Holding

The act was committed in the heat of the moment without premeditation and satisfies Exception 4 to s.300 IPC, not clause thirdly, thus constituting culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Summary

Jagrup Singh struck his uncle Chanan Singh on the head with the blunt side of a gandhala during a marriage ceremony, causing a fatal head injury. The trial court convicted him of murder under s.302 IPC, a decision affirmed by the High Court, which held that the prosecution had proved intention to cause a bodily injury sufficient to cause death. On appeal, the Supreme Court examined whether the facts satisfied clause thirdly of s.300 IPC or fell within Exception 4 to s.300, which applies to killings in the heat of the moment without premeditation. Relying on the test laid down in Virsa Singh’s case, the Court found that the appellant could only be said to have known the blow might cause death, not that he intended such injury. Consequently, the conviction under s.302 was set aside and altered to culpable homicide not amounting to murder under s.304 Part II, with a reduced sentence of seven years rigorous imprisonment.

Issues considered

Whether the appellant's act of striking the deceased with a gandhala falls under clause thirdly of s.300 IPC (murder) or Exception 4 to s.300 IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
Whether the prosecution proved the requisite intention to cause a bodily injury sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.

Legislation cited

Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 300, s. 302, s. 304

Subjects

murderculpable homicide not amounting to murderIPC Section 300Exception 4intentionheat of the momentsolitary blowweaponpremeditation

Judgment

839 A
JAGRUP SINGH
.., v•

STATE OF HARYANA
B
May 7, 1981

[D.A. DESAI AND A. P. SEN, JJ.]

Penal Code-Section 300, clause Thirdly-When applicable-Accused hit the
deceased in the heat of moment, without premeditation, resulting in death-Whether
falls under Exception 4 to section 300 J.P. C. c
The appellant and the deceased were collaterals. On the death of his brother,
~ the deceased was looking after the affairs of his brother's wife and children.
Some while before on the day of occurrence, the deceased attended the marriage
of bis brother's daughter.

The prosecution case against the appellant was that he nursed a grievance
against the deceased that it was he who induced his sister-in-law not to invite D
him, (the appellant) and his brothers to the marriage and incensed by such insult
he wanted to teach the deceased a lesson. After the marriage, armed with a
gandhala (a common agricultural implement with a flat, rectangular iron strip with
three sides blunt, embedded in a wooden handle which is used for digging holes)
the appellant and his brothers emerged suddenly and in a joint assault the appel-
lant struck a blow on the head of the deceased with the blunt side of the
gandhala. E
_., The Sessions Judge held that the appellant struck the blow on the head with
intent to cause such bodily injury as was sufficient in the ordinary course of
nature to cause death and that, therefore, he was guilty of culpable homicide
amounting to murder punishable under section 302 I.P.C.

Affirming the conviction and sentence the High Court was of the view that F
there was no specific and positive evidence as to the motive for the murder but
that it was more probable that the accused had joined the marriage and that
"something happened on the spur of the. movement'', which resulted. in the
infliction of the injury leading to the death of the deceased.

In appeal it was contended that the offence amounted to culpable homicide
not amounting to murder punishable under section 304 part II I.P.C. because
all that could be attributed to the appellant was knowledge that a blow struck
on the head with the blunt side of the gandhala would cause an injury, which
was likely to cause death but that in any event when be struck the blow he could
not be attributed with intention to cause death.

Allowing the appeal,
H
HELD : The appellant having been found to have struck the deceased with
the blunt side of the gandhala in the heat of the moment without premeditation
840 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1981] 3 S.C.R.

A and in a sudden fight all the requirements of Exception 4 to section 3(0 are met.
Having held that it was more probable that the appellant had also atte.nded
the marriage but that something had happened on the spur of the moment resul-
ting in the infliction of the injury and eventual death of the deceased the High
Court erred in applying clause Thirdly of section 300.

