Stories
Supreme Court slams Chhattisgarh High Court over reducing sentence of murder convict
- •The Supreme Court expressed strong anger over the Chhattisgarh High Court decision to reduce the life imprisonment of a murder accused to 10 years.
- •The apex court asked why the High Court decision should not be set aside and the trial court order of life imprisonment should not be restored.
- •A bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice K. Vinod Chandran issued notices to the Chhattisgarh government and the accused Chintamani alias Chintu Patel.
- •The Supreme Court stated that the High Court failed to properly consider the severity of injuries, the weapon used, and the circumstances of the incident.
Key Questions Answered
The Supreme Court strongly criticized the Chhattisgarh High Court for reducing a murder convict's life sentence to 10 years without properly evaluating the severity of the injuries, weapon used, and incident circumstances, while questioning if judges understood Section 304 IPC.
In February 2021 in Chhattisgarh, an inebriated man named Chintamani alias Chintu Patel pushed Raimoti Patel while looking for her son, causing her to fall onto bricks and sustain fatal head injuries. A trial court convicted him of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment in September 2022.
Section 302 punishes murder, whereas Section 304 handles culpable homicide not amounting to murder, split into Part One for intent to cause death or likely fatal injury, and Part Two for acts done with knowledge that death is likely but without intent.
