Out on bail for 40 years, Allahabad HC asks 82-year-old murder convict to surrender
The Allahabad High Court has dismissed the appeal of an 82-year-old man convicted of killing his brother in 1984 and directed him to surrender to
The Allahabad High Court has dismissed the appeal of an 82-year-old man convicted of killing his brother in 1984 and directed him to surrender to serve the remaining part of his life sentence. The court also refused his request to convert the conviction from murder under Section 302 of the IPC to culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 Part II, or to reduce the sentence to the period already undergone. Read Full Story A bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Jai Krishna Upadhyay said the evidence on record did not show any mitigating circumstances for such relief. The court said it could not grant relief only because the appellant was now 82 and had remained on bail for nearly four decades while the appeal was pending.
In its July 17 judgment, the court said, "The evidence adduced did not reflect a sudden and grave provocation or sudden fight account of which the court may examine the possibility of setting aside the conviction under Section 302 IPC and hold the appellant guilty under Section 304 Part (II) IPC." The bench added that though it was disturbed that the appellant would have to return to jail after 40 years, it could not do much as it did not have the powers of the Supreme Court under Article 142 of the Constitution. Babu Lal was convicted by the trial court in October 1984 for causing the death of his brother by repeatedly assaulting him with a 'sabri', an implement used for agricultural digging.
His counsel argued that the object was not a dedicated weapon and had been used from the blunt side, which showed there was no intention to kill. It was also argued that even if the prosecution case was accepted in full and proved beyond reasonable doubt, the offence made out would be under Section 325 of the IPC for causing grievous hurt. Rejecting the argument, the court said: "The intention to commit murder cannot be dismissed only on account of nature of weapon used, more particularly the intention is to be adduced by that part of human anatomy which was targeted by the assailant coupled with the knowledge also a part of mens rea that the use of the article to target a vital part of the human body would cause grievous hurt, which in the ordinary course of nature may result in death or will result in death." With this, the high court upheld the murder conviction and life sentence, and asked the appellant to surrender.
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