In Brief
The appellant, the brother of a deceased victim and first informant, challenged the High Court's order reducing the accused's conviction from murder (IPC Section 302) to culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 Part II). The accused had kidnapped and brutally assaulted two men; one (Balveer Singh) died from fractures to ribs 6–10, rupture of the right lung, and liver damage. The Supreme Court held that the High Court wrongly ignored injuries to vital organs and misapplied the law. Where bodily injuries are intentionally inflicted and objectively sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature, murder is established under IPC Section 300 'thirdly' regardless of intent to kill. The Court restored the Sessions Court's murder conviction and life sentence."
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