Giving a solirary blow on a vital part of the body resulting in death cannot
B always necessarily reduce the offence to culpable homicide not amounting to
murder punishable under section 304 part II of the Code. If a man deliberately
struck another on the head with a heavy log or an iron rod or a lathi so as to
cause a fracture of the skull, in the absence of any circumstances negativing the
presumption, he must be deemed to have intended to cause death or such bodily
injury as is sufficient to cause death. The intention must be gathered from the
kind of weapon used, the part of the body hit, the amount of force employed and
c the circumstances attendant upon death. [843 B-C]

Under clause Thirdly of section 300 culpable homicide is murder if the act
which causes death is done with intention of causing a bodily injury and that -1
injury is sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death i.e. the injury
found was one that was intended to be inflicted. [844 F-G)

Virsa Singh v. State of Punjab [1958] S.C.R. 1495 at 1503 applied.
D
Gudur Dusadh v. State of Bihar [1972] 3 S.C.R. 505, Chahat Khan v. State of
Haryana, A.LR. 1972 S.C. 2574, Chamru Budhwa v. State of Madhya Pradesh,
A.LR. 1954 S. C. 652, Willie (Williams) Slaney v. State of Madhya Pradesh
[1955) 2 S.C.R. 1140, Harjinder Singh (alias Jinda) v. Delhi Admn. [1968] 2
S.C.R. 246 & Lakshman Ka/u Nikalje v. State of Maharashtra [1968) 3 S.C.R.
685 referred to.
E
In the instant case the genesis of the quarrel was not known. The prosecu-
tion alleged that the appellant and his brothers had a grouse against the deceased
and that they went to the marriage armed with weapons to teach the deceased a
lesson. The defence version, on the other hand, was that they were invited to
the marriage. In a controversy of such a nature the prosecution should have
examined the sister-in-law of the deceased who was a material witness to ascer-
F tain the truth, failure to do which made the prosecution case infirm. [847 B·C)

Secondly when the appellant struck a blow with blunt side of the gandha/a
it could not be said that he intended to cause such bodily injury as was suffi-
cient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. If a man is hit with the
blunt side on the head with sufficient force it is .bound to cause death. The fact
that the gandhala was used with sufficient force was not by itself sufficient to
G raise an inference that lhe appellant intended to cause such bodily injury as was
sufficient to cause death. He could only be attributed with the knowledge that
it was likely to cause an injury which was likely to cause death. Therefore, the
case does not fall within clause Thirdly of section 300 J.P.C. [845 E-H]

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 403
H
of 1981.
JAGRUP SINGH v. HARYANA (Sen, J.) 841

From the judgment and order dated the 10th October, 1980 A
of Punjab & Haryana High Court in Crl. A. No. 954 of 1979.

Sushi! Kumar for the Appellant.

K.C. Bhagat and R.N. Poddar for the Respondents.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by B
SEN, J. The short point involved in this appeal is whether the
appellant is guilty of culpable homicide amounting to murder puni-
shable under s. 302, Indian Penal Code, or only of culpable homicide
not amounting to murder punishable under s. 304, Part II, Indian
Penal Code (hereinafter called 'the Code'). It is not disputed that
the appellant, Jagrup Singh, struck a blow with the blunt side of a
c
gandhala on the bead of the deceased, Chanan Singh, who was his
uncle, resulting in his death. It appears that after the death of
Joginder Singh, the deceased Chanan Singh was looking after the
family of his brother, Joginder Singh consisting of his widow Mst.
Dalip Kaur and her children. He had settled the betrothal and D
marriage of Mst. Dalip Kaur's daughter, Tej Kaur. The prosecution
case is that the appellant Jagrup Singh and bis brothers, Billaur
Singh, Jarmail Singh and Waryam Singh, co-accused, although they
were collaterals of Joginder Singh, were not invited by Mst. Dalip
Kaur to the marriage of her daughter Tej Kaur, at the instance of
the deceased Chanan Singh. On account of this, there was ill-feeling E
between the parties.

On the fateful evening, i.e. on 20.3.1978, at 5.15 p.m. the
marriage of Tej Kaur was performed. It is alleged that shortly
thereafter, the appellant Jagrup Singh armed with a gandhala, his
brothers Billaur Singh armed with.a gandasa and Jarmail Singh and F
Waryam Singh armed with lathis emerged suddenly and made a
joint assault on the deceased Chanan Singh and the three eye-
witnesses, Gurdev Singh, PW 10, Sukhdev Singh, PW 11 and Makhan
Singh, PW 12. The deceased along with the three eye-witnesses
was rushed to the Rural Dispensary, Rori where they were examined
at 6 p.m by Dr. Bishnoi, PW 3, who found that the deceased had G
a lacerated wound 9cm x Hem bone deep on the right parietal
region, 9 cm away from the tip of right pinna; margins of wound
were red, irregular and were bleeding on touch; direction of wound
was anterior-posterior. The deceased was in a serious condition and,
therefore, he was referred by Dr. Bishnoi to the Civil Hospital, H
Sirsa, where he died on the morning of 21.3.1978 at 2.10 a.m.
842 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1981) 3 S.C.R.

