In Brief
The State of Uttar Pradesh challenged the High Court's reduction of a murder conviction to culpable homicide. The respondent shot the deceased during a Panchayat (village dispute resolution), motivated by suspicion that the deceased had improper intentions toward his wife. The High Court had attributed the shooting to grave and sudden provocation caused by the deceased's arrival. The Supreme Court reversed the High Court, holding that the provocation was self-induced and voluntary rather than occasioned by the deceased's overt act, barring the defence under the First Proviso to Exception I of Section 300 IPC. The Court restored the trial court's conviction under Section 302 IPC (murder) and life imprisonment, directing the respondent to surrender within four weeks to serve the remaining sentence.
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