Often difficult to distinguish between murder and culpable homicide as both involve death: SC

The apex court made the observation while altering the conviction of a man, who was earlier held guilty for murdering a sub-inspector in Madhya Pradesh

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reduced life imprisonment awarded to a truck driver to 10-year jail for mowing down a Sub Inspector after breaking a forest department barrier, finding that the convict reacted disproportionately in rage without any motive, intention or animus to kill the police officer.

A bench of Justices K M Joseph and S Ravindra Bhat allowed an appeal filed by Mohd Rafiq alias Kallu and altered his conviction from the offence of murder to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Going through the penal provisions, the bench said it is often difficult to distinguish between culpable homicide and murder as both involve death. Yet, there is a subtle distinction of intention and knowledge involved in both crimes. This difference lies in the degree of the act. There is a very wide variance of degree of intention and knowledge among both the crimes.

Coming back to the case at hand, the bench pointed out the conviction of the appellant for murder was not appropriate as he did not have any previous quarrel with the deceased Sub Inspector D K Tiwari. There was a lack of animus. The act resulting in SI Tiwari’s death was not pre-meditated, it said.

"If one considers that the deceased tried to board the truck, and was perhaps in plain clothes, the instinctive reaction of the appellant was to resist; he disproportionately reacted, which resulted in the deceased being thrown off the vehicle. Such act of throwing off the deceased and driving on without pausing, appears to have been in the heat of passion, or rage," the bench said.

However, the court noted the appellant did have the intention of causing such bodily harm, to the deceased, as was likely to result in his death, as it did, so he should be convicted for the offence punishable under Section 304 Part I of the IPC.

On March 9, 1992, the deceased Sub Inspector along with others tried to stop the truck which broke the forest department barrier at Damoh in Madhya Pradesh. Instead of applying brakes, the accused tried to speed away, upon which SI Tiwari boarded the truck from its left side. The accused warned SI Tiwari not to do so and that he would get killed.

Nevertheless, SI Tiwari boarded the truck. Immediately thereafter, the appellant pushed him, as a result of which SI Tiwari fell off the truck and he was run over by the rear wheels of the truck, resulting in his death.

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