January 25, 2019:
The Supreme Court in a judgment dated 22nd January, 2019 has ruled that a husband calling his wife a prostitute would amount to sudden and grave provocation under Exception I of Section 300 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Bench of Justices Mohan M Shantanagoudar and Dinesh Maheshwari of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the instant case ruled that the death caused due to such provocation would be punishable for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 of IPC.
In the instant case, the Accused No. 1 had an illicit relationship with Accused no. 2 Nawaz. The Accused no. 1 was the wife of the deceased.
The deceased used to suspect the fidelity of Accused No. 1 as well as his daughter’s integrity.
On the date of the incident at about 9.00 am, the deceased quarrelled with Accused No.1 and called her a ‘prostitute’. He also told her that Accused No. 1 has converted their daughter into a prostitute as well. At that point of time, Accused No. 2 intervened and asked the deceased not to quarrel with Accused No. 1. Since the deceased did not stop, Accused No. 2 slapped the face of the deceased whereupon the deceased became unconscious .
Immediately thereafter, both the accused throttled the deceased with the help of a towel and burnt the dead body to try to conceal the offence.
The trial court as well as the High Court convicted both the accused for the offences punishable under Section 302 and Section 201 of IPC.
However, the Supreme Court after going through the materials on record held that the accused shall be punishable under Section 304 Part I of IPC inasmuch as the offence may fall under exception 1 of Section 300. This was because, the act of the deceased in calling his wife and daughter 'prostitute' amounted to sudden and grave provocation and this led to the incident resulting in the death of the husband.
The Apex court explicated that in our society, no lady would like to be called a 'prostitute' by her husband, the Court said concluding that the incident was a result of sudden and grave provocation.
The Court, therefore, modified the judgment of the trial court and High Court and convicted the accused under Section 304 Part I of IPC instead of Section 302. It sentenced the accused to rigorous imprisonment of ten years.
Read Judgment @ LatestLaws.com
NAWAZ Vs THE STATE REP. BY INSPECTOR OF POLICE 22.01.2019(Downloadable PDF)
Nawaz vs the State Rep. by Inspector of Police 22.01.2019 by Anonymous P3qxYB on Scribd
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