"On Impulse", "Ran To The Hospital" SC overturns husband's murder conviction under 302 IPC

The murder conviction of a man accused of killing his wife was overturned by the Supreme Court and changed to a conviction under Section 304 Part II IPC.

After the court determined that the occurrence had happened on the spur of the moment and that the accused had acted immediately to transfer his wife to the hospital, this is what happened.

The accused was suspected of killing his wife, and his 7-year-old daughter was the only eyewitness report that was ever documented in this case. The Delhi High Court maintained the Trial Court's finding of guilt under Section 302 IPC. The appellant accused argued before the Apex Court that the incident was spontaneous even if it were to be adopted in its current form.

The court noted that the Trial Court and the High Court had given the credibility of the child witness' testimony careful consideration. The court took note of the child witness' claims that her mother spoke to her father and that this caused her father to begin beating her mother; that she was unable to open the door latch to her house and so went there; and that her father then got dressed and took her mother to the hospital right away.

The court's bench of Justices AS Bopanna and PS Narasimha stated, "These aspects of the case would indicate that there was no pre-meditation to cause the death and the incident had occurred on the spur of the moment. The appellant, having realised his error, had thereafter taken immediate steps to shift his wife to the hospital, but sadly she breathed her last.

The conviction was changed by the bench to Section 304 Part II of the IPC. The court ruled that the accused's previous 12 years of imprisonment would be appropriate punishment because of the length of time already served.

Jai Karan Yadav vs State (NCT Of Delhi)