STATE OF KERALA Vs. BALAKRISHNAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by the State is to challenge the view of the High Court whereby the offence of the accused-respondent was converted from one under Section 302 Indian Penal Code to one punishable under section 323 indian Penal Code. whereunder the respondent was ordered to undergo one year's rigorous imprisonment.

(2.) The respondent has been convicted on the finding that he gave a beating to the deceased who was a frail o man of sixty years weighing only 38 kg. The respondent was a Police Constable attached to a police station. We need not go into the cause of beating but the fact remains that the nature of injuries which were found on the deceased went on to show that the respondent could not be punished barely for offence under section 323 Indian Penal Code. The ribs of the deceased were broken which led to the death of the deceased. The law will presume that the respondent intended the consequences of his act. Therefore his case in our view would squarely fall within the ambit of Section 304 part II Indian Penal Code or the must be attributed the requisite guilty knowledge. We accordingly convert the conviction of the respondent to be one under Section 304 Part II Indian Penal Code for which we sentence him to four years' rigorous imprisonment. The sentence now awarded to the respondent is lenient from all standards, but we have taken into account that the offence was committed way back in the year 1988 and the respondent has undergone part of the sentence. Let the respondent surrender to serve the unexpired portion of his sentence. The appeal is allowed to this extent.