In Brief
A man with a history of psychiatric illness attacked several people with a sickle in 2006, killing one. He was convicted of murder despite a defence of insanity under Section 84 IPC. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction, finding that the prosecution had withheld critical psychiatric evidence—the accused required immediate hospitalization after the incident and was later treated with antipsychotic drugs. The Court held that the trial and appellate judges failed to consider this medical evidence, creating a reasonable doubt about his mental state at the time. Consequently, the appellant was acquitted and entitled to benefit of the insanity exception.
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