In Brief
The State of Himachal Pradesh appealed a High Court judgment that had downgraded the respondent's conviction from murder (Section 302) to culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 Part II). The accused had attacked the deceased with a wooden danda, causing a skull fracture from which brain matter was oozing—confirmed by post-mortem evidence and three eyewitness accounts. The High Court had reasoned that since the accused carried both a danda and a sharp instrument but chose to use only the danda, he lacked murderous intent. The Supreme Court reversed this, holding that deliberately striking another on the head with such force as to fracture the skull necessarily implies knowledge that the injury is likely to cause death, satisfying the mental element for murder.
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