PUKNIA Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this appeal under the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Cri. Appellant Jurisdiction) Act, the appellant has been convicted under S. 302 I.P.C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life. The appellant was acquitted by the trial Court but on appeal preferred by the State to the High Court, the order of acquittal by the trial Court was reversed and converted into conviction as stated above. The facts of the case have been jully detailed in the judgment of the courts below.

(2.) Mr. Puri appearing in support of the appeal has submitted that even on the findings of the trial Court no case under S. 302 I.P.C. is made out on the proved facts. Mr. Mukherjee appearing for the respondent conceded that in the circumstances of the present case, the case squarely falls not under S. 302 I.P.C. but under S. 304 (1) and the High Court was not justified in convicting the appellant under S. 302 I.P.C. After having gone through the judgment of the High Court and that of the Sessions Judge, we also feel that the case does not fall under S. 302, I.P.C. but it falls under S. 304 (1), I.P.C. For these reasons, therefore, the appeal is allowed to this extent that the conviction of the appellant is altered from that under S. 302, I.P.C., to one under S. 304 (1), I.P.C. and the sentence is reduced from life imprisonment to seven years' R.I.