In Brief
The appellant and the deceased were close friends and drinking companions. When a quarrel erupted between the appellant and his wife, the appellant attempted to attack her with an axe. The deceased intervened to stop him, and the axe accidentally struck and fatally injured the deceased. While the trial court convicted the appellant for murder under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to life imprisonment, the High Court reduced the conviction to causing death by negligence or rash act (Section 304 Part-I IPC) due to the absence of premeditation. The Supreme Court upheld this modification and further reduced the sentence from life imprisonment to ten years, considering the circumstances showed no deliberate intention to kill.
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