LAW FOR ALL

whether the accused-appellant herein can be stated to have intentionally caused such bodily injury to the deceased, as he knew was so imminently dangerous, that it would in all probability cause his death. First and foremost, it is apparent from the factual narration of the witnesses produced by the prosecution, that the accused-appellant was not carrying the ‘darat’ but had picked up the same from the house of Kishan Singh (PW2). A ‘darat’, as noticed above, is a traditional agricultural implement used for cutting branches of trees. It is also used by butchers for beheading goats and sheep. A ‘darat’ has a handle and a large cutting blade. Having picked up the ‘darat’ for committing an assault on the deceased, it is apparent that the accused-appellant was aware of the nature of injury he was likely to cause with the weapon of incident. From the statements of Dr. Suman Saxena (PW4) and Dr. B.M. Gupta (PW5), the nature of injuries caused to the deceased has been brought out. A perusal thereof would leave no room for doubt, that the accused-appellant had chosen the sharp side of the ‘darat’ and not the blunt side. The ferocity with which the aforesaid blow was struck clearly emerges from the fact that the blow resulted in cutting through the skull of the deceased and caused a hole therein, resulting in exposing the brain tissue. When a blow with a deadly weapon is struck with ferocity, it is apparent that the assailant intends to cause bodily injury of a nature which he knows is so imminently dangerous, that it must in all probability cause death. The place where the blow was struck (at the back of the head of the deceased) by the accused- appellant, also leads to the same inference. It is not the case of the accused-appellant, that the occurrence arose out of a sudden quarrel. It is also not his case, that the blow was struck in the heat of the moment. It is not even his case, that he had retaliated as a consequence of provocation at the hands of the deceased. He has therefore no excuse, for such an extreme act. Another material fact is the relationship between the parties. The accused-appellant was an uncle to the deceased. In such circumstances, there is hardly any cause to doubt the intent and knowledge of the accused-appellant. Besides the aforesaid factual position, it would be incorrect to treat the instant incident as one wherein a single blow had been inflicted by the accused. As many as five witnesses of the occurrence have stated in unison, that the accused-appellant was in the process of inflicting a second blow on the deceased, when they caught hold of him, whereupon one of them (Mohinder Singh – PW6) snatched the ‘darat’ from the accused-appellant, and threw it away. In such a situation, it would improper to treat/determine the culpability of the accused appellant by assuming, that he had inflicted only one injury on the deceased. Keeping in mind the parameters of the judgments referred to by the learned counsel for the rival parties (which have been extracted above), we have no doubt in our mind, that the accused-appellant must be deemed to have committed the offence of ‘culpable homicide amounting to murder’ under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, as the accused-appellant Som Raj had struck the ‘darat’ blow, with the intention of causing such bodily injury, which he knew was so imminently dangerous, that it would in all probability cause the death of Sardari Lal.