In Brief
Sankath Prasad was convicted of murder under Section 302 IPC for shooting Uma Shanker during a quarrel over excavation of a mound. The High Court upheld the conviction based on eye-witness testimony. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, converting the conviction from Section 302 (murder) to Section 304 Part I (causing death by negligence/rash act). The Court held that since the incident arose spontaneously from an altercation without premeditation, and the deceased intervened to stop the shooting, the circumstances warranted the reduced conviction. The appellant's sentence was reduced from life imprisonment to 10 years.
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