Four Decades Later: Allahabad High Court Reduces Murder Conviction to Lesser Charge, Fines Convicts ₹5,000

In a case dating back to 1971, the Allahabad High Court recently let off four convicts with a fine of ₹5,000, finding they had been wrongly convicted under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC for the killing of a man. The division bench of Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Vinod Diwakar noted the incident occurred in the heat of the moment during an altercation in a village over cattle grazing, without premeditation, leading to a sudden fight.

The Court altered the conviction of the surviving convicts to culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 (Part II) of IPC, highlighting that the appellants did not act in a planned manner to kill the victim. The original trial in 1983 had convicted eight accused, but during the pendency of the appeal, four convicts died, and one had died earlier during the trial.

Considering the 41 years since their conviction, the Court decided to take a lenient view in sentencing. Acknowledging the trauma endured by the convicts, the Court imposed a fine of ₹5,000 on each of the surviving appellants, deeming it sufficient punishment.