Indian Penal Code, 1860
Section 302 & 304 Part II—Culpable homicide—Factors to be considered to commute a sentence from Section 302 to Section 304 Part II IPC—Apex Court has considered factors such as lack of medical evidence to prove whether the act/injury was individually sufficient to cause death, a single blow on head with a hammer and lack of cogent evidence of the eye-witnesses that the accused shared a common intention to commit murder as some factors to commute a sentence from Section 302 to Section 304 Part II IPC.
[Para 29]
Section 302 read with Section 34—Murder with common intention—Proof of—Case of political animosity—It is alleged that A-1 to A-4 attacked the deceased with an axe, a sword, a stone and a knife, thereby inflicting severe bleeding injuries leading to death of deceased on the spot—A-3 never took the axe in his hand and only used a stone to assault the deceased—Neither the prosecution or defence, nor the court, have focussed on the role of A-3 as evidenced by oral and documentary evidence—There is nothing to attribute A-3 with intent to murder the deceased—Courts below have mechanically drawn an inference against A-3 under Section 34 of IPC merely based on his presence near the scene of offence and his familial relations with other accused—Evidence is insufficient to deduce a conclusion that A-3 shared a common intention with other accused to commit the murder of deceased—It is not the case of prosecution that A-3 was along with other accused while the deceased was dragged to the house—Deposition would reveal that after the other accused assaulted the deceased with sword, A-3 came thereafter and assaulted the deceased with stone lying there—Prosecution has not been in a position to establish that A-3 shared the common intention with other accused to cause murder of deceased—Conviction and sentence of A-1, A-2 & A-4 under Section 302 read with Section 34 of IPC is upheld and that of A-3 altered to one under Section 304 Part II of IPC.
[Paras 30 to 32]