In Brief
A man was killed during a sudden fight at a social gathering when the appellant stabbed him with a knife. The High Court convicted the appellant of murder under Section 302 IPC, but the Supreme Court reversed this, finding the incident arose from a sudden quarrel without premeditation in a social setting between friends. The Court applied Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC, holding that multiple knife blows and the use of a weapon are not, by themselves, determinative factors. The Court reduced the offence to culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 Part-II IPC and enhanced the sentence to 10 years imprisonment, considering the seriousness of the attack but recognizing the sudden, unprovoked nature of the quarrel and the appellant's subsequent attempts to assist the victim.
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