In Brief
A man was convicted of murdering his wife by strangulation with an iron rod during an argument on a rooftop in Delhi. The Supreme Court examined whether he could claim the benefit of Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC (culpable homicide instead of murder). The Court held that since the act occurred in a sudden quarrel without premeditation, in the heat of passion, and was not barbaric or torturous, all four ingredients of the exception were satisfied. The Court modified the conviction from murder under Section 302 IPC to culpable homicide under Section 304 Part II and reduced the sentence from life imprisonment to 10 years simple imprisonment. The appeal was partly allowed.
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