu Jain held that the case would fall under Section 304 Part II IPC and not Section 302 IPC, noting that though the accused had knowledge that the act was likely to cause death, there was no intention to commit murder.
The prosecution case was that the accused and the deceased, who were friends, had consumed alcohol together and got into a quarrel over payment for liquor. During the altercation, the accused allegedly assaulted the deceased repeatedly with a brick, leading to his death.
While examining the circumstances, the High Court observed the real question is not whether the Appellant caused the death of the deceased, but whether he did so with the intention required to constitute murder under Section 300 IPC.
It then noted that there was no prior enmity or pre-planned intention to kill. The Court further noted that both men were intoxicated and the incident arose suddenly during the quarrel.
“There was no motive to kill. There was no intention, in the legal sense of the term, to cause death, but there was knowledge, that striking a person repeatedly on the head with a brick is likely to cause death,” it observed.
The Court added that the circumstances of the case in hand fit squarely within the principle laid down by the Supreme Court in Sudam Prabhakar Achat v. State of Maharashtra. (2025) that where an assault occurs suddenly without premeditation and the parties did not bear prior enmity toward each other, it would be inappropriate to attribute the gravest criminal intention to the accused.
The Court also took note of the fact that the accused had himself sustained injuries during the incident and that the quarrel escalated after the deceased slapped him during the drinking session.
The Court held that the slap constituted grave and sudden provocation in the facts of the case.
Accordingly, the Court altered the conviction from Section 302 IPC to Section 304 Part II IPC and reduced the sentence from life imprisonment to eight years' rigorous imprisonment.
Appearance: Ms. Aishwarya Rao and Ms. Mansi Rao, Advocates for Appellant; Mr. Ritesh Kumar Bahri, APP with Ms. Divya Yadav & Mr. Lalit Luthra, Advs. for Respondent
Case title: Sanjay Singh v. State
Case no.: CRL.A. 622/2025