Killing during a sudden fight does not amount to murder: SC

NEW DELHI: A killing which is not pre-meditated and takes place during a sudden fight should not invite a punishment which is awarded for a murder, the Supreme Court has said.
    
"It is a question of fact and whether a quarrel is sudden or not must necessarily depend upon the proved facts of each case," a bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and P Sathasivam observed while reducing to 10 years the life imprisonment awarded to Suresh Kumar for a murder.
    
The apex court said Kumar's action of stabbing the victim Sanjeev Kumar during a marriage brawl was not pre-meditated and hence he was entitled to the exception provided under Section 304 IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
    
In this case two groups of people belonging to different marriage parties were going out in a procession in Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district on February 27, 2001.
    
During the procession the revellers had an altercation with each other during which Suresh took out a knife and stabbed Sanjeev to death.
    
The sessions court convicted Suresh to life imprisonment and the Himachal Pradesh High Court dismissed his appeal following which he appealed in the apex court.
    
While upholding the prosecution's evidence that Suresh caused the death of Sanjeev, the apex court, however, reasoned that the accused's action was not pre-mediated as it occurred during a sudden fight.
    
He was entitled to the protection granted under Section 304 IPC, the apex court said while reducing the sentence to 10 years.