A Dr. Karan Singh, Senior Medical Officer, Civil Hospital, Sirsa,
PW 1, performed an atopsy on the dead body of the deceased. He
found the following external injuries :

A stitched contused wound 9! cm long situated on
right side of the head; 9 cm above the top of pinna and
9 cm above the eye brow. Skull deep.. direction anterio-
B
posterior.

On dissection, he found the following internal injury :

A fracture line running starting from the lower and the
anterior part of parietal bone injuring the middle meningeal
c artery near its entrance into the ,skull and traversing
medially across the base of right middle fossa, crossing the
mid-line and extending slightly to the left of mid-line.
There was a dark red haemotoma (extra-dural) 3" 2x3"
overlying the parietal ahd temporal lobes of brain on right
side and the area was compressed.
D
In his opinion, the death of the deceased ·was due to cerebral com-
pression as a result of the head injury which was sufficient in the
ordinary course of nature to cause death.

he High Court of Punjab and Haryana, agreeing with the
E Additional Sessions Judge, Sirsa, held that the appellant struck a
blow on the head of the deceased with the blunt side of the gandhala
with the intent of causing such bodily injury which was sufficient in
the ordinary course of nature to cause death and that being so, the
appellant was guilty of culpable homicide amounting to murder
punishable under s. 302 of the Code.
F In assailing the' conviction, learned counsel for the appellant
contends that the appellant having struck a solitary blow on the head
of the deceased with the blunt side of the gandhala, can be attributed
with the knowledge that it would cause an injury which was likely to
cause death and not with any intention to cause the death of the
deceased. The offence committed by the appellant, therefore amo-
G unted to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, punishable
under s. 304, Part IT of the Code. He further contends, in the
alternative, that there could be no doubt that the appellant acted in
the heat of the moment when he hit the deceased and is, therefore,
entitled to the benefit of Exception of s. 300 of the Code. On the
H other hand, learned counsel for the State contends that the matter
JAGRUP SINGH v. HARYANA (Sen, J.) 843

squarely falls within Clause Thirdly of s. 300 of the Code. He A
submits that merely because the appellant rendered a solitary blow
with the blunt side of the gandhala on the head would not necessarily
imply that the offence amounted to culpable homicide not amounting
to murder punishable under s. 304, Part II of the Code.

There is no justification for the assertion that the giving of a B
solitary blow on a vital part of the body resulting the death must
always necessarily reduce the offence to culpable homicide not
amounting to murder punishable 'under s. 304, Part II of the Code.
If a man deliberately strikes another on the head with a heavy log
of wood or an iron irod or even a lathi so as to cause a fracture of
the skull, he must, in the absence of any circumstances negativing c
the presumption, be deemed to have intended to cause the death of
tbe victim or such bodily injury as is sufficient to cause death. The
whole thing depends upon the intention to cause death, and the
case may be covered by either Clause Firstly or Clause Thirdly. The
nature of intention must be gathered from the kind of weapon used,
the part of the body hit, the amount of force employed and the D
circumstances attendant upon the death.

The ingredients of Clause Thirdly of s. 300 of the Code were
brought out by Vivian Bose, J. in Virsa Singh v. State of Punjab (1)
in his terse language :
E
"To put it shortly, the prosecution must prove the
following facts before it can bring a case under s. 300
"3rdly".

First, it must establish, quite objectively, that a bodily
injury is present;
F
Secondly, the nature of the injury must be proved.
These are purely objective investigations.

Thirdly, it must be proved that there was an intention
to inflict that particular bodily injury, that is to say, that
it was not accidental or unintentional, or that some other G
kind of injury was intended.

Once these three elements are proved to be present, the
enquiry proceeds further and,
H
(!) [1958] SCR 1495 at 1503.
844 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1981] 3 s.c.R.

A Fourthly, it must be proved that the injury of the type
just described made up of the three elements set out above
is sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature.
This part of the enquiry is purely objective and inferential
and has nothing to do with the intention of the offender".

B The learned Judge explained the third ingredient in the following
words:

The question is not whether the prisoner intended to
inflict a serious injury or a trivial one but whether he
intended to inflict the injury that is proved to be present.
c If he can show that he did not, or if the totality of the
circumstances justify such an inferencr, then, of course, the
intent that the section requires is not proved. But if there
is nothing beyond the injury and the fact that the appellant
inflicted it, the only possible inference is that he intended
to inflict it. Whether he knew of its seriousness, or intend-
D ed serious consequences, is neither here nor there. The
question, so far as the intention is concerned, is not whe-
ther he intended to kill, or to inflict an injury of a particular
degree of seriousness, but whether he intended to inflict the
injury in question; and once the existence of the injury is .
proved the intention to cause it will be presumed unless the
E evidence or the circumstances warrant an opposite con-
clusion.

These observations of Vivian Bose, J. have become locus classicus.
The test laid down in Virsa Singh' s case (supra) for the applicability

F
of Clause Thirdly is now ingrained in our legal system and has
become part of the rule of law. Under Clause Thirdly of s. 300 of
....
the Code, culpable homicide is murder if both the following con-
ditions are satisfied : (a) that the act which causes death is done
with the intention of causmg a bodily injury; and (b) that the
injury intended to be inflicted is sufficient in· the ordinary course of
nature to cause death. It must .be proved that there was
G an intention to inflict that particular bodily injury which,
in the ordinary course of nature, was sufficient to cause death, viz.
that the injury found to be present was the injury that was intended
to be inflicted.

H The decision in Virsa Singh's case (supra) has throughout
been followed as laying down the guiding principles. The decisions
JAGRUP SINGH v. HARYANA (Sen, J.) 845

are too numerous and we may notice only two of them : Gudur A
Dusadh v. State of Bihar (1) and Chahal Khan v. State of Haryana. (2)
In Gudur Dusadh' s case, the day before the occurrence, the accused
had killed a goat and on the advice of the deceased, the complainant
lodged a report. On the next morning, while the deceased was
returning from his fields along with his son, they were assaulted by
the accused persons who had been hiding on the route. Thereafter, B
the accused set fire to the hut of the deceased. On these facts it
was held that the act of the accused who had waylaid the deceased
was a pre-meditated act, and, therefore, the accused had the
necessary intention to commit murder. In Chahat Khan's case also,
the deceased was waylaid by the accused who were armed with
lathis. That case is destructive of the theory that a solitary blow c
on the head reduces the offence to culpable homicide not amounting
to murder punishable under s. 304, Part II. From the evidence it
emerged that the accused had both gun and a lathi, and he made
full use of the lathi by using both the hands and struck a blow on the
head of the deceased with sufficient force. The solitary blow with
the lathi was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause his
D
death, and there was no occasion for using the gun which was
hanging on his shoulders. Both these cases fell within Clause Thirdly
as there was clear intention to cause such bodily injury which in the
ordinary course of nature waS' sufficient to cause death.

Looking at the totality of the evidence, it would not be possible
E
to come to the conclusion that when the appellant struck the deceased
with the blunt side of the gandhala, he intended to cause such bodily
injury as was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause
death. A gandhala is a common agricultural implement consisting
of a flat, rectangular iron strip, three sides of which are blunt, F
embedded in a woodden handle. The length of the iron strip is in
continuation of the woodden handle and the end portion is sharp,
which is used to dig holes in the earth to set up fencing on embank-
ments in the field. If a man is hit with the blunt side on the head
with sufficient force, it is bound to cause, as here, death. There can
be no doubt that it was used with certain amount of force because G
there was cerebral compression. But that by itself is not sufficient
to raise an inference that the appellant intended to cause such bodily
injury as was sufficient to cause death. He could only be attributed
with the knowledge that it was likely to cause an injury which was
H
(1) [1972] 3 SCR 505.
(2) AIR 1972 SC 2574.
846 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1981) 3 S.C.R.

A likely to cause the death. The matter, therefore, does not fall within
Clause Thirdly of s. 300 of the Code.

In Chamru Budhwa v. State of Madhya Pradesh (1) in somewhat
similar circumstances, where there was exchange of abuses between
the two parties both of whom were armed with lathis, they came to
B blows and in the course of the fight that ensued, the accused struck
a lathi b!ow on the head of the deceased which caused a fracture of
the skull resulting in the death. In view of the fact the accused
had given only one blow in the heat of the moment, it was held that
all that can be said was that he had given the blow with the know-
ledge that it was likly to cause death and, therefore, the offence fell
c under s. 304, Part II of the Code. In Willie (Williams) Slaney v.
State of Madhya Pradesh (2) there was, as here, a sudden quarrel
leading to an exchange of abuses and in the heat of the moment a
solitary blow with a hockey-stick had been given on the head. The
court held that the offence amounted to culpable homicide not
amounting to murder punishable under s. 304, Part II.
0
At this stage, we think, it desirable to refer to two other
decisions in Harjinder Singh (alias Jinda) v. Delhi Admn. (3) and
Lakshman Kalu Nikalje v. State of Maharashtra (4), where the court,
relying upon the principles enunciated by Vivian Bose, J. in Virsa
Singh's case (supra), excluded the application of Clause Thirdly,
E because the third ingredient laid down, viz. the intention to cause
the particular injury which was likely to cause death, was not
present. ,

In Harjinder Singh's case (supra) there was a sudden commotion
when the accused took out a knife and stabbed the deceased who
F intervened in a fight. At this stage, the deceased was in a crouching
position presumably to intervene and separate the two persons
fighting. It could not, therefore, be said with any definiteness that
the accused aimed a blow at a particular part of the thigh that it
would cut the femoral artery which would result in the death of the.
deceased. It was, therefore, not possible to apply Clause Thirdly
G of s. 300 of the Code. In Laxman Kalu Nikalje's case (supra) there
was a sudden quarrel and the accused lost his temper and whipped
out a knife and gave one blow. Although it was given on the chest,

(1) AIR 1954 SC 652 .
. (2) [1955] 2 SCR 1140.
H (3) [1968] 2 SCR 246.
(4) [1968] 3 SCR 685.
JAGRUP SINGH v. HARYANA (Sen, J.) 847

it was not on a vital part of the chest and but for the fact that the A
knife cut the auxiliary artery, death might not have ensued.

In the present case, there is no doubt that there was a sudden
'quarrel and the appellant assaulted the deceased with the blunt side
of the gandhafa on the head in the heat of the moment. What
actually was the immediate cause for the assault by the appellant B
on the deceased at the marriage ceremony of Tej Kaur, is nnt clear.
The genesis of the quarrel resulting in the head injury to the deceased
is not known. The prosecution came with a positive""case that the
appellant, together with his three brothers,. who had not been imited
to the marriage of Tej Kaur by Mst. Dalip Kaur at the-· instigation
of deceased Chanan Singh, came armed with different weapons to c
teach the deceased a lesson. But the prosecution has failed to ex-
amine Mst. Dalip Kaur and the defence version is that the appellant
and his brothers had been invited to the marriage of Tej Kaur by
Mst. Dalip Kaur.

In view of these infirmities in the prosecution case, the High D
Court was constrained to observe :

In the absence of any specific and positive evidence
whether oral or documentary, it is not possible to arrive at
any positive conclusion that this circumstance furnished any
motive for the accused to attack Chanan Singh [(deceased)
E
and three other prosecution witnesses. After a careful
perusal of the entire prosecution evidence, it appears more
probable that the accused had also joined in the marriage
as the collaterals, but something happened on the spur of the
moment which resulted in the infliction of injury by Jagrup
Singh on the person of Chanan Singh which resulted into F
his death. In the first information report, it had not been
disclosed, as was subsequently made out at the trial, that
the accused had come from the house of Jarmail Singh,
accused, armed with weapons.

(emphasis supplied)
G
In our judgment, the High Court having held that it was more
probable that the appellant Jagrup Singh had also attended the
marriage as the collateral, but something happened on the spur of
the moment which resulted in the infliction of the injury by Jagrup
Singh on the person of the deceased Chanan Singh which resulted
H
in his death, manifestly erred in applying Clause Thirdly of s. 300
848 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1981] 3 S.C.R.

A of the Code. On the finding that the appellant when he struck the
deceased with the blunt side of the gandhala in the heat of the
moment, '.}'itbout pre-meditation and in a sudden fight; the case was
covered by Exception 4 to s. 300. It is not suggested that the
appellant had taken undue advantage of the situation or bad acted
in a cruel or unusual manner. Thus, all the requirements of
B Exception 4 are clearly met. That being so, the conviction of the
appellant Jagrup Singh, under s. 302 of the Code cannot be
sustained.

The result, therefore, is that the conviction of the appellant
under s. 302 is altered to one under s. 304, Part II of the Indian Penal
c Code. For the altered conviction, the appellant is sentenced to
suffer rigorous imprisonment for a period of seven years.

P.B.R. Appeal allowed.