'Shocking' : Supreme Court Questions MP High Court For Reducing Murder Conviction In Cryptic & Casual Manner
The Supreme Court on Thursday (October 8) questioned the Madhya Pradesh High Court's decision to reduce a man's conviction for murdering his wife under Section 302 IPC to culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Part II of Section 304 IPC.
A Bench comprising Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K. Vinod Chandran found that the High Court had dealt with the evidence in a "very cryptic" and "very casual" manner and had ignored the evidence of the deceased's sister, who was an important witness to the alleged oral dying declaration.
The Appellant-accused was convicted by the Trial Court for murdering his wife and sentenced to life imprisonment. The prosecution alleged that he assaulted her on December 28, 2021, following which she suffered serious head injuries and died on December 30.
Despite the deceased having allegedly told her father and sister that her husband had mercilessly assaulted her over petty domestic issues, the High Court, while partly allowing the appeal, altered the conviction to Section 304 Part II IPC by invoking Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC.
Questioning this reasoning, the Supreme Court observed:
" Shockingly, the High Court thought fit to partly allow the appeal by altering the conviction from Section 302 to Section 304 Part II of the IPC. In the opinion of the High Court, the case would fall within Exception 4 to Section 300 of the IPC…Assuming for the moment that the High Court was of the view that the case would fall within Exception 4 to Section 300, we fail to understand how the conviction could have been under Section 304 Part II of the IPC."
"The conviction at the most could have been under Section 304 Part I of the IPC," it added.
The Court further said there was "no question" of bringing the case within Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC and that it was inclined to consider restoring the Trial Court's conviction for murder.
The Court accordingly issued notice to the accused, returnable on November 18, 2026, asking him to show cause why his murder conviction should not be restored.
Appearance:
For Petitioner(s) :Ms. Kumud Lata Das- 1222, AOR Mr. Arvind Kumar, Adv. Ms. Pooja Rathore, Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Saini, Adv. Mr. Harsh Ajay Singh, Adv. Mr. Puneet, Adv.
For Respondent(s) :Mr. Aditya Vaibhav Singh Ga, Adv. Mr. Harmeet Singh Ruprah- 2308, AOR Mr. Shantanu Singh, Adv.