“Just see the pathetic condition of the High Court,” the Bench remarked as the Supreme Court issues notice on a Chhattisgarh High Court judgment that converted a murder conviction into culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
New Delhi: A murder conviction that the Chhattisgarh High Court reduced in November 2024 is back under scrutiny, with the Supreme Court issuing notice on the challenge. The accused has been asked to show cause why the High Court order, which brought the conviction down from Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code to culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 Part II, should not be set aside and the trial court’s conviction restored [Title not available].
The Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran also called for a response from the State of Chhattisgarh, and said it would reconsider the matter on merits.
The Bench’s remarks
Questioning how judges could assess evidence without grasping the basic provisions, the Bench remarked, “Just see the pathetic condition of the High Court.” It added that the principles involved are ones “law schools teach in the first year of academic session.”
The order itself records that the High Court appears to have overlooked the nature of the injuries, the weapons used and the genesis of the occurrence.
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The prosecution case and the two verdicts
As the prosecution tells it, the accused went to a woman’s home in February 2021 looking for her son and assaulted her; she was found lying in a pool of blood. The prosecution says she told her husband before she died that the accused had assaulted her. The post-mortem attributed the death to a head injury, with injuries to the head and face.
The trial court convicted the accused of murder under Section 302 IPC in September 2022 and sentenced him to life imprisonment. A Division Bench of the High Court, then headed by Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha with Justice Rajani Dubey, altered that in November 2024 to Section 304 Part II with a sentence of 10 years, reasoning that the assault arose from a sudden quarrel and that there was no intention to kill.
Where the line is drawn
Whether a killing is murder or culpable homicide not amounting to murder depends on intention and knowledge, read from the nature of the injuries, the weapon used and the circumstances of the attack. Exception 4 to Section 300, the sudden fight exception, is routinely invoked to reduce convictions. By taking up the High Court’s reasoning afresh, the Supreme Court has signalled that it will test whether those factors were actually examined. No final view has been taken, and the accused has been given an opportunity to respond.
Case Title: Not available
Bench: Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice K Vinod Chandran, Supreme Court of India
Date of Order: October 14, 2026