STATE OF M P Vs. SHANKER GANGARAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a reference under Section 307, Criminal P. C. by the Sessions Judge, Amravati, against the verdict of the Jury. The Jury have unanimously found the accused (non-applicant) guilty under Section 308 Penal Code. The Sessions Judge is of the view that the conviction ought to be under Section 307, Penal Code.

(2.) THE accused was committed to the Court of Session for trial under Section 307, Penal Code, for making a murderous assault on Kashiram (P. W. 1) on 22-1-1955 with the dagger, Article F, which he recovered from his house. The injuries caused to Kashiram were the following:

(3.) KASHIRAM (P. W. 1) admitted that the accused was having quarrels with him from 8 or 10 days, but he denied that this was because he suspected him to be misbehaving with his wife. However, he does not appear to be a person above reproach, as he is undergoing prosecution for assault on a police constable and also for breaking into the house of a refugee. The case of the accused was that he heard the shouts of his wife when she went out to urinate and saw him holding her hand. On seeing him, he let go his wife and dashed his head forcibly against his abdomen, when, in the scuffle, he stabbed him twice on the back. The Jury did not accept his statement but believed that he acted as he did because of the preceding incidents. The Sessions Judge holds that as the provocation was not sudden, even if grave, the case would not be covered by Exception 1 to Section 300, Penal Code, if death supervened, and, therefore, the offence falls under Section 307 and not under Section 308, Penal Code.