JAMMU: A Division Bench (DB) of State High Court comprising Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir and Justice Alok Aradhe modified the life-term to nine years in a criminal appeal against the sentence of life-imprisonment in murder case.
The aforesaid appeal was filed by one Pawan Kumar who was convicted by the Ramban Court in murder case and life-sentence was awarded.
The DB observed that the act of accused falls under Section 299 (Part III) RPC and is proved that the accused has to be convicted and sentenced under Section 304 (Part-II) RPC. “Accordingly conviction of the accused is altered from Section 302 RPC to 304 RPC”, it observed.
According to the police case, on 5th January 2008 one Kamal Kishore, son of Chuni Lal of Ward No. 2 Batote lodged a report at Police Station Batote alleging that his brother Rajinder Kumar was killed by his cousin Pawan Kumar due to strained relations. Accordingly, Police registered a case and after completion of investigation presented Challan.
The DB observed that it is clear from the evidence that appellant intended to cause bodily injury, which he did but the injury of the right femoral artery was not intended because the location of the right femoral artery was never and could not be within the knowledge of the accused.
The act of the appellant falls within ambit of Part-III of Section 299 RPC punishable under Section 304 (Part-II) of the RPC. With these observations Division Bench modified the sentence.