STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH Vs. AHMADULLA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by special leave by the State of Madhya Pradesh against the dismissal of an appeal preferred by it to the High Court of Madhya Pradesh (Gwalior Bench) which declined to reverse the order of acquittal passed by the Sessions Judge holding the respondent not guilty of an offence under S. 302 of the Indian Penal Code. The ground of acquittal by the Sessions Judge, which was concurred in by the High Court was that the respondent was of unsound mind at the time of the commission of the crime and so was entitled to an acquittal under S. 84 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) There is very little dispute about the facts or even about the construction of S. 84 of the Code because both the learned Sessions Judge as well as the learned Judges of the High Court on appeal have held that the crucial point of time at which the unsoundness of mind, as defined in that section, has to be established is when the act was committed. It is the application of this principle to the facts established by the evidence that is the ground of complaint by the appellant-State before us.

(3.) Section 84 of the Indian Penal Code which was invoked by the respondent successfully in the Courts below runs in these terms: