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Supreme Court of India. (Data map)
In 1984, three men were charged with murder for hitting a villager on the head with a 'lathi' (stick).
Three men accused of beating a villager to death during a petty fight over mangoes among children in a UP village 40 years ago have been saved by the Supreme Court by reducing their life sentence to seven years in prison.
In 1984, three men were charged with murder for hitting a villager on the head with a 'lathi' (stick). A trial court in 1986 convicted them of murder and sentenced them to life imprisonment, while the Allahabad High Court in 2022 confirmed their verdict by a trial court in Gonda district of the state.
Two of the five convicts died during their High Court appeal and proceedings against them were mitigated.
A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said considering the entire facts and circumstances of the case, the nature of the injuries sustained by the deceased and the nature of the weapon used, i.e. 'lathi', “we are inclined to accept the contention that this was indeed a case of manslaughter” The case does not constitute murder, and it is not murder.”
The judge said that judging from the testimony of all witnesses in the case, this was not a premeditated murder.
“We, therefore, convert the findings under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC to the findings under Section 304 Part I of the IPC and thereby commute the life sentence of all the appellants before us to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and sentence the Judge to serve a term of seven years. Each of the appellants shall pay a penalty of Rs 25,000 within eight weeks from now (if they have not already done so), said the order dated 24 March, which was recently uploaded on the Supreme Court's website.
The judge said the amount deposited will be handed over to the victim's family and asked the district magistrate of Uttar Pradesh's Gonda district to comply with the order.
The three convicts Man Bahadur Singh, Bharat Singh and Bhanu Pratap Singh argued through lawyer Saksham Maheshwari It was stated that this was not a case of murder but a case of manslaughter, which did not constitute murder because it fell within the exception of Article 300, Section 4.
Exception to Section 300 Section 4 of the Indian Penal Code states: “If it is committed during a sudden quarrel, in the midst of a heated quarrel, without premeditation and the offender does not take advantage of an unfair advantage or act cruelly or cruelly , then the crime of culpable homicide does not qualify as murder. The Supreme Court noted that the incident on April 19, 1984, began with a fight between children over a mango and, unfortunately, when adults in the family also became involved. The fight eventually broke out and resulted in the late Vishwanath Singh, the father of one of the children, being jailed.
Vishwanath Singh was injured and taken to Gonda Hospital in a bullock cart, where he was declared brought dead and a post-mortem examination was conducted.
The judge said two of the five pre-mortem injuries recorded in the autopsy report appeared to be fatal, with Singh suffering skull fractures that ultimately led to his death.
The statement noted that there were witnesses to the incident, in particular three witnesses, one of whom was injured.
“They were cross-examined at length at the trial but there was no evidence to cast any doubt on their testimony. In the circumstances there was no question as to the fact that the death was a homicide and that the death was caused by the appellant's lath The fact that he died from injuries due to beating has also been clearly confirmed by the evidence provided by the prosecution.
Maheshwari said the convict in the case had been in jail for several years but was granted bail pending appeal in the High Court.
“They are currently serving the remaining sentences in jail after the life sentences were confirmed by the High Court on December 21, 2022,” he told PTI.
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(This report has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from United News Agency-PTI)
