In a criminal appeal filed before the Madhya Pradesh High Court against a judgment dated 20-06-2023 by the Additional Sessions Judge, Churai District, Chhindwara (MP), whereby the trial court convicted the appellant under Section 304-I of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and sentenced him to undergo life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs. 1000/-, a Division Bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice Avanindra Kumar Singh convicted the appellant under Section 304-II of IPC instead of 304-I and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for 7 years instead of a lifetime.
The appellant was accused of causing his wife’s death on 19-07-2021 by assaulting her with stones in the kulbaheri river bed. The prosecution’s case was that the appellant himself informed the complainant about his wife’s death. Upon being asked as to why he killed her, the appellant stated that when they were near the river, the wife told him that she could have thousands of husbands like him, which made him angry and he started pelting stones at her.
The Court found that there was ample evidence to suggest that after being intoxicated when the wife taunted the appellant that she could keep thousand husbands like him, he threw stones at her. However, the Court said that if the appellant would have had the intention to murder the wife, he would be the last person to inform the police or any other person. Hence, the Court held that the present case was one of grave and sudden provocation.
Further, the Court said that the occurrence was not a premediated offence and found no reliable evidence to hold that the appellant had thrown the same or any other stone again and again at the deceased wife, since only one stone was sent for query report by the police. Reference was also made to the Supreme Court’s decision in Nawaz v. State (2019) 3 SCC 517.
The Court stated that when a wife tells her husband that she could keep a thousand husbands like him, it is an indirect/oblique reference to the worthlessness of the husband, meaning he has no value as a human being or a husband, which can become a sudden and grave provocation. While maintaining the conviction for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, the Court found that the case would not fall under Section 304-I of IPC, but under Section 304-II of IPC. Thus, the appellant was convicted under the said provision for causing his wife’s death and was directed to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years with Rs. 1000/- as fine.
