MP HC commutes murder charge to culpable homicide, orders release of accused
The accused, Rajkumari, and two other women from her parental family were found guilty of the murder of Rajkumari's husband by a sessions court at Sagar and sentenced to life. Since the wife was in jail for 10 years and her tai remained in jail for 9 years before being released on bail, the court stated that they already served the sentence for culpable homicide and should be released from jail forthwith.
Rajkumari was charged with murder for throwing boiling water on her husband, causing his death during treatment.
Her bhabhi, Rati, and tai, Ramsakhi, were co-accused in the case. In their criminal revision petition, Rajkumari and Ramsakhi argued that the deceased died after being discharged from the hospital following treatment. They contended that, at worst, they could be convicted for culpable homicide and not murder.
On the other hand, Rajkumari's bhabhi, Rati, argued that the deceased did not name her in his dying declaration, so she should be absolved of the charge altogether.
The bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Anuradha Shukla found that Rajkumari's husband died 10 days after being discharged from the hospital due to septicemia, and Rati's name does not appear in the names taken by the deceased in his dying declaration. The court reduced the charges against Rajkumari and Ramsakhi to culpable homicide under section 304 of the IPC from section 302 and acquitted the third accused.
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