CJI Khanna led bench in Supreme Court Today (April 17) called out the Allahabad High Court and trial court for not charging murder in a clear honour killing case. It has now ordered a fresh trial under Section 302 IPC.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India on Thursday strongly objected to a decision by the Allahabad High Court and a trial court for not charging the accused in an honour killing case with the more serious offence of murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Instead, the lower courts had allowed the police to press the lesser charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 of the IPC.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar made it clear that based on the evidence available, the charge should have been of murder and not the lighter offence. The Supreme Court said:
“In this case, charge shouldn’t be under Section 304 IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) but under Section 302 (IPC). Thus HC and trial court faulted.”
The Supreme Court emphasized that it was clearly a case of honour killing, where the victim was attacked because of a relationship that was not accepted by the accused’s family due to religious differences.
Calling the situation very serious, the Supreme Court said the judgments of both the trial court and the High Court were wrong and should be cancelled. The apex court has now ordered that a new charge for murder under Section 302 IPC must be filed, and the trial should proceed as per that.
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The court said:
“Fresh charge to be framed under 302 and let trial proceed accordingly. Judgments of trial court and HC set aside.”
The case came before the Supreme Court through a petition filed by Ayyub Ali, the father of the deceased young man Zia Ur Rehman. Ali argued that his son was a victim of honour killing because the girl he was in a relationship with belonged to a different religion, and her family did not approve of their relationship. According to him, the girl’s family members had attacked and beaten his son, which led to his death.
Ali submitted a detailed plea explaining that murder charges under Section 302 IPC were appropriate. He also pointed to the post-mortem report, which showed that the victim had suffered a neural hematoma on the left side of his head, along with other injuries that caused his death.
The Supreme Court said it was shocking that, despite such strong signs pointing to murder, the trial court still filed charges only for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The judges questioned the reason behind hiding the real nature of the crime and strongly hinted at the role of religious bias.
The Court asked:
“This is a clear case of honour killing. Why should they have to hide? Only because they are of different faith?”
The Bench then passed its final order to frame fresh charges under Section 302 of the IPC, ensuring that justice is properly served in this clear case of honour killing.
CASE TITLE:
Ayyub Ali v. State of Uttar Pradesh.
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