Life imprisonment reduced to 5-years in jail

Observing that the offence was committed in a fit of rage, the Delhi High Court reduced the life sentence of a man to five years jail term. The man was found guilty of killing his father four years ago.

Observing that the offence was committed in a fit of rage, the Delhi High Court reduced the life sentence of a man to five years jail term. The man was found guilty of killing his father four years ago.

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The court altered the charge against accused Arshad from murder to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

According to the prosecution, on March 3, 2006, Arshad had hit his father with a 'sil batta' (grinding stone) when he saw him abusing his mother, which led to the death of the victim at their home in a slum cluster in Sarai Rohilla area in New Delhi.

"We find it difficult to infer that the appellant had any intention to cause death of the deceased or cause him injury which was likely to result in his death," said a bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ajit Bharihoke.

"The appellant (Arshad) had acted in a fit of rage without pre-meditation and had not taken undue advantage of the situation nor had he acted in a cruel or unusual manner," the bench observed.

"The result is that the conviction of the appellant under section 302 (murder) IPC cannot be sustained. It is accordingly converted into conviction under section 304 part-II (culpable homicide) IPC," the court added and allowed the appeal filed by Arshad.

The court considered that 23-years-old Arshad had been in incarceration for more than four years since his arrest. It also took into account that he had no conviction record in the